The many lies of the customs boss by Festus Keyamo

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:

FORGERY OF CERTIFICATES BY THE NEW COMPTROLLER-GENERAL OF CUSTOMS, ALHAJI ABDULLAHI INDE DIKKO, THREAT TO LIFE AND INTIMIDATION:

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).

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:

RE: FORGERY OF CERTIFICATES BY THE NEW COMPTROLLER-GENERAL OF CUSTOMS, ALHAJI ABDULLAHI INDE DIKKO, THREAT TO LIFE AND INTIMIDATIOIN:

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.

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:

I just read with amusement the story carried as a lead report in the Nigerian Compass on Sunday, October 4 th, 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:

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.
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.
In any case, and in specific terms, the Presidency should tell the whole world what its findings are regarding the following:

WAEC Certificate No. 37836D allegedly obtained by Dikko in 1980 from the Government College Kaduna. Does that Certificate belong to him?
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?
What are the findings regarding the Higher Institute of Finance and Economics that Dikko claims to have attended in Bulgaria?

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?

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.

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.