A public policy and governance advocate, Okezie Emmanuel, has alleged that the leadership of the Bureau
of Public Procurement (BPP) is being targeted by a coordinated smear campaign orchestrated by vested interests seeking to undermine ongoing reforms in Nigeria’s procurement system.
Emmanuel, who is of the Baobab Centre for Public Integrity, made the allegation in a statement issued, following the circulation of a document presented as a “petition” by a group identifying itself as the Conference of Civil Society for Transparency and Accountability (COCTA).
The document, according to him, purports to lend support to an earlier submission by one Musa Aliyu, Esq.
According to Emmanuel, preliminary inquiries and reviews indicated that the document was not motivated by genuine concern for transparency or accountability, but represented what he described as a crude and poorly coordinated attempt to destabilise the BPP under its current leadership.
He alleged that credible intelligence and internal records pointed to identifiable individuals within and around the Bureau who had, in recent months, attempted to compromise procurement processes by pressuring officials to issue Certificates of No Objection without adherence to statutory requirements as stipulated under the Public Procurement Act.
“These attempts were firmly resisted by the leadership of the Bureau in line with the law,” Emmanuel said, adding that the failure to subvert due process allegedly triggered the resort to petitions and media-driven pressure.
According to the Baobab Centre official, those allegedly behind the campaign had since regrouped and were now working in concert with former staff members and external collaborators who were unsuccessful in previous bids for the Bureau’s top leadership position.
He said such individuals had remained aggrieved by what he described as a transparent and merit-based process that produced the current Director-General of the BPP.
“Their objective is not reform, but revenge; not accountability, but the capture of a system they failed to control,” Emmanuel stated.
He further questioned the substance of the circulating petition, noting that it contained no verifiable evidence, no transactional trail, no documentary proof, and no independent corroboration of its allegations.
Instead, he said, the document relied on sensational claims designed to provoke suspicion and manufacture public outrage.
Emmanuel warned that such tactics were familiar within public institutions, often aimed at generating controversy, forcing suspensions, and creating institutional vacuums through which undue influence could be reintroduced.
He cautioned the Nigerian public, the media, and law-enforcement agencies against being misled by what he described as a well-worn strategy intended to derail institutional reforms.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the leadership of the BPP has demonstrated that it has nothing to hide and nothing to fear from lawful scrutiny,” Emmanuel said.
“However, no public institution should be expected to submit to blackmail, media trials, or petitions sponsored by disgruntled insiders and their external hirelings masquerading as civil society actors,” he stated.
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The Baobab Centre for Public Integrity also called on the media and relevant authorities to treat the circulating document with caution and to disregard it as a sponsored distraction aimed at undermining reforms currently underway at the Bureau.
Emmanuel further disclosed that, in the interest of national security and institutional integrity, a comprehensive report was being compiled detailing the activities, identities, and operational links of individuals allegedly involved in attempts to improperly influence procurement outcomes and those participating in the smear campaign.
According to him, the report would be forwarded to the appropriate security and investigative agencies for further inquiry.
He said this would include individuals who sought to influence procurement decisions unlawfully, those who facilitated or encouraged such attempts, and those now acting as paid fronts under the guise of civil society advocacy.
He reaffirmed the need for the Bureau of Public Procurement to remain steadfast in its mandate to uphold transparency, due process, and the strict application of the Public Procurement Act.
“No amount of intimidation, sponsored petitions, or coordinated noise should derail this commitment,” Emmanuel said.
