Buhari
The All Progressives Congress, APC, has challenged the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, to proceed with its threat of suing the party for claiming that the agency was responsible for the hate campaign against its presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, in the news media.
The party, which promised to present evidence against the agency in court if it institutes the litigation, reiterated its stand that NIMASA is behind the ongoing hate campaign against the person and character of Muhammadu Buhari. This was as it described NIMASA as a campaign outpost for the PDP.
Recall that the Director-General of NIMASA, Ziakede Akpobolokemi, had on Sunday given the opposition party an ultimatum of 72 hours to retract the allegations or risk a legal action.
But a statement from the Director of Media and Publicity of the APC’s presidential campaign organization, Garba Shehu, said Akpobolokemi was only issuing as an empty threat, adding that “NIMASA is trying to reduce this to a campaign issue, but the truth is that the conversion of a statutory government agency into one actively promoting partisan political actions of the president is of national significance.”
Shehu maintained that, “There are several acts of the management that are at variance with the objectives and scope of activities of the agency as spelled out under the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency Act, 2007.
“NIMASA Act does not envisage the involvement of the agency in political campaign. It certainly has no provision for hate campaigns against Buhari, nor does it allow for the funding of the activities of the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN).
“It assumes a more serious dimension when staff members are denied their dues and money shipped out to fund illegal activities,” the party alleged.
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