A group, Concerned Maritime Operators (CMO), has advised Nigerians, particularly anti-graft crusaders to stop linking revered businessman, Capt. Hosa Okunbo with the humongous corruption allegations against former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
A statement issued by CMO chairman, Mr. Tunde Hamzat and made available to Blueprint Monday said “attempts to link the renowned businessman with the former minister’s corruption allegations is nothing but a ploy by mischief makers to dent his hard earned reputation.”
According to Mr Hamzat, “All the co-travellers of Diezani are either in exile or in court with her,” adding that “there is no basis whatsoever to associate Capt. Okunbo with the alleged misappropriation of state funds by the former minister.”
The CMO chairman recalled Capt. Okunbo said; “I have never written a statement in the EFCC or any anti-corruption agency to date. If, indeed, I was with Dieziani, will I still be doing business in the NNPC where I am a champion for service delivery?”
For the past four years, a patently false story had been circulating about his purported business dealings with the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke, especially as regards the controversial offshore processing agreements (OPAs) popularly known as oil swap involving the former minister and her cronies.
Captain Okunbo, a former commercial pilot, is the chairman of Ocean Marine Security Limited, an offshore asset protection company, rendering services to major oil companies in Nigeria, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The former minister Alison-Madueke has been under investigations since the outset of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration in 2015. The United States Department of Justice had listed her and two other businessmen, Kola Aluko and Jide Omokore as persons of interest in a civil complaint filed at a District Court in Houston, Texas, detailing how the duo laundered millions of dollars on her behalf which were used in buying properties in the U.S. and the UK in return for oil contracts.
Tunde Hamzat said: “No cowardly soul resides in the likeable billionaire businessman, Captain Hosa Okunbo, because he is no trembler in the world’s storm-troubled sphere. Cowardice and doubt disperse in the blaze of his scorching righteousness because his business and personal ethics are so firmly anchored on the steadfast rock of conscience and integrity.”
Hamzat, who said he expected the media to end such malicious reports, expressed displeasure on what he called sheer laziness and unprofessionalism on the side of some bloggers who have sustained the misrepresentation of the contract that formed the basis for the misleading publication.
According to him, the falsehood is being assisted with the ubiquity and freedom of social media and that it had become increasingly clear that maintaining silence further would be misconstrued for consent.
