“Please stop telling such lies”- Hadiza Usman replies Amaechi

Rotimi Amaechi, the former minister of transport, has received a response from Hadiza Bala Usman, President Bola Tinubu’s special policy adviser.

According to OBASANJONEWS24, Amaechi made his first significant public appearance on Thursday following his loss in the All Progressives Congress, or APC, presidential primaries.

As the guest speaker at the 2023 TheNiche Annual Lecture, “Why We Stride and Slip: Leadership, Nationalism, and the Nigerian Condition,” which took place on Thursday in Lagos, Amaechi attacked Usman, charging that in her book “Stepping on Toes: My Odyssey at the Nigerian Ports Authority,” she had documented a false narrative.

The former governor of Rivers State continued her accusations against the former head of the NPA, claiming that she had given a contract for N2.8 billion.

Usman responded on Saturday, stating that Amaechi, the former Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, appeared to have moved past his loss in the APC primary and was gradually making his way back into the public eye.

The entire text of Usman’s response to Amaechi is as follows:

Amaechi needs to stop telling lies and mature.

I was not surprised by recent press reports that false allegations concerning me were made by His Excellency Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the endlessly petty former Minister of Transportation.

Nigerians have to get used to his lying, twisting facts, and speaking out of turn throughout his more than 20 years in public office.

This person, whose public behaviour belies this claim, once boldly said to Nigerians that he dislikes money. Nothing he says should surprise us since it has to be the most amazing falsehood any public figure, living or dead, has ever told Nigerians.

Apart from the hyperboles, distortions of reality, and downright lies he presented to his audience on Thursday, the former Minister made no new revelations that I had not already disclosed in my memoirs: Stepping on Toes: My Odyssey at the Nigerian Ports Authority.

READ ALSO: Amaechi claims that Hadiza Usman’s book contains “too many lies”

Even after reading the book, which has been available for purchase since April 2023, he realised that I had told Nigerians the truth about the circumstances surrounding my “stepping aside” and ultimate resignation as Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority.

In his tirade, Mr. Amaechi claimed that I had given a N2.8 billion contract. That is untrue. I’m not sure where the former Minister obtained his N2.8b estimate, given this charge was not included in the list of transgressions he sent me in response to a question about the findings of the Administrative Panel of Inquiry he established.

The sole matter concerning a contract award in the inquiry was the urgent acquisition of operating automobiles in the wake of the October 21, 2020, vandalism at the NPA’s Marina headquarters in Lagos.

Under the heading “Unilateral and improper use of the emergency procurement mode to procure vehicles,” this topic was covered in Query E.

In this instance, the NPA’s management was charged with acting without the Federal Executive Council’s consent when purchasing operational vehicles on an emergency basis “to the tune of One Billion, Two Hundred and Seventy-Seven Million, Six Hundred and Sixty Nine Thousand, One Hundred and Eighty-Three Naira Ninety Five Kobo(N1,277,669,183.95).”

In response to the question about the N1.2 billion expenditure, I stated that we had made the purchase in accordance with Sections 43 (1) (a), (2), (3), and (4) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 (PPA), which permits procuring entities to make purchases because of urgent needs and to acquire the required approval after the purchase is completed. The answer to the question, together with the supposed inflation of the vehicle costs and the approval that was received, are all covered in depth in the book between pages 166 and 171.

The FMOT question in Item F addressed waivers, a topic that the previous Minister also discussed. The book’s pages 171–175 contain the query and my answer outlining the facts and rationale for each waiver that the NPA management has given.

He misrepresented the information in Query C, which claimed that a supplemental agreement regarding the Lekki Deep Sea Port Concession Project had been executed unilaterally and was found on pages 163–165 of the book.

The Authority believed that the supplemental agreement was operational in nature and did not change any significant aspects of the concession agreement because it only rescheduled the construction timeframe for a berth and permitted other parties to participate in the development of dry bulk because the company was compelled to start construction at that time. This is what I explained in my response.

In addition, Mr. Amaechi stated that I was charged with about ten offences. I have not been informed of these ten counts, as no one has shared any such indictments with me. But may I inquire as to whether these counts encompass the purported failure to remit N165 billion in operating surpluses to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), for which he requested and was granted permission by former President Muhammadu Buhari to look into the NPA’s accounts and my “stepping aside from office”? Is it not the case that this serious accusation was not mentioned in the inquiry I got from the Ministry following the panel’s work?

According to media accounts from his talk, Mr. Amaechi “brandedished” the panel report by claiming to be keeping it to himself. However, given that the study’s details—which are found on pages 157 through 179 of my book—were made public as Appendix iii, I find myself questioning why the report is still secret. I have provided my answer to the Federal Ministry of Transportation’s (FMOT) comprehensive official inquiry into the alleged violations that resulted from the panel of inquiry’s investigation on these pages.

More to the point, though, why has he been the only one with access to this report?

Mr. Amaechi continues to act as though this is a private document he uses to brag to his friends and blackmail other Nigerians. But not! This is an official document that ought to be in the hands of the government, and copies ought to be distributed to the parties who have been charged in order for them to follow the recommendations. However, he acts as though he were the government and that only he has the authority to decide what to do with official documents.

He mentioned that of four printed copies, two of which had been taken. He even dared to imply that I was hoping that his own copy—which shouldn’t be in his home—would also be taken. Truly? How outlandish and inappropriate can people go when they hold public office?

It is conceited and self-serving of him to say that he is holding the report close to his chest in order to safeguard the interests of some “prominent Nigerians” who did not “look for his trouble.”

Once more, this thinking is indicative of the former Minister. He owns Nigeria, right? Does the phrase “looking for his trouble” influence whether or not someone is prosecuted for money they owe Nigeria? Why should the former minister hang onto such advice if individuals owe Nigeria money and have been ordered to reimburse because they failed to “look for his trouble”?

At last, he fussed a lot over whether or not I had given him a birthday present. Even though this is a small matter, he ought to respond to the question of whether or not he confided in someone that I never gave him a birthday present while serving as Minister.

He mentioned that I was his employee starting in 2013, implying that anyone working for him during that time would have given him a birthday present. I’m curious as to why, if you work for someone, giving them a birthday present should be automatic. When given opportunities to hold public office in Nigeria, individuals like Mr. Amaechi often behave badly because of their entitlement mentality. In actuality, you owe no one anything!

Either way, I collaborated with him exclusively from December 2014 to May 2015. In other words, how many birthdays would have passed in that time frame for me to give him “a lot of birthday presents,” as he stated?

Should it be true that I presented him with a gift during his tenure as Minister and he declined it, then why would he express dissatisfaction over my “many crimes” including failing to give him a birthday present? Please, the Minister, quit making fun of yourself by making up these untrue stories.

The fact that the former Minister is gradually making a comeback to public life after his abortive presidential attempt is encouraging. But he can’t and shouldn’t focus his attempt at a comeback on Hadiza Bala Usman.

I worked for Nigeria for five years as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, which was overseen by Mr. Amaechi, so he would undoubtedly have his own interpretation of the events. That’s not an issue, but when he expresses his viewpoint, I hope he makes an effort to remain true to the facts and fight the almost constant impulse to talk falsely and arbitrarily.