…She Refunded Only N50m Of N118m, Threatened To Arrest Victim When He Demanded His Balance
Senator Ireti Kingibe, the representative of the Federal Capital Territory in the 10th National Assembly, has been petitioned to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over allegations that she collected $65,000, equivalent to N118 million at the time, from a businessman to facilitate a Federal Government contract that the petitioner alleges never existed, subsequently denied receiving the money, then reluctantly refunded only N50 million, and allegedly threatened to have the businessman arrested when he insisted on recovering the outstanding N68 million balance.
The petition, dated April 27, 2026, was filed by lawyer Elochukwu Obi on behalf of his client, Mr. Nonso Okafor, and addressed to the office of the lCPC Chairman, requesting an urgent investigation to determine whether criminal infractions and abuse of public office have occurred, and seeking the recovery of the outstanding funds.
According to the petition, the arrangement began in October 2024 when Mr. Osereme Christian Omofoma, Senator Kingibe’s Senior Legislative Aide, approached the businessman.
The SLA allegedly pleaded with Okafor “to help him raise $100,000 for the Senator to enable her to meet urgent financial needs,” promising that the money would be repaid in full or, alternatively, that the senator would facilitate the award of Federal Government contracts to Okafor through
which he would recoup his money.
The petition stated that Okafor was initially reluctant to participate in the arrangement, “especially as he did not have the huge amount of money that was demanded at that time.”
However, the SLA allegedly exerted “enormous pressure” on the businessman, who was eventually had to borrow from friends in order to meet up with the cash demand.”
Okafor managed to raise $65,000 of the $100,000 initially demanded, borrowing the funds “at exorbitant interest rates,” a detail that underscores the financial strain the arrangement placed on the businessman even before the alleged fraud was discovered.
The petition stated that the $65,000 was paid to Senator Kingibe in two tranches in October 2024. The businessman was told that the promised contract award would materialise within a few weeks of payment.
“After the payment, our client futilely waited far beyond the envisaged timeframe for the promised contracts, but nothing
materialised” the petition stated.
After several months of waiting, the petition alleged, “it dawned on our client that there was no contract for him and that he had simply been misled!”
At this point, Okafor began requesting a refund of his money.
When the businessman sought his money back, the senator’s response, according to the petition, shifted from evasiveness to outright denial.
“The Senator not only refused to refund the money, but she also began to actively claim that she did not receive any money from our client” the petition stated.
The denial, if accurate, represents a significant escalation, as it would mean the senator was not merely failing to fulfil a
promise but was denying the existence of the transaction itself, despite the businessman having records of the
Unable to communicate directly with the senator after being cut off, Okafor continued to press for his refund through
the SLA, Omofoma.
When Okafor expressed his determination to involve law enforcement, the response from the senator’s side shifted again.
“Upon our client’s expression of his determination to get the law enforcement involved in the matter, they reluctantly decided to unilaterally pay only N50,000,000 out of the total $65,000 (N118,000,000)” the petition stated.
This payment was made in May 2025. The N50 million refund created a new problem. At the exchange rate at the time
of the original payment, Okafor had paid N118 million. The N50 million refund left an outstanding balance of N68 million.
“After this, Senator Kingibe and her aide tried to compel our client to accept the payment as full and final, with threats to arrest him if he refuses to forgo the balance,” the petition alleged.
Despite the threats, the petition stated that “our client continued to peacefully press for the completion of his money, which remains N68,000,000. All subsequent appeals for the payment fell on deaf ears.”
“Our client believes that there were no contracts for the Senator to facilitate in the first place. On the contrary, the facilitation of contract was a deceitful gimmick which was deployed to fraudulently collect money from him, without any intention of refunding the same,” Obi stated.
