The publisher of DESERT HERALD newspaper, Malam Tukur Mamu, has reacted to the press release issued by the embattled FCT minister, Sen. Bala Muhammad, from his base in Dubai where he went on self exile due to desperate plots by the FCT Minister, the FCTA Director of Treasury, Ibrahim Bomoi and their accomplices in the police to eliminate, implicate or arrest him. Mamu said the fact that the present corrupt FCTA administration finally decided to respond to him with such glaring frustration because they painfully realize but very late that they cannot manipulate and deceive the system and tax payers forever. They know that rekoning time is fast approaching for them. He said he is not surprise that in their press release they deliberately avoided to respond to serious issues of public interest that indicted their conduct and put to serious question and scrutiny of their corrupt stewardship at the FCTA but instead, and as usual, concentrated on abuses of his person and the usual and outdated claims of extortion and blackmail they woefully fail to prove against him in a court of law.
He said since they decided to talk, the public expects nothing less from the minister and his corrupt officials than to dispute his claims and tell Nigerians why the nation’s federal capital remains even more dilapidated with virtually all the structures they met decaying six years after Bala took over the helms of its leadership and at a time the FCTA received from the federation account the highest allocation ever in history.
Mamu via an email from Dubai to this reporter said that as soon as the new government comes on board and beyond what Sen. Bala Muhammad wants Nigerians to believe the public through him must know what was actually generated internally by the FCTA in terms of revenue in his six years misrule of the territory. The public must also know the exact amount Bala collected from the federation account during the period and compare it with the structures provided by the FCT administration under him to see if they are commensurate with the billions he collected.
Mamu said current attempts by the likes of the criminally minded Ibrahim Bomoi to falsify and distort the actual financial records of the FCTA under Bala will never work, as there are patriotic staff among them that are very willing to give Nigerians proper account of all that Bala Muhammad and his cohorts are busy distorting and falsifying to confuse, mislead and to technically force the new government to accept their bogus claims of highly inflated expenditure and questionable approvals. Mamu revealed that the Freedom of Information Act will be fully exhausted when the new government takes over to scrutinise and study all their handing over submissions/claims as well as request relevant books in the office of the FCTA Director of Treasury to be able to unravel all the criminal technicalities the auditors hitherto ignored. Mamu further said all payments done by Ibrahim Bomoi to companies, his choice of bankers for the FCTA, bank withdrawals, minutes of meetings for all approvals, his interest and preference for certain banks and records for contracts review payments will be requested for extensive scrutiny through the Freedom of Information Act as soon as Gen. Buhari takes over. The DESERT HERALD publisher said patriotic insiders are also very willing and ready to assist the new government in unraveling information in that regard.
Tukur Mamu described the content of the FCTA press release as childish and highly unprofessional and a deliberate departure of the real issues on ground. He said a competent spokesman should always concentrate in addressing issues and bringing facts on or against claims instead of wasting public resources abusing perceived enemies in visible anger and frustration. He listed some of the posers the FCTA administration under Bala Muhammad must provide answers to Nigerians before he came with his facts after May 29th. The posers, according to Mamu, include corrupt enrichment and corrupt ownership of choice housing estates in Abuja by the FCTA minister and the de facto supervising officer of the Ministry, Dame Patience Jonathan. Properties acquired by Ibrahim Bomoi and the two billionaire sons of the FCT Minister also in choice locations of the FCT. Why Abuja and most of its environs largely depend on boreholes and water vendors despite the billions injected by Goodluck Jonathan’s FG in the water sector of the FCT. The person/persons that benefitted from the controversial Abuja streetlights multibillion naira contracts over the last six years and why the nation’s capital remains in the dark despite the billions. Mamu also said the public will also like to know why the current FCT administration only chose to rush substandard street lights installation now and only after losing election to Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. Which ministry actually mobilized N500 million and bribed election officials to ensure by all means that President Jonathan is not defeated during the presidential polls at the FCT? Is it Ibrahim Bomoi who wants to become the next Accountant General of the Federation, AGOF that actually disbursed the said N500 million for the purpose of rigging the FCT presidential poll to Jonathan? Is there actually a rush and fraudulent recruitment exercise by Bala Muhammad to cover his excess loot ahead of his inevitable exit as exclusively reported by DH SMS Alert? Did our report finally save the FCTA resources or not in that regard? Mamu said for the FCT minister to have made that press release it shows that he and his inept media men don’t know who Alhaji Lai Mohammed is. He said for those that knows Lai Mohammed very well they know that he cannot comment on DESERT HERALD report and even emphasized on it without verifying his facts.
Continuing his posers, Mamu said amonsgt other things Bala and his men should have answered him in the press release is that what is the condition of government owned public schools under the FCT during Bala’s uneventful tenure as super minister? Are there massive scandals at AGIS under him and what are they busy secretly doing now at AGIS to correct the criminality and corruption? Which ministry and under which minister did the infamous Buhari certificate forgery fabrication was plotted and finance through the media which was similar to the one done to him? Why is it that Bala Mohammed, Ibrahim Bomoi and the FCTA under them chose to deliberately remained silent and afraid to comment on their infamous role behind the scene in the Buhari certificate saga? Mamu said calling somebody a blackmailer without addressing the real issues have shown that they have more to hide. He said the same people that are calling him all sort of names have abused or indirectly encourage Femi Fani Kayode to accused and say worse things against Buhari, Bola Tinubu, Lai Mohammed and many other prominent Nigerians with impeccable integrity?
This are just few of the posers and real issues (not abuses) Mamu told this reporter they must be busy replying him on. He said any so called journalist that believes the compromised leadership of the NUJ under Garba Mohammed by its constitution has the powers to blacklist any duly registered paper or its publisher or to stop such a paper from production is the one that is actually junk and lacking in knowledge. Mamu wondered why almost two years after the sponsored campaign against DESERT HERALD, the NUJ and their paymasters in the FCTA could not impose the so called blacklisting of the paper and its publisher and that instead the paper’s readership and circulation base increased.
He said beyond what Ibrahim Bomoi’s ‘friends’ in the APC deceive and misled him for and prompting him to be crazy giving out millions to them, the APC leadership is not stupid and is privy and very much appreciate what he and other Nigerians dedicated their lives for and assured Nigerians that the APC as a party that campaigned for change will certainly work with him and other concerned Nigerians to correct the massive ills Bomoi and others like him inflicted on the nation. He said the new APC incoming government no matter how much Bomoi spent in bribing few and no matter his contacts will never consider him for even an appointment less than the AGoF.
Mamu revealed that if evidences of corruption and corrupt enrichment against the FCTA officials at the disposal of his paper are anything to go by, current efforts by particularly Ibrahim Bomoi through massive bribery of some APC stalwarts to be appointed the next Accountant General of the Federation, AGoF, by the new government no matter his deceptive CV or to evade prosecution under the new government will never work because according to him they will resist it with verifiable justification and not through noise or abuses reminiscent of the FCTA media men under Bala. Mamu told Bomoi not to be decieve by his ‘relationship’ with the Kaduna State Governor elect, Nasir el-Rufai and that the governor elect cannot and will never protect him if there are evidences of corrupt enrichment against him and that prosecutors or the public will never be deceive by Bomoi’s logic that he earned his assets through farming as a civil servant. He said instead of bribing his way to be appointed the AGoF, Bomoi should be more concerned with how he will successfully proceed on his pre – retirement terminal leave which will be due in September according to records at our disposal.
He said Bala and Bomoi are now busy visiting sorcerers with the hope of getting him blind which he said confidently that Allah will not allow them.
