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29.04.2019 Rejoinder

RE: Islam, IG Wala’s Sentence And The Indictment Of Hajj Commission

By Ibrahim Muhammed
RE: Islam, IG Walas Sentence And The Indictment Of Hajj Commission
29.04.2019 LISTEN

O you, who believed, if there comes to you a disobedient one with information, investigate let you harm a people out of ignorance and become over what you have done, regretful. – Sura Al Hujurat, Ayah 6.

Dear Abdul Razak and those who have reads his scavenging piece, the above Quranic verse refers. Criss Jami once said that “Just because something isn't a lie does not mean that it isn't deceptive. A liar knows that he is a liar, but one who speaks mere portions of truth in order to deceive is a craftsman of destruction.”

The writer of the above piece is one Abdulrazaq o Hamzat, a personal assistant to Ibrahim Garba Wala, whom I had have cause to relate with on the same subject matter when IG Wala was arrested by the police. It was published by online newspaper Sahara reporters on 21st of April 2019.

Taking a cue from his principal and typical of their trademark of fabrications and conjectures, AbdulRazak Hamzat pen lines dotted with raw and naked lies without even an atom size of pretense to be on the side of objectivity. But who is this Abdulrazaq O Hamzat and what is his links to this mess?

Once upon a time, CATBAN an illegal NGO used a personal account number of an individual to publicly solicit for funds to prosecute a protest. The personal account number that was being used to illegally extorts money from the public belongs to one Abdul Razak O. Hamza (GTB 0024611335).

Looks familiar, right?

Well, it is none of my business about their fake activism builds on clientelistic patronage from blackmailers and rent seekers. Let me concede that Abdulrazak Hamza reserved his right to be embittered over the conviction of his principal by a competent court of law in a trial that lasted over a year. However, as a good brother, let me reminds AbdulRazak O. Hamza that one of the charges that sent IG Wala to Kuje prison in that he operates an unregistered NGO called CATBAN.

I am confused, you said IG Wala was “said to have uncovered monumental corruption in hajj commission” and yet, instead of him to proves this “monumental corruption’ in the Court of Law with the evidence, this so-called ‘activists “vehemently denied that he made the allegations in the first place as contained in paragraph, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the witness statement of defense he submitted to the Court dated 25th of August 2018”

“His statement of witness said “That I never owned a facebook account referred to as “IG Wala” as my name is Ibrahim Garba Wala, being the name contain in this suit.”

“That the said publication made on 26th of September 2017 was purportedly or allegedly made by “IG Wala” not me.”

“That the said publications which are purportedly false, reckless, malicious and highly defamatory in connotations are written in the facebook account of “IG Wala” not the defendant and that it is evidently clear from the name of the account which the purported publication was made is different from my name”.

Again, Paragraph 13 of the statement of defense tendered before the court by the defense averred “That the whole essence of this suit is to embarrass me as I know nothing of this case” A clear and unambiguous denial by the defense.

Now, let me shreds his cobbled tissues of lies as they appear in that frustration induced write up.

He said IG Wala first petitioned anti-corruption agencies before going on social media. That it was after he submitted the petition with evidence that he published part of it.

Fact:

IG Wala posted the following allegations in his Facebook page on Tuesday 26th of September 2017 “Corruption in Hajj Commission! Official Documents made available to CATBAN reveals that the Chairman of NAHCON after 2017 Hajj operations makes not less than N3Billion for himself.

On 9thof October 2019, a 100 million naira defamation suit was filed in the High court of the Federal Capital Territory by Yusuf Dankofa PhD on behalf of NAHCON Chairman via suit no FCT/HC/CC/1301/ 17. He was served the same day.

Interestingly, IG Wala petition against NAHCON Chairman was dated 12th December 2017 and it was submitted and received by EFCC on 22nd of December 2017. In Summary, IG Wala petitioned EFCC 87 days after his first Facebook post and 75 days after he was served with court processes.

Again, Hamzat claims that IG Wala turned down an offer of out of Court settlements. Facts indicate otherwise. IG Wala legal team wrote a letter dated 17th December 2018 and titled” REQUEST FOR OUT OF COURT SETTLEMENT IN RESPECT OF CHARGE NO FCT/HC/CR/96/18 IN RESPECT OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA VS IBRAHIM GARBA WALA AND SUIT NO. FCT/HC/CC/1301/ 17 BETWEEN ABDULAHI MYUKHTAR VS IBRAHIM GARBA WALA. The letter was addressed to Yusuf Dankofa and Co, suit 03 Choice Plaza, Alkali Road, Kaduna and was signed by Barr Abdul Muhammed.

This is aside from several Prominent people he has to send to plead with NAHCON Chairman.

On the day of Judgment, he approached Jafaar Jafaar and told him that he is ready to abide by any condition set by Abdullahi Mukhtar if he could place a call to him to escape today’s judgment.

Hamza repeatedly quoting part of Senate Ad-hoc committee on accommodation, logistics, feeding etc, onshore and offshore of the Nigeria pilgrims to support his pointless opinion. First, the Senate ad-hoc committee has not been adopted by the Senate until today because of the questionable and one-sided contents therein.

