Special Assistant on media to the Chairman of Jonathan’s Presidential Declaration Committee Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed, Mr. Emeka Nwankpa has berated the call by Hajiya Binta Kuraye on President Goodluck Jonathan to beware of the danger in appointing Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed, as Head of his Declaration Committee on the basis that Dr. Bello is “a political paper weight.”
He also frowned at the advised she gave to the President on what she called the ‘irrelevance’ of Vice President Namadi Sambo to the Presidential re-election campaign.
In a statement in Abuja today, Mr. Nwankpa described Hajiya Binta’s open letter which was advertised in the Sun newspaper of 30th October as blackmail and calumny.
“She copiously quoted Al-Mustapha Jokolo, a deposed and discredited monarch, who had made some wild and unsubstantiated statements about the Vice President in an earlier interview.
“We would not have bothered to respond to her vituperation, as everyone knows her reputation and capacity for mischief. Hajiya Binta Kuraye, a known felon, was recently arraigned before an FCT High Court on account of issuing dud cheques valued at N17.5 million and was remanded in Kuje Prison, having earlier jumped administrative bail granted her by the EFCC.”
Dr. Haliru Bello Aide said that his boss owed it to the public to correct the wrong impressions Hajiya Binta might have created in the minds of Nigerians against the two leaders.
“Both Dr. Bello and Vice President Sambo have made invaluable contributions to the PDP and the development of Nigeria, in general. “They have served and continue to serve this country, meritoriously, in various capacities.”
The statement continues:
“On Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed, Hajiya Binta made the wild allegation that he benefited from monetary gifts from a German telecommunication company, SIEMENS, when he was Minister of Communications.
Dr. Bello has said, time and again, that he had nothing to do with the alleged bribery scandal either in person or by proxy. He has never met or heard of Mr. Siekaczek, neither did he have any personal relationship with Mr. Siedel. For the avoidance of doubt, Dr. Bello did not, at any time, receive any amount, whatsoever, from these men or anybody purportedly acting on their behalf.
It should be noted that there was no reason for Siemens to bribe Dr. Bello as a Minister of Communications, as NITEL, to which Siemens was a contractor, was already under the supervision of the Bureau of Public Enterprises in preparation for its sale, under the auspices of the National Council of Privatization.
It is significant to state that Dr. Bello went through security screening and was cleared before Senate confirmed his appointment as Minister of Defence in 2011.
In her disparaging remarks on Vice President Namadi Sambo, Hajiya Binta, questioned the electoral value of the Vice President and adopted Jokolo’s blinkered and unintelligent evaluation of him. That evaluation deliberately ignored the fact that Namadi Sambo won the Governorship Election in Kaduna State in 2007 and would have won a second term easily in 2011 but for the fact that Allah had designed a higher position for him. He led the PDP to victory in the Governorship Election in Kaduna State, in 2011, and mobilised the highest votes for PDP in the Presidential Election, which was the highest in the states of the North (1, 190, 179; 46.9% of the total votes cast) against Buhari’s 1,334,244.
Facts are sacred and they, clearly, do not support the hollow claims by Hajiya Binta and her cohorts. Namadi Sambo has been a loyal, discreet and efficient Vice President, who has managed his position with great dignity in the last four years or so. He has proven to be a consummate team player and has contributed, in no small measure, to perhaps the most cohesive and peaceful presidency in Nigeria’s democratic history. He is, indeed, an asset.
As for Hajiya Binta Kuraye and her sponsors, I say, “By their fruits you shall know them!” [myad]
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