In its continued effort to stop the release of a book FCT Administration: The Rot Within, there was yet another sponsored publication in the LEADERSHIP of Friday 7th June, 2013 demonstrating clearly that the Federal Capital Territory Administration under Senator Bala Muhammad is committed to act with impunity against freedom of expression not in favour its interest and excesses in the management of the FCT. In a response to the LEADERSHIP advertorial the DESERT HERALD publisher, Malam Tukur Mamu who is at the centre of the attack and the campaign of calumny with the sole aim of stopping the book by all means said “the questions they asked has clearly demonstrated that the managers of publicity in the FCT are already short of ideas on how best to implicate me and to justify the alleged claim of extortion against us. Going by their own claims in the media which is well documented they have clearly contradicted their claim of extortion against us.
At first when they sponsored the Abuja NUJ Chairman Chuks to address a press conference against us he claimed that we demanded N50m to stop the publication of the book. But Nosike himself later said we demanded N10m and provided telephone numbers and our First Bank account number forgetting that that same account was used by them to effect payment of commercials to us during his immediate predecessor. Ironically in the latest LEADERSHIP advertorial they said it is N15m we attempted to extort. So what a contradiction and confusion from the same people. Is that how they intend to prosecute us? They are just making nonsense of themselves and I can assure you their machinations will never work.
If I were them I will assemble my legal team and wait patiently for the book to be out to challenge it in court. Unfortunately for the writer he succeeded in asking only one vital question in his rejoinder to my interview which I will sufficiently answer. The others about the number of directors in the FCT and why he believes our book captured only ‘one’, whether or not Ibrahim Bomoi is corrupt or not, about the funds of the FCT and how they are being utilized and about the stewardship of the incumbent minister all has sufficiently been addressed in our book. So they should wait and see. The writer should go and verify from the FCT record whether DESERT HERALD has forwarded any proposal when the sum of N3.9m was approved for us for media related commercials during the tenure of Jamila Tangaza. We didn’t forward any proposal.
We still have a copy of the first bank cheque they issued for the payment and throughout the process there was no formal correspondence between DESERT HERALD and the FCT. If there is I challenge them to provide it. In most cases the confused Nosike knows that ministries/government agencies have provisions through their budgets for media publicity and in most of such approvals they only request for official receipt for payments to update their records which in our case we have issued. So it is the same process Nosike did rather mischievously when he approached me on the media consultancy job not knowing that his real intention is to blackmail us. That is why I am challenging the ministry to produce the content of the text message using the official numbers Nosike provided whereas alleged I demanded through the text message or phone conversation for N50m or N10m or the latest N15m as compensation of the book we are writing. This is just a diversionary tactics that will never work for them. They should publish for public consumption the text of the text message using those numbers and give same to the security agencies to investigate”.
Mamu further said if the FCT officials are truthful “they don’t have to worry wasting millions on propaganda that never works. They should wait to read the content of the book and we dare them to do that if they really don’t have anything to hide. For the avoidance of doubt and even before the book is out I want to repeat it again that the Director of Treasury of the FCT, Ibrahim Bomoi is among the most corrupt civil servants in Nigeria today. Let him take me to court that I accused him of being corrupt and I can prove it. Our book will reveal more. They are just wasting public resources on so called extortion they cannot prove. We in DESERT HERALD need the prayers of all Nigerians because people that don’t have faith in God are out not only to assassinate our characters (which they cannot) but to kill me.
Even yesterday 6th June, they have sent series of threatening text messages warning us of the consequences if we go ahead with the presentation of the book. Majority of the FCT staff because their senior officers are selfish and greedy are very happy with the idea of the book and have jubilated about the interview I granted. For the records whatever happens to me Bala Muhammad and his men are responsible. We have written letters to our professional bodies in South Africa, New York and France alerting them on the series of plot against us. No amount of blackmail, lies, or the ongoing attempt to mislead our security agencies can stop the release of the book. In fact we decided yesterday not to even do the press release on when the paper will be out because of the official intrigues. When it is out we will alert the general public through newspapers, DH sms alert and radio”.
