A political group, the Initiative to Save Democracy, ISD, has accused the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of using a section of the media to propagate its Dubai strategy towards tarnishing the image of President President Muhammadu Buhari and the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
ISD made the claim in a statement made available to DAILY POST on Saturday, stressing that a recent report titled: OSINBAJO’S FIRM LINKED TO COMPANY FINGERED IN ALLEGED N100B ALPHA BETA SCAM, was a pointer that it was working to spread fake news and be mischievous.
President of the group, Sunday James Akinloye, who signed the statement, said the report failed to establish any clear-cut relationship between Osinbajo’s former law firm and Ocean Trust Limited.
Stressing that “Osinbajo has nothing to do with this old and stale matter, the group asked, “if the VP has stakes in First Bank, MTN or any other company he is responsible for the actions and inactions of such organizations?”
“This is the worst kind of reporting particularly from Punch, a newspaper that is fully implementing PDP’s Dubai strategy. Nigerians and all people of goodwill are hereby reminded of the evil intentions behind the whole charade against the VP.”
“Even the skewed report stated that Simmons Coopers was listed as a company in which Prof Yemi Osinbajo (now Vice-President) ‘had’ a stake in his asset declaration form in 2015. The VP could not have continued with the firm and he resigned before he became VP. This is public knowledge.”
Akinloye then went on to explain that not only does Osinbajo “have nothing to do with the law firm or its transactions; Simmon Coopers again has said it is not the Company Secretary. This is also in the public space.
“Our checks with Corporate Affairs Commission officials show that Simmon Coopers were never appointed Company Secretary instead there was a resolution to appoint Simmon Coopers but they were never appointed.
“Anyone can go to CAC to verify the documents, they are completely fake claims. A paper submitted by a company to CAC of its plans or intentions is not the same thing as a CAC document.”
The group continued, “Students of history, will be perplexed that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in July 2018 had investigated this matter, 7and the Vice President was not associated with the case in anyway.”
“Prof. Osinbajo is a man of integrity, he is a honest man who has served Nigeria in every way possible, the least he deserves is this kind of fake reportage. Nigerians must be weary of reports like this.
“This story is a clear malicious attempt to impugn the stellar credentials of perhaps Nigeria’s most influential & hardworking Nigerian VP,” ISD declared.
