The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said Zubairu Dada, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, is not involved in the N10 million bribery scandal and job racketeering.
Ferdinand Nwonye, the spokesperson for the Ministry, made the rebuttal in a statement on Friday in reaction to a report by an online platform allegedly indicting the minister.
According to the ministry, Dada has never met an official of the ministry, Suleiman Momoh, mentioned as his accomplice in the report.
It described the report as baseless, saying it is aimed at tarnishing the image of the minister.
The statement read: “The attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been drawn to a report by Sahara Reporters, dated 20th April, 2021, alleging that the Honourable Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, H.E. Ambassador Zubairu Dada was involved in a N10 million bribery scandal and job racketeering alongside one Mr Suleiman Momoh, a staff of the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa, which is a parastatal under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and supervised by the Office of the Honourable Minister of State.
“The Ministry wishes to inform the general public that the reports is untrue, baseless and should be disregarded as the Honourable Minister of State does not known and has never met the officer in question – Mr Suleiman Momoh, neither has he ever been involved in any transaction with him either personally or through any agent, at any point in time.
“The Ministry wishes to further clarify that the Honourable Minister of State does not have any ‘boy’ who represent or run errands on his behalf as DTCA or elsewhere, as alleged in the report.
“The Ministry therefore uses this opportunity to urge the general public to kindly disregard the report, as it was a mischievous ploy to malign the Honourable Minister and defame his hard-earned reputation.”
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