Outgoing Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, has described his alleged indebtedness to a failed bank to the tune of N161 million, as cheap blackmail and a deliberate ploy by the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) to tarnish his reputation.

Okiro, who spoke at a valedictory session with senior police officers from police formations across the country on Thursday, blamed his present travails on acts of vendetta by former NDIC boss, Mr. Ganiyu Ogunleye, whom he investigated and exposed his alleged corruption acts, as helmsman of the NDIC.

In a voice laden with emotions, Okiro lamented that rather than being vilified, the NDIC is indeed indebted to him to the tune $2.5m.

Okiro, who expressed joy and gratitude to God for the opportunity granted him to serve at the apex level of his career explained further that the business transaction was his wife’s company having got a contract from Agip Oil Company amounting to 4 million pounds and that the money was paid into former National Bank before it got liquidated.

According to him, “this is one of the hazards of public office. No matter how you try to keep yourself clean, some people will still try to throw mud on you. Some people think if you are a public officer, you cannot serve and go unblemished but this is not the case.

He narrated further: “My wife was at that time working in a bank and she was being transferred here and there.

“I eventually asked her to resign and she floated a company by the name Hekiro Nigeria Limited in 1999 and got a contract with Agip Oil Company by year 2000 for about $4m. She obtained a loan of about $2 million from Lead Bank because Agip didn’t pay her mobilization fee. They wanted her to complete the job before payment,” Okiro said.

The IGP explained that at the time the money for the contract was paid after completion, it was paid into his wife’s company account in National Bank before it went under and NDIC had not paid him the money up till now.

However, NDIC said it had, through a letter dated July 20, given the outgoing IGP 48 hours within which to repay the sum.

The letter, with reference number OOC/ABJ01/07/09 and signed by NDIC’s lawyer, Mr. Okunade Olorundare (SAN), the police boss risked being dragged before any of the anti-graft agencies in the country and the Code of Conduct Tribunal if he failed to comply with the payment period.

Going by the date of the letter, which was released to journalists on Wednesday in Abuja, the period of payment expired on Wednesday.

The corporation alleged that Okiro secured the facilities between 2000 and 2001to finance a pipeline laying contract that the family business, Hekiro Nigeria Limited, won from the Agip Oil Company.

NDIC went further to accuse Okiro of abuse of office and a breach of the Code of Conduct for public officers by using his office to secure the contract.