A civil society organization, Circle of Life Foundation, has submitted a formal petition to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), calling for an investigation into the alleged diversion and withholding of over N431 million meant for contractors and service providers in Cross River State.
The petition, dated May 20, 2026, was addressed to the Chairman of the ICPC at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja. It specifically accused former Commissioner for Local Government Affairs in Cross River State, Hon. Stella Odey Ekpo, of failing to release verified deductions and payments owed to contractors and financial service providers between 2021 and 2022.
According to the petition, several contractors and financial institutions rendered legitimate services to staff and civil servants across various Local Government Councils in the state during the period under review. The organization alleged that deductions were consistently made from workers’ salaries and entitlements for repayment of loans and servicing obligations owed to the service providers.
However, the petition claimed that despite the deductions being made, the funds were allegedly not remitted to the affected contractors and financial institutions.
Circle of Life Foundation stated that repeated engagements and meetings were held with officials of the Ministry of Local Government Affairs during the tenure of the former commissioner, but the issue reportedly remained unresolved.
The petition further disclosed that following mounting complaints and threats of legal action by affected service providers, the Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC) in August 2024 reportedly constituted a verification committee headed by the Auditor-General for Local Government to investigate the claims.
According to the document, the committee allegedly confirmed that the indebtedness claims submitted by the contractors and service providers were “valid and authentic.”
The verification report reportedly recommended the payment of N431,169,949.21 to the affected organizations.
Among the institutions and companies listed in the petition as beneficiaries of the verified claims are:
- First Royal Microfinance Bank. N46,084,389.13
- John Cherish Global Services Ltd. N74,682,856.46
- Letshego Microfinance Bank. N42,152,686.03
- Nesa Gold Global Ltd. N2,645,257.00
- Cross River Microfinance Bank. N5,773,703.68
- First Rhema Solutions Ltd. N86,473,976.32
- Credit Direct. N146,875,197.59
- Amaecom Global Nig. N26,481,883.00
The total verified amount was put at N431,169,949.21.
The petition alleged that despite the verification, authentication, and recommendations for payment, the funds were still not released to the affected parties.
Circle of Life Foundation argued that the alleged withholding and possible diversion of the funds caused severe financial hardship, business collapse, indebtedness, and suffering for contractors and their employees.
The organization urged the ICPC to investigate what it described as possible abuse of office, criminal breach of trust, diversion of public funds, conspiracy, and violations of anti-corruption and public finance laws.
As of the time of filing this report, there has been no official response from Hon. Stella Odey Ekpo regarding the allegations contained in the petition. The ICPC has also not publicly commented on whether a formal investigation has commenced.
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