APCPCO accuses NIMASA of ‘hate campaign’ against Buhari

THE All Progressives Congress ( APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) Friday accused the Nigerian Maritime Administration & Safety Agency (NIMASA) of sponsoring a hate campaign against its presidential candidate, Maj- Gen Muhammadu Buhari (rtd).

 APCPCO particularly accused the Director General of the Agency, Mr. Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi, of masterminding the calumny.

 The Campaign’s Director of Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said in a statement that his outfit was in possession of evidence that NIMASA was behind the recent documentary by AIT and NTA. 

This, according to Shehu, contravenes the NIMASA Act, the Public Service Regulations, and the INEC Act 2010 as amended, among others.

 APCPCO decried the situation where a government agency uses public funds to sponsor a campaign of calumny against its candidate, which it said is not only illegal, but should also be condemned and investigated by the Joint Committees of the National Assembly on Marine Transportation.

If these claims were to be found to be true by the Joint Committee, the statement said, disciplinary action should be taken against the agency and its leadership.

 “It is a well known fact that the Director General of the Agency, Mr. Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi, was President Goodluck Jonathan’s and a well-known ex-militant’s errand boy. He was appointed there for the sole aim of satisfying an ex-militant’s camp, an assignment he has carried out well to the satisfaction of those who put him there through the award of a concessionaire phantom PPP project. Under this contract, a certain company, (Global West Vessels Specialists Ltd) was handed the legal responsibility of the Nigerian Navy (NN) of protecting the Nation’s Waterway and NIMASA’s Maritime Security function to the surprise of all industry observers and yet fail woefully in offering the necessary protection for the theft of Nigerian Crude Oil, which has only increased since then among other sea related crimes.”