Hadiza Bala Usman, a former Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, has accused Rotimi Amaechi, the immediate former Minister of Transportation, of making false claims about her newly launched book.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Usman said Amaechi had been making unfounded accusations against her, including that she awarded a contract worth N2.8 billion as Managing Director of the NPA despite having an approval limit of N2.5 million.
Usman said Amaechi’s claims were “false” and she did not know where he got the N2.8 billion figure from. She said the only issue relating to a contract award in the query she received from the Federal Ministry of Transportation was about the emergency purchase of operational vehicles following the vandalisation of the NPA headquarters in Lagos in October 2020.
“Recent newspaper reports of false claims attributed to the eternally petty ex-Minister of Transportation, His Excellency Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, about me did not come as a surprise.
“In his over two decades in public office, Nigerians must be used to the fluidity with which he tells lies, manipulates facts, and talks out of turn. Here is someone who once brazenly told Nigerians that he doesn’t like money, even when his public conduct contradicts this assertion. That must be the most fantastic lie that any public official, living or dead, has ever told Nigerians and so, nothing he says should astonish us.
“Aside from exaggerations, manipulation of the truth, and outright lies which he threw at his audience on Thursday, the former Minister said nothing that I did not already reveal in my memoirs: ‘Stepping on Toes: My Odyssey at the Nigerian Ports Authority.
“The book has been on sale since April 2023, but has he even read it to understand that I didn’t hide anything from Nigerians about the events surrounding my ‘stepping aside,’ and eventual exit as Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority,” she said.
Usman also said Amaechi had twisted the facts about other allegations against her, such as the alleged unilateral execution of a supplemental agreement regarding the Lekki Deep Sea Port Concession Project. She said the authority believed that the supplemental agreement was operational and did not alter any major aspect of the concession agreement.
Speaking further, Usman said she did not know what the ten counts were that Amaechi claimed she was indicted on, because no one communicated any such indictments to her. She asked Amaechi whether these counts include the alleged non-remittance of N165 billion of operating surpluses to the Consolidated Revenue Fund. She said this allegation did not appear in the query that she received from the FMOT.
Usman urged Amaechi to “grow up and stop all these lies.” She said Nigerians were used to the fluidity with which he tells lies, manipulates facts, and talks out of turn.
She also said she had not hidden anything from Nigerians in her book and that Amaechi had said nothing that she had not already revealed.
