A middle-aged man, Iladion Emmanuel, has been arraigned by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission over alleged forgery of travel documents and other ancillary offences.

The commission, in a 5-count charge brought before Honourable Justice M.B. Idris of the Federal Capital Territory High Court 26 in Nyanya, Abuja told the court how the accused person conspired with one Obikwelu Emmanuela Odinaka, a staff of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who is now deceased, to dishonestly obtain an official passport number F00035510 from the Nigeria Immigration Service.

The Spokesperson of ICPC, Azuka Ogugua, said these in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday.

Iladion Emmanuel is said to have taken advantage of the frosty relationship between the late Mrs. Obikwelu and her husband, Chuks Winston Obikwelu, to impersonate the character of the latter and signed a letter captioned “Consent for Issuance of Nigeria Standard Passports to Our Children,” when he was actually not Obikwelu Emmanuel Winston.

The statement reads, “ICPC in a Charge No: CR/085/2021 averred that Mr. Emmanuel Iladion, had with the intention to mislead the Federal Government of Nigeria, knowingly given a false statement to the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service in the E-Official Diplomatic Passport Data Form.

“The defendant was also accused of assuming the personality of Mr. Chuks Winston Obikwelu when he signed the Consent Form for Issuance of Nigeria Standard Passports as the father of Obikwelu Enyiazu Theresa, Obikwelu Emmanuela Chimdindu, Obikwelu Joan Onyekachi and Obikwelu Michael Elijah in the name of Obikwelu Emmanuel Winston, when he knew he was not the father of the above-mentioned children.

“Trouble began to brew for him when the biological father of the children petitioned the Commission on Iladion’s fraudulent acts. The accused person’s actions are contrary to sections 26 (1) (c) and 25 (1) (a) and punishable under sections (17) (c) and (25) (b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, and section 179 of the Penal Code Cap 532 Laws of FCT, Abuja.

“When the accused person was asked to take his pleas, he entered a “not guilty” plea. Owing to the failure of defense counsel to file an application for his client’s bail, the trial judge ruled that the accused be remanded in Kuje Correctional Service Centre pending a formal bail application.”

The case was subsequently adjourned to July 5 2021 for commencement of trial.