It is political campaign season again, and it comes
with the usual peddling of mischief and smear by hatchet players who do not
give a care whose reputation is marred. Our attention, sadly, has once again
been drawn to a statement, issued by the Director of media and publicity of the
PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief. Femi Fani-Kayode. The statement
contains what we consider to be unfortunate, wild and irresponsible slander,
this time not only against the name of our firm, Afri-Projects Consortium, but
also, most disturbingly, the person of our departed friend, colleague and
brother of blessed memory, the late Salihijo Ahmad. Mr. Fani-Kayode refers to the
late Salihijo Ahmed as “the witness that could have nailed Buhari about the
graft that took place at PTF … but died under mysterious circumstances”. Once
again an old and archaic report, which has long been over taken by events and
discredited, is being bandied in a desperate effort to rubbish the
accomplishments of the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF) which operated in the
years between 1995 and 1999, under which our firm, Afri-Projects Consortium, served
as Management Consultants.
We have had occasion sometime in November 2002 to
respond to a smear campaign related to this same report. As we have always
stated, ours is a professional firm. Our name represents and associates with a
large group of patriotic Nigerian consultants whose primary aspiration is the
pursuit of excellence and professional integrity. We are a non-political
organization and would ordinarily opt not to respond to such innuendoes that
have political intent. We also believe that the members of the Board of
Trustees of the defunct PTF were all persons of towering character and esteem.
Their names were a roll call of honour and integrity: Gen. Muhammadu Buhari
(Rtd.) – Executive Chairman, Mallam Yahaya Gusau, Alhaji Ahmed Talib, Chief
Rufus F. Giwa, Prof. J. P. Clark, Prof. Chimere Ikoku, Chief D. B. Zang and
Chief Tayo Akpata. All of them, except Gen. Buhari and Prof. J. P Clark, have
passed on to the great beyond. Their integrity and blessed memory cannot
possibly be denigrated by the exuberance of a director of media and publicity
of a political campaign. Nonetheless, we are compelled to respond to this
hubris, not only to protect the honour of our late colleague Salihijo Ahmad,
but also in defence of hard work of hundreds of professionals and conscientious
staff who toiled day and night during the PTF years to give the nation their
best in the delivery of meaningful projects.
The PTF was scrapped by then President Obasanjo in
late June 1999 shortly after his inauguration on 29th May 1999. He set up an
Interim Management Committee (IMC) headed by Dr Haroun Adamu, to wind it up.
The IMC went into a frenzy of investigation of the PTF operations and submitted
a report in early 2000. That Haroun Adamu report, which is now being referred
to, was a report lacking in credibility and undertaken with pre-conceived
notion of uncovering imaginary "sleaze" by any means. For instance,
the Committee report accused our firm of over invoicing our professional fees,
and recommended that we refund N2.4 billion. Up till that moment we had
received fees amounting to about N2.67billion, an amount less than 1.5% of the
total value of PTF projects and programmes under our management. We had
provided consultancy services spanning 4 years full time, involving over 350
highly skilled professional and support staff, at offices and sites located all
over the country.
President Obasanjo fired the Haroun Adamu led
Committee in March 2000 for incompetence, and amidst serious charges of
embezzlement. Several hundreds of millions of Naira of public funds stolen from
the PTF were actually recovered from some members of that Committee. In the subsequent year following the
dissolution of that Dr. Haroun Adamu led IMC, two other Committees were
assigned to continue the investigation of the defunct PTF. It was under the
headship of Malam Adamu Waziri (former Hon. Minister of Police Affairs) however
that a final and comprehensive report was eventually submitted to the
President. Not only were all our responses affirmed, but the government team
also accepted the validity of a substantial portion of our outstanding fees.
Part of these fees was approved and subsequently paid.
The PTF certainly underwent some of the most rigorous
investigations carried out on any agency. Having gone through three
investigative committees and several audit firms over a period of about 24
months, none of the principals of Afri-Projects Consortium was ever indicted of
wrongdoing. As it is, Chief Obasanjo himself has now affirmed that the PTF
headed by General Buhari was indeed probed and nothing amiss was found. So,
where is the so-called “graft” that the late Salihijo
Ahmad would have exposed?
We have had nothing but the highest regard for Gen.
Buhari and the other members of the Board of Trustees of the defunct PTF. Their
names and personalities still remain embodiments of integrity and selfless
service. We expect that politicians like Femi Fani-Kayode should learn to
respect the worth of our past and present heroes. The late Salihijo died in
Abuja on Monday 5th July 1999, barely a week after the appointment of the IMC
headed by Dr. Haroun Adamu and about seven months before they filed their
discredited report. We therefore demand that they should leave the deceased’s
soul rest in perfect peace, as we pray to Allah to grant Salihijo Ahmad’s soul
Al-jannatul Firdaus. Ameen.
Afri-Projects Consortium as a Firm and its consultants
and associates have till today continued to lead active and successful
professional lives. Since 1999, we have moved on to make contributions and
perform important professional duties on projects and programmes in public and
private agencies and organisations. Our principals have held public offices in
all the past three administrations. We have undertaken several national and international
assignments and are leaders in our respective professions. We are proud that
our integrity has withstood the most exerting scrutiny, during and ever since
the PTF years.
We wish to state that our firm, Afri-Projects
Consortium, related with the defunct PTF in a professional and principled
manner. We discharged our services to PTF conscientiously giving our best; and
after its scrapping stayed around and engaged to give account of our services,
and we did so creditably and satisfactorily. That was what our sense of duty
dictated to us; it is what the late Salihijo Ahmad would have wished us to do.
Signed:
ü Engr. Nuruddeen A.
Rafindadi, FNSE. Past President, ACEN - Partner
ü Alh. Murtala Aliyu,
FNIQS. President, NIQS. - Partner
ü Engr. A. Dahiru,
FNSE. – Managing Partner
ü Ms. Amina J.
Mohammed. UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Post-
2015 Development
Planning.– Partner (Rtd.)
Afri-Projects
Consortium.
29 January 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment