TheCable

Mohammed Bello-Koko, managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), has raised alarm over what he described as  a “cheap, sponsored blackmail” aimed at smearing his image.

Reports recently surfaced online that some foreign investigators have written to the United Kingdom government, seeking an exclusion order to ban Bello-Koko and his family from entering the country over alleged money laundering and fraud.

Responding to the issue in a statement on Saturday, the NPA boss claimed that some “faceless individuals” under the cloak of unknown civil society organisations (CSOs) were responsible for the “malicious concoctions”.

He vowed not to succumb to “the shenanigans of the blackmailers”, affirming his commitment to bequeathing to the nation a transparent and accountable management of the NPA.

“Because they (blackmailers) are faceless, I don’t have the opportunity to seek redress in court on the grounds of their rehashed and rehearsed lies,” Bello-Koko said.

“I need to reiterate that for all of my years as a banker and a public officer up till today, I have never been indicted or convicted by any court. And this fact is in the public domain.

“Resorting to writing to the UK government, seeking visa cancellation and forfeiture of assets belonging to my wife and I, is not only malicious but also cruel and wicked. I have yet to understand why these evil machinations would be orchestrated against me.”

Bello-Koko said the latest attack, in the series of sponsored blackmails targeted at him, which also began in 2021 immediately he was appointed as NPA MD, is intended to damage his reputation.

Listing some of the allegations against him, he said: “In deceit, they have disingenuously claimed in the sponsored report that UK/Ireland investigators were the ones that had written to the UK government after they had purportedly unearthed alleged criminal acts against me, bordering on money laundering activities, fraud, forgery, and tax evasion, which are all baseless figments of their malicious intent.

“Whereas, particulars cited in the report were the regurgitated allegations that they had sponsored and which had been doing the rounds in the media from the outset, this latest attempt is as spurious as their first attempt ever.

“Their claim that UK/Ireland investigators, and not metropolitan police or Scotland yard, are investigating me falls flat on its face and gives out the sponsors of the report — which is a piece of cheap blackmail — as desperate hustlers who are not civil and neither working in the interest of the society.

“It is unfortunate that some online news media have lent their platforms to these desperadoes to ply their odious trade.

“However, I challenge the conduit pipes of this malice to go ahead and mention the names and true identities of the CSOs and the investigators.

“If the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had been on the matter as indicated in the report, it is then unfair to suggest or claim that some questionable UK/Ireland investigators are now pushing for exclusion order to ban me from ever entering the United Kingdom.

“One expects that there should be inter-agency collaboration in line with some bilateral or mutual agreements.

“All the supposed assertions and innuendos in the report are nothing but spurious and malicious concoctions intended to cause a predetermined damage.”

Bello-Koko, therefore, vowed to institute legal action against any media house that publishes unsubstantiated and damaging reports about him.

“I’ll not hesitate to seek the support of all well-meaning and decent citizens to tell my traducers to use their energy for more meaningful endeavor than to engage in maliciousness of their campaign of intimidation, blackmail, and vendetta,” he added.

“My job at the NPA is not personal. It is national service, to which I had resolved from the outset to give my best shot.”

NPA HAS REMITTED N100BN TO FEDERATION ACCOUNT’

According to Bello-Koko, his administration gives premium to due process in the execution of the agency’s core mandates.

He said under his watch, the NPA generated the sum of N286 billion and remitted over N100 billion to the consolidated revenue fund (CRF) account of the federation as of November 2022.

He reiterated that the NPA does not operate secret foreign accounts.

“I had, on several occasions, stated that the NPA under my leadership is not aware of any secret foreign accounts and I could not have been a beneficiary of something that I am not aware of and, which I would like to emphasize is non-existent to the best of my knowledge,” he said.

“The UK property they mischievously mentioned was declared with the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and purchased before I was appointed into public office.

“It is also important to note that the property was purchased on a 15-year mortgage payment plan.”