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Alhaji Abdullahi Inde Dikko is behaving
like a desperate and drowning man. Last
week I read in the papers that he has
dragged me to court, claiming
N10billion for libel, even though I
have not been formally served. He is
also asking that I should be restrained
from further saying or publishing
anything against him. I laughed and
laughed when I read the stories. It is
either those who advised him on the
course of action are legal ignoramus or
legal 419s. But I am happy I have
swelled their pockets with a fat brief.
However, it is sad that a public officer
who is accused of corrupt practices can
descend so low as to rush to court to
try and gag those who are spewing out
facts against him, instead of
confronting the allegations head-on by
simply publishing his certificates. That
would really be the end of the matter.
If, today I am a public officer and I am
accused of not graduating or not going
to the
Law School, I will be so glad to show
off my certificates for all to see how
good I was as a student. For instance, I
will be glad to show everyone how I made
a sound second-class (upper division) at
the University, missing first-class by
whiskers. And my classmates would be
there to testify. I will not rush to
court to get an injunction against those
accusing me of not graduating.
When Dimeji Bankole was accused of not
doing his Youth Service, pronto, the
next day, he published his Youth Service
Certificate and that was the end of the
matter. But when he was accused of
misappropriation in the Peugeot car
scam, he refused to publish the
documents regarding the transaction. He
rather chose to attack me (the
whistle-blower) frontally through his
rookies in the House of Representatives.
When any public officer leaves the
substance of an accusation and begins to
attack his adversaries (as Dikko is
presently doing), you instantly know
that there is a suspicion of truth in
the allegations.
The saddest part of it all is that a
section of the press is supporting this
perfidy. It is very sad for me to write
this. One journalist met me on a flight
from
Abuja
to
Lagos and came over to ask me the update
on the Dikko scandal. He then said some
people were accusing me of slowing down
in the fight. I then asked him whether
his own medium has published anything
regarding the matter. He said no. That
he read it in other papers. I then asked
him how his own medium has contributed
to exposing corruption. He was quiet and
embarrased. The other day also a
colleague of mine was given air-time on
a T.V station to pour invectives on me
over this matter, because I simply wrote
a letter to the president calling for a
thorough investigation! Chikena!
I called the management of the T.V
station later to complain about the
one-sided story and till today they
could not even call me to give me my
right of reply! The management only
started apologising secretly to me that
the matter is beyond them! What a
country!
Mischief makers have suggested that it
is only when Alhaji Abdulahi Inde Dikko
became Comptroller-General that someone
appeared from nowhere accusing him of
certificate forgery. That is not true.
If you read the affidavit of the accuser
(I will begin to seralise it next week
in this column), the problem has been on
for about three years now. When the
accuser, Olajide Ibrahim came to my
office about one month ago to lay his
complain, I had the option to either (1)
send him away or (2) arrange a secret
meeting with Dikko and began to
blackmail him (God forbid!) or (3)
expose corrupt practice and fight it
head on. I chose the third option. I
picked up my pen and wrote to the
President and Commander-in-Chief of the
Armed Forces on
Wednesday, September 2, 2009,
calling for investigation as follows:
“Mr. President,
FORGERY OF CERTIFICATES BY THE NEW
COMPTROLLER-GENERAL OF CUSTOMS, ALHAJI
ABDULLAHI INDE DIKKO, THREAT TO LIFE AND
INTIMIDATION:
A CALL FOR A FULL-SCALE INVESTIGATION.
I have decided to write directly to you
on this matter because I believe you
will not tolerate and condone the
criminal behaviour of any public
officer, even if your security agencies
are reputed for that and especially
since they are indicted on this issue.
It is also necessary that you are
personally aware of such an important
matter involving a highly-placed public
officer whom you just appointed.
I make no judgment at this point. All I
call for is a thorough investigation of
the grave allegations contained in the
affidavit accompanying this letter and
for you to take appropriate action(s).
With best regards.
I remain yours most trusted,
FESTUS KEYAMO, ESQ.”
When nothing was done, I picked up my
pen again and wrote the following letter
on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 to (1)
The Director, State Security Services,
(2) The National Security Adviser,
(3)The Inspector-General of Police, (4)
The Minister of Finance, (5) The
Attorney-General of the Federation:
“Dear Sirs,
RE: FORGERY OF CERTIFICATES BY THE NEW
COMPTROLLER-GENERAL OF CUSTOMS, ALHAJI
ABDULLAHI INDE DIKKO, THREAT TO LIFE AND
INTIMIDATIOIN:
A CALL FOR A FULL-SCALE INVESTIGATION.
On
Wednesday, September 2, 2009,
I wrote a petition to the
President-and-Commander-in-Chief of the
Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua
over the above subject matter. The
letter was delivered to the gate of the
State House the same day where it was
duly acknowledged (please find attached
a copy of the acknowledged letter).
