Timi Frank, a former deputy national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, may be biting more than he could chew for making false allegation against Simbi Wabote, executive secretary for the Nigerian Content and Development Board,( NCDMB). Basing his call on a shaky premise in a statement he issued on Wednesday in Abuja, Frank urged President Muhammadu Buhari, to sack Wabote over his alleged breach of Code of Conduct for public officers in the country. Wabote has strongly denied this allegation.
Niger Delta Herald reports that Frank’s statement, which did not provide any proof of the allegation also runs contrary to what transpired at the court in Pennsylvannia in United States. He stated that Wabote recently admitted before an American Court to operating foreign bank accounts with Bank of America and HSBC Dubai. But Wabote has strongly refuted this allegation when Realnews contacted him on Wednesday afternoon.
According to Frank’s allegation, Wabote and his attorneys had in response to Interrogatory #11 admitted the illegality on record while being cross-examined by a defense counsel in a libel case he (Wabote) instituted against Jackson Ude, a journalist, in a United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Frank wrote that the admission by Wabote is a direct breach of Part 1, Section 3 of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which bars public officers from operating foreign bank accounts.
Frank, who is the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, ULMWP, Ambassador to East Africa and Middle East, also accused Wabote of spending taxpayers’ money to pursue a personal cause in the the United States, an act he described as dishonorable and illegal, calling on led on relevant committees of the National Assembly, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Code of Conduct Bureau to investigate and prosecute Wabote over the apparent constitutional violation.
It is both immoral and illegal for the NCDMD boss to spend budgetary allocations to the Agency to fight a personal vendetta. As a Bayelsan citizen where Wabote hails from, I am highly embarrassed by his conduct. He is supposed to have resigned to pursue his case instead of staying in office and using public funds to fight a personal cause.
“I think Buhari should not waste time in causing the investigation of Wabote over this fragrant undermining of the Constitution in use of taxpayers’ money to prosecute a libel suit he instituted in the USA against a journalist, Jackson Ude – Publisher of the Eagle newspaper online.
“It is this type of dishonourable conduct on the part of public officers that make other nations of the world to regard Nigerian officials as grossly corrupt and it must be urgently nipped in the bud to serve as a deterrent to others.
“Nobody is saying, Wabote has no right to institute a libel suit in America, but let him first resign his appointment and use his personal funds to pay foreign law firms he has engaged rather than using taxpayers’ money illegally,†Frank declared.
However, Wabote in his initial reaction said: “God, this is rubbish. I do not have any foreign account and never admitted such. I will share the transcipt with you whn it is out. They did not even ask for any Foreign account in my six hours deposition. These are sinking guys looking to hold on any straw. Sad and sad indeed. They know they are loosing so they have resorted to media trial and war.
Niger Delta Herald reports that the American court has thrice ruled against Jackson Ude and once threatened to commit him to contempt of court. Judge Joseph Leeson Jr. has also thrice granted all the relief sought by Wabote against Ude.
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