Abdul Razak said the report of the Senate was carried by several national dailies, but forget to add that the report of the Senate ad-hoc committee was also factually discredited as reported by several national dailies. Part of the reports published by Premium Times Newspaper said that “

“The Nigerian consular general to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Yunusa, has lambasted members of a Senate ad-hoc committee who accused the leadership of National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) of extortion. Mr. Yunusa, in a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES Wednesday, said the Adamu Aliero-led committee only “concocted lies” aimed at disparaging the chairman of NAHCON, Abdullahi Mohammed.

The committee said as part of its task, members traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet with relevant groups and individuals.

Mr. Yunusa, however, said the team did not meet with a single organization involved in the Hajj affairs.

“How can you say you are investigating (the) conduct of Hajj operations and officials? You came all the way to Saudi Arabia and refused to meet with the Ministry of Hajj, the Adilla in Madinah, hotel owners, caterers, car syndicate and Muassassa,?” Mr. Yunusa said.

He said what the committee did was to meet with a group of Nigerians who had earlier written a petition against the NAHCON chairman.

The envoy said when Mr. Aliero and his team arrived Saudi, “they went straight to meet with Sabo Lagos and his group and they only called me around 1 a.m. At first, I declined to go and meet them but realized that as distinguished senators, they deserve some respect, so I went.”

“When I got there, Senator Danbaba started shouting at me and I had to shout back. No one can shout at me at this age.

“I arranged a meeting for them with the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, the highest organ in terms of Hajj management and anybody willing to get credible information should be there first, but they refused to come for the meeting.

“I am sorry to say but anyone that traveled to Saudi Arabia, refused to meet with his real intended target, only to come back home and write a fake report, does not deserve to be called distinguished.”

“They just went there in a jamboree and they already (had) a mindset to tarnish the image of the people in NAHCON, for selfish reasons,” Mr. Yunusa said.

The consular general said, “I challenge the committee to produce the minutes of their meetings in Saudi Arabia if they held any.”

On the claim that Saudi Arabia only recognizes Foreign Affairs Ministry and Civil Aviation. The Aliero committee alleged that “under normal circumstances“, Saudi Arabian authorities recognize two institutions as far as Hajj is concerned”. That allegation has turned out to be false. The Saudi Arabian Government recognizes and deals with Hajj Affairs Offices for all countries which is the case of Nigeria is the National Hajj Commission. Indeed the Minister of Hajj of Saudi Arabia issued a circular with No:694386, dated November 4, 2012, to all Hajj Affairs offices that they should strictly confine themselves to their duties as Hajj missions. The circular admonished Hajj Affairs offices to stick to their roles as the recognized Hajj body of their countries.

The circular separated consular and diplomatic duties as distinct from Hajj activities missions adding that “The Ministry of Hajj is the overseer of the Affairs of these pilgrims offices for all countries. All correspondences between these offices and any Saudi Government authority must be channeled through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”. This is in line with internationally accepted protocol of communication between organizations across borders. It is applicable to all Agencies of Government, not the Hajj Commission alone.

That report has not been adopted because of its questionable and outright conjecture therein.

Secondly, there has never been a time that IG Wala and NAHCON chairman makes presentations to Senate ad-hoc committee on pilgrims’ accommodation and other logistics. The Committee conducted a public hearing on 17th of January, 2018which was never attended by IG Wala.

NAHCON Chairman/CEO was later invited to appear before the Committee on 27th February 2018 where he met two other invitees namely Capt. Joji and I.G. Wala. Senator Aliero now told NAHCON Chairman that IG Wala did make submission and that they want him to respond. NAHCON Chairman categorically told the Senate committee that he cannot dwell on an issue that is already before the Court of law. He was asking a question on an issue raised by Captain Joji. He enlightens them on the issue of Captain Joji and left.

On the false committee reports about contravene procurements acts. Yes, it is a fact that the committee report mentioned that NAHCON has no procurement unit or trained officers. NAHCON submission to Senate committee which they deliberately ignored shows that a procurement unit exists in the commission and is headed by a Director, Habu Ningi, a staff of the Bureau of Public Procurement seconded to the Commission.

The unit since inception was headed by Mr. Ningi, who was there for about a year and a half, followed by one Mr. Abdul-Salam Olagunju, and SahaboYerima, before Mr. Ningi was returned again. Furthermore, NAHCON had one of its staff, Shehu Namaska trained as a certified procurement officer.

On the alleged senate committee hogwash indictment about non-payment of revenue generated into the consolidated account. The truth is that these charges and others offshore are captured in the expected revenue of NAHCON which was sent to the acting president for approval via the Secretary to the Government of the Federation on May 24, 2017, with Ref. No: NAHCON/AU/16/XXX/933The acting President, Yemi Osinbajo granted approval on June 12. All these facts were supplied to the committee they ignored them because of certain interests which will be made public at the appropriate time.

Curiously, Abdul Razak is calling on Muslim Ummah to come and support someone who published over 23 different allegations against another Muslim and yet, he could not substantiate or present a shred of single evidence to back his accusation in an open Court. Muslim leaders should come to the aid of high profile blackmailer.

Quite interesting, the likes of Abdulrazak has only succeeded in clapping with hand in support of IG Wala because their support begins and ends in social media. Neither he nor any of his numerous social media followers have ever for once followed him to the Court.

Finally, I advise the likes of Abdul Razak to allow the misguided sleeping dog lie and see how he can wake up to continue his barking business. However, if he is not tamed or warned from illegality and outright falsehood for worthless pecuniary gains and fame, others may take him through the same route that NAHCON Chairman has dragged him.

BY Ibrahim Muhammed

08037024356

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