Up till the time of writing this letter,
there has been no word from the
President over the petition. At least no
one has contacted me on this matter.
This has informed my decision to write
to all of you in order to bring to your
attention this grave matter because your
various offices have roles to play in
the investigation of this matter. I also
suspect the President may be too busy
with other State matters and may not
have the time to attend to this national
embarrassment.
Therefore, please find attached an
affidavit duly sworn in Court with
documents attached with this petition to
your various offices. The affidavit
which speaks for itself is already in
the public domain and the contents are
self-explanatory. It is therefore no
longer plausible that the President will
not be informed of this grave matter and
will choose to do nothing. Let me also
stress that there is no pending matter
in court or a court order to stop any
investigation of forgery and the other
offences.
Be informed also that this petition is
directed to your various offices because
under the law you do not need the
approval of the President to investigate
crimes. I am therefore hopeful that you
will immediately commence a full scale
investigation into these allegations and
make your findings public and charge
whoever is found culpable to Court.
Since the matter is in the public
domain, it will sure damage the
credibility of this government, your
various offices, and indeed yourselves
as individuals if you play the ostrich
and fail to act.
May God guide and guard you.
I remain yours most trusted.
FESTUS KEYAMO, ESQ.
HEAD OF CHAMBERS”
Yet, there is deafening silence in Aso
Rock. Only for me to begin to see
planted stories in the media that he has
been cleared of the allegations. I then
reacted as follows:
“Sunday October 4, 2009
PRESS STATEMENT BY FESTUS KEYAMO
RE: PRESIDENCY CLEARS CUSTOMS C.G.:
MY REACTION
I just read with amusement the story
carried as a lead report in the Nigerian
Compass on
Sunday, October 4th, 2009,
titled “Presidency Clears Customs C.G.”.
The report is not only false, it is
deliberately concocted by some desperate
elements intent at a grand cover-up, and
it is designed to deceive the Nigerian
public. The said report flies in the
face of the following facts:
1.
It is extremely ridiculous to suggest
that an investigation of an allegation
can be carried out without calling on
the accuser to substantiate the
allegations. Till date, the Presidency
has not directed any of its security
agencies to investigate the allegations
and as such Mr. Olajide Ibrahim (the
complainant) and myself have not been
invited for any clarification.
2.
The Presidency or any law-enforcement
agency have not issued any formal
statement clearing the Customs C.G or
even stating that an investigation is
been carried out.
3.
In any case, and in specific terms, the
Presidency should tell the whole world
what its findings are regarding the
following:
i.
WAEC Certificate No. 37836D allegedly
obtained by Dikko in 1980 from the
Government
College
Kaduna. Does that Certificate belong to
him?
ii.
Certificate No. 10912 and 10993
allegedly obtained from the Nigerian
Institute of Management (NIM) in 1995.
Does NIM have records of these
certificates belonging to Alh. Dikko?
iii.
What are the findings regarding the
Higher Institute of Finance and
Economics that Dikko claims to have
attended in
Bulgaria?
4.
On the alleged “discrepancies” in the
Affidavits sworn to by Olajide Ibrahim,
nothing can be farther from the truth
for the following reasons:
I.
Olajide Ibrahim stated clearly that
he was undergoing his NYSC programme in
1995 at the NIM when he first met Alh.
Dikko. It is therefore nonsensical to
think that NIM will have his name among
their staff list when he was just a
youth corper there at that time. In any
case, Alh. Dikko has not denied knowing
Olajide Ibrahim for about 14 years now.
Where did Dikko meet him?
II.
The fact that Olajide Ibrahim’s address
changed between 2006 and 2009 is no
issue at all as he confirmed that he has
since gone into hiding after the
harassment by Dikko began.
III.
In respect of the so-called letter of
apology earlier written by Olajide
Ibrahim, assuming (without conceding) he
wrote those letters, what is the
probative value of such letters written
in periods he was supposed to be
handcuffed and leg-chained in detention?
In the final analysis, let me remind the
press that it has a constitutional and
God-given role to play in the fight
against corruption in public office. We
all suffer eventually when we cover such
corrupt practices in high places. It has
become so difficult to fight corruption
in our country because the empire of
corruption is spreading fast and is
consuming everyone in all sectors. Let
the Press steer clear of corrupt
practices. I am, for instance, appalled
that when it was reported that Alh.
Dikko seized and burnt 2000 copies of
The Premier magazine some two weeks ago,
the Press either blacked it out or
down-played it in many cases. May God
help us!
But despite the attacks and
discouragements I face, I will continue
to stand tall in exposing cases of
corruption anywhere I find them.
Thank you.
FESTUS KEYAMO, ESQ.”
This reaction was totally blacked out by
the Press, only for some sections of the
media to come alive again to carry the
story of the suit he filed against me
asking for N10 billion naira damages.
No doubt the Customs boss has bitten
more that he can chew through wrong
advice. All I can say is that we shall
meet at
Philippi.
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