The Young Professionals for Peace and Development, Coalition of Civil Society Against Corruption, South East Frontiers, Niger Delta Advocacy for Good Governance, and Yoruba Action Group for Sustainable Development have apologised to the Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority(NMDPRA), Engr Farouk Ahmed, over false allegations of corruption levelled against him.
The leadership of the groups include the Director, Lawyers in Defence of Good Governance, Olawale Mudasiru; the National Co-ordinator, Northern Interest Project, Abdullahi Farouk; President, Young Professionals for Peace and Development, Engr. Emeka Obiora; President, Coalition of Civil Society Against Corruption, Comrade Adedayo Oluwasegun; Coordinator, South East Frontiers, Agozie Chibudom; President, Niger Delta Advocacy for Good Governance, Perepate Godspower; and President, Yoruba Action Group for Sustainable Development, Mogbojuri A. Alao, tendered their apologies and also withdrew their petitions calling for the removal of the NMDPRA’s CEO.
In a statement on Wednesday signed by the leadership of these groups,they explained that their later investigations and information gathered have shown that they had made unfounded allegations and unverifiable claims against Ahmed and his family.
“We, the undersigned groups of civil society group, have been raising allegations and calling for the removal of NMDPRA boss, as a result of mismanagement of public funds and use of public funds to sponsor four of his children in expensive schools/ ivory leagues abroad to a tune of $5 million.
“There we alleged that these funds are from illegal proceeds, as he is the head of the agency.
“We went further to demand the immediate removal and prosecution of the NMDPRA boss, in a corruption campaign that lasted for weeks.
“Our further findings and investigations later showed that our initial allegations were unfounded as further evidence made available to us shows that the said children had already graduated from their respective institutions even before he was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the agency, and also that the said children were on scholarships during their stay as students of these institutions.
“This means that, our initial claim was false and misleading.
They said, based on superior findings that negate our initial demand, they withdrew initial petitions against the NMDPRA boss, and tendered an unreserved apology for the wrong information they were peddling about him.
The statement also said:”We are not mindful of the pains this would have caused the entire family while the petition was submitted and followed, we were misinformed and we tendered our apology on the misleading information, we have spread to the public against the CEO.
“While we remain alive to our responsibility as watch dogs of the society, especially the public office holders entrusted with public funds, we won’t shy away from withdrawing frivolous allegations, if found out that we have been misled by information initially made available to us.”
