RE-AMID LOOTING SPREE: ANIMALS
DYING IN DROVES AT NATIONAL ZOO
My attention has been drawn to a feature published
in the Daily Sun of September
19th, 2013 (pages 42-43) with the above headline in which some
issues on financial transactions were reused purportedly initiated by me. The
said feature, which portrayed me at the centre of the storm, was written by one
Mr. Maurice Achibong.
It is very necessary for me to react in order to
put records straight and disabuse the minds of members of the public. I Mr.
Choji Bwosh, Accountant, National Zoological Garden, Jos wish to categorically
state that I have never known Mr. Maurcine Achiboing before and still do not
known him, neither have I met him before. This entire lies are just a pigment
of the imagination of Mr. Achibong
Mr. Maurice Achibong, in the said feature, alleged
that I wrote a memo to the Director General of the National Commission for
Museum and monuments. Exposing, in his words, staggering incidence of fraud at
this facility. Let me unequivocally emphasize that I am not the author of the
purported memo and had never contemplated writing any memo of that nature. It
is surprising and disappointing that he could just wake up from sleep and cook
up bundles of lies.
Mr. Achibong's feature was a calculated attempt to
discredit my personality and cause friction between me, on one side, and the
managements of the National Zoological Garden and its parent body, the National
Commission for Museum and monuments, on the other
His kind
of journalism grossly undermines the tenets of the fourth realm of the estate,
hence I humbly request the Nigeria Union of Journalist and the Nigerian Press
Council to call him to order to check him from dragging the esteemed image of
the profession in the mud.
Let me also demand from Mr, Maurice Achibong an
unreserved apoiogy immediately or I request my lawyers to commence a court
process against him.
Permit me to use this opportunity to urge the
management of the NCMM headed by Mr. Abdallah Usman not to be deterred by such
distractions as they continue to discharge their duties, I strongly commend him
for the good work he is doing and pray that God will continue to bless him.
Mr. Choji
Bwosh, Accountant,
National Zoological Garden Jos.
Some twist in
the tale …
The above reaction from Mr. Choji Bwosh reached me
on Monday, September 23, 2013: five days after the report was published. My
initial reaction was to ignore Mr. Choji, but lest our silence be misconstrued,
it became necessary to make some clarifications, now. Other revelations may
follow in due course, should the need arise.
Mr. Choji had called me on phone several times on
September 19, 20 and the 21st and all he requested of me was to
state, in a follow-up report; that we never met, and that he did not give me
any document. As transcripts of our telephone chats would prove, if it came to
this; at no time during our conversations in those three days, did Choji claim
not to have written the documents from which excerpts were quoted.
It is also worth pointing out that, another Jos
Museum staff and labour activist (name withheld) had called, apparently on
Choji’s behalf, to express fear that my report may cost the accountant his job.
Like Choji, this labour activist never questioned the authenticity of the
document we quoted from. Again, like Choji, the unionist pleaded that we should
state in a follow-up report that I never met the accountant, and that Choji did
not personally avail me of any memo.
Since our investigations had already turned up
numerous incontrovertible evidences of fraud at the National Zoological Garden
Jos, we had no need to meet Choji and did not need him to furnish us with any
document. In fact, the NZGJ is just one of the ducts through which hundreds of
millions of naira have been siphoned over the years by crooks in the NCMM.
MOTNA (Museum of Traditional Nigerian Architecture) is another illegitimate
goldmine, and we are revisiting this aspect, soon.
Curiously, four days after the report in question
was published and after Choji and I had spoken severally, the man stated that I
woke “up from sleep and cook up bundles
of lies”. Interestingly,
akin to the poorly-written memos from Mr. Yusuf Abdallah Usman, the NCMM DG;
Choji’s complaints are also error-ridden: “FOURTH REALM OF THE ESTATE” and “This entire lies
are just a PIGMENT of the imagination”. What a mess! How did these characters get
into Nigeria’s federal civil service?
Death threats are nothing new to workers that exposed
corruption in the NCMM. It could be recalled that Comrade Bongo Bassey was once
threatened at Jos Museum. In the same vein, Comrade Adogah Abdullahi also had
cause to raise the alarm over threat to his life, too.
To be candid, most a man will cave-in under pressure
from harassment and intimidation, but through his apparent volte face, Choji
has diminished from hero to zero. We feel wont to see Choji’s rejoinder as a
mere after-thought contrived to distract attention from the main issue: that
money was being looted and/or misused at the NZGJ. The nation should beware of
ploys like this.
Choji wants Nigerians to believe he is “at the centre of the storm”. He is not and
the nation should remain alert and not lose sight of the substance, here. The
principal issue is that, going by available documents, huge sums of money had
been diverted and/or otherwise disbursed/spent in an unlawful manner at the
NZGJ.
We advise Choji to head to court and facilitate the
total exposure of the countless shenanigans perpetrated under the watch of
Yusuf Abdallah Usman. We stand by our story. And, stand even ever-ready to
disclose more of the fraudulent practices at the NZGJ, and the NCMM generally.
MAURICE ARCHIBONG
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