Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari
The Presidency has condemned a viral report which alleged that
President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, received a
bribe of N29m to award a contract.
The Presidency faulted the allegation in a statement by the Senior
Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.
Read the statement in full below;
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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.
Garba Shehu
Senior Special Assistant to the President
(Media & Publicity)
September 8, 2018.