The Chairman of Presidential Declaration Committee, Bello Haliru, has dismissed the ongoing campaign of calumny against his person and Vice President Namadi Sambo by some people using Hajiya Binta Kuraye.
Reacting to an advertorial in a national daily, Mr. Haliru described the allegations raised against him as unsubstantiated and an orchestrated campaign of calumny.
In the advertorial, Binta Kuraye, had advised President Goodluck Jonathan to drop Mr. Haliru as the chairman of his re-election declaration committee, saying he is a “political paper weight”.
She also posited that Vice President Sambo has no political relevance to the presidential re-election campaign, citing an earlier position of Al-Mustapha Jokolo.
But in his reaction, Mr. Haliru, through his Media Assistant, Emeka Nwakapa, states:
“In an open letter, advertised in the Sun of 30th October, 2014, which was, obviously, crafted for her by her sponsors and partners in blackmail and calumny, Hajiya Binta Kuraye advised President Goodluck Jonathan on the danger of appointing Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed, former acting National Chairman of the PDP, as Head of his Declaration Committee. In her view, Dr. Bello is “a political paper weight”.
“Hajiya Binta also advised the President on what she called the ‘irrelevance’ of Vice President Namadi Sambo to the Presidential re-election campaign. She copiously quoted Al-Mustapha Jokolo, a deposed and discredited monarch, who had made some wild and unsubstantiated statements about the Vice President in an earlier interview.
“We would not have bothered to respond to her vituperations, as everyone knows her reputation and capacity for mischief. Hajiya Binta Kuraye, a known felon, was recently arraigned before an FCT High Court on account of issuing dud cheques valued at N17.5 million and was remanded in Kuje Prison, having earlier jumped administrative bail granted her by the EFCC.
“But inspite of her notoriety, we owe it to the public to correct the wrong impressions she might have created of these two illustrious leaders. Both Dr. Bello and Vice President Sambo have made invaluable contributions to the PDP and the development of Nigeria, in general. They have served and continue to serve this country, meritoriously, in various capacities.
“On Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed, Hajiya Binta made the wild allegation that he benefitted from monetary gifts from a German telecommunication company, SIEMENS, when he was Minister of Communications.
“Dr. Bello has said, time and again, that he had nothing to do with the alleged bribery scandal either in person or by proxy. He has never met or heard of Mr. Siekaczek, neither did he have any personal relationship with Mr. Siedel. For the avoidance of doubt, Dr. Bello did not, at any time, receive any amount, whatsoever, from these men or anybody purportedly acting on their behalf.
“It should be noted that there was no reason for Siemens to bribe Dr. Bello as a Minister of Communications, as NITEL, to which Siemens was a contractor, was already under the supervision of the Bureau of Public Enterprises in preparation for its sale, under the auspices of the National Council of Privatisation.
“It is significant to state that Dr. Bello went through security screening and was cleared before Senate confirmed his appointment as Minister of Defence in 2011.
“In her disparaging remarks on Vice President Namadi Sambo, Hajiya Binta, questioned the electoral value of the Vice President and adopted Jokolo’s blinkered and unintelligent evaluation of him. That evaluation deliberately ignored the fact that Namadi Sambo won the Governorship Election in Kaduna State in 2007 and would have won a second term easily in 2011 but for the fact that Allah had designed a higher position for him. He led the PDP to victory in the Governorship Election in Kaduna State, in 2011, and mobilised the highest votes for PDP in the Presidential Election, which was the highest in the states of the North (1, 190, 179; 46.9% of the total votes cast) against Buhari’s 1,334,244.
“Facts are sacred and they, clearly, do not support the hollow claims by Hajiya Binta and her cohorts. Namadi Sambo has been a loyal, discreet and efficient Vice President, who has managed his position with great dignity in the last four years or so. He has proven to be a consummate team player and has contributed, in no small measure, to perhaps the most cohesive and peaceful presidency in Nigeria’s democratic history. He is, indeed, an asset.
“As for Hajiya Binta Kuraye and her sponsors, I say, “By their fruits you shall know them!”
