CDHR petitions EFCC over alleged financial fraud in Delta

The Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR), the Delta state chapter, has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the activities of the chairman of Odidi community in Warri South-West council area of the state, Chief Johnny Aribogha.

The rights group, in a petition signed by its chairman, Prince Kehinde Taiga, and made available to journalists in Warri yesterday, alleged that Chief Aribogha had been diverting moneies belonging to the community into his private accounts, an act it viewed as less than transparent.

But in reaction to the allegation, the chairman of the oil-rich community, described the allegation as baseless and malicious, adding that those sponsoring the petition had a personal growse against him as he his tenure had put an end to the monopoly of the leadership of the previous administration.

The CDHR had alleged that Aribogha had been diverting community funds into the bank accounts of his private businesses, using his personal accounts to manage community funds, adding that he had been using court processes to sabotage attempts to answer questions on the allegation before the Inspector-General of police.

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“Chief Johnny Aribogha is the present chairman of Odidi community, previously Secretary for over 10 years. Chief Aribogha uses his personal accounts to receive all community monies; benefits for FTO (freedom to operate, which is a document agreement between the host community and the company and it contains all benefits and terms of operation between both parties), compensation for crude oil spills, land lease payment and other benefits”, the petition said in part.

However, in his reaction to the allegation, Aribogha said the leadership of the previous administration, which held sway for more than 30 years, had refused to make records and necessary documents available, which would have given his own executive council, which was inaugurated on November 25, 2016, access to the community accounts.

He said further that it was an agreement of the new executive, which is made up of representatives from the five families that make up the community, that his accounts be used for keeping of community funds until the lull over community’s accounts are sorted out, a process, which he said was almost done with.