Abba Kyari has gotten the backing of the Presidency, in an alleged N29million naira contract scam allegedly published against him by Punch Newspaper.
The Presidency which in a statement released by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on media, Mr. Garba Shehu last night, said the Presidency takes offence to the false bribery allegation levelled against the Chief of Staff Mr. Abba Kyari by Punch Newspaper and that they should be ready to face the music in court.
The action by the Presidency, threatening Punch Newspaper with a court action, could be misinterpreted as the government being one sided in its fight against corruption.
This was one of the allegations levelled against the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration by Senator Shehu Sani who once alleged to have accused the government of fighting corruption with deodorant when it comes to it’s own officials and few party members, but uses insecticide when it comes to the members of the National Assembly.
The Senator from Kaduna State had said this during the now infamous case of the alleged grass cutting scandal that rocked the Presidency a few weeks back.
The move by Presidency also could be seen by most people sayingng the Presidency rather than investigate and probably call the publisher for a proper insights into the allegations, its condemnation of Punch Newspaper and siding of Abba Kyari, was rather too swift.
It has promised a showdown with Punch Newspaper in a Court of law, as to them, the publication was done to malign the character and person of the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari to President Muhammadu Buhari’.
Again, you ask, why is Abba Kyari not responding to this allegations himself, since it is an individual in the Presidency that is been accused and not the President to which Garba Shehu is responsible to…hian!…lol I just love the way Nigerians play their politics…
That said, the Presidency in condemning the allegation of N29million bribe, released this statement:
CORRUPTION ALLEGATION AGAINST ABBA KYARI HINGED ON FICTION
The Presidency takes strong offence to the improbable and outlandish publication by Punch Newspaper today (Saturday) in a dig at presidential aide Abba Kyari who was alleged to have collected a 29 million naira bribe for the awarding of a contract.
We wish to state with full authority that the allegation is wrong and the Chief of Staff did not have any private meetings with the person making those allegations.
What is even more surprising is the decision by the newspaper to run the cooked up lies despite obvious loopholes in the story, such as the Bureau of Public Procurement’s denial that a major source for the story was a member of their staff. With a slew of crucial elections ahead, some politicians and their media agents appear to be working together to build pressure on the Buhari administration by wielding non-existent scandals against it.
We equally note that the supply of 15 Hilux vehicles for the Presidency was an unlikely contract to have been awarded, as it did not exist anywhere in the 2016 and 2017 budgets.
Checking the appropriation for 2016 and 2017, that request is not even there. How could Abba Kyari have asked for money to award a contract that did not exist anywhere at all?
In addition to that, the amount allegedly given in bribe was also suspicious, as the office of the presidential aide had been known in the past to receive imprest of 200 million naira and above every month, with no one expected to give account.
It was only since Abba Kyari occupied that position that things changed.
In blunt terms, it is difficult to make a case of N29 million bribery against an official who spurned a monthly payment of N200 million to his office, money for which he didn’t need to account to anyone.
Once again, we wish to caution against the media’s haste to publish unverified accusations against government officials simply for the sensationalism value, without journalists doing the due diligence required of them by their profession.
The Punch was notified of the various falsehoods contained in the allegations but still went ahead to publish the weak accusations. They should be prepared to face Abba Kyari in court.