Re-FCC chairman in identity falsification scandal

There are indeed a never fading intent to disrupt the wheel of progress currently being witnessed at the Federal Character Commission (FCC), under the leadership of its reformist Executive Chairman, Dr Muheeba Dankaka.

The pedestrian attempts by faceless group of people who wish the commission and indeed the country no good has severally been contrived, executed and sponsored at every turn since the assumption of the present chairman but failed and this time it would be no different.

The achievements the Federal Character Commission has recorded under Dr Dankaka are so unprecedented that those who have chosen to be clogs in the wheel of progress of her leadership of the commission have not only resolved to subject her to character assassination through a richly funded campaign in the media but to intermittently subject her to this psychological torture till they achieved their aims.

Not a small ruchus have been witnessed since her assumption of office by this faceless group against Dankaka whose only sin against them is her creed that as a public office holder, she would do her work with utmost efficiency and honesty against the old order of business as usual.

Her dedication to the nation and the people that things must be done right against the old order has been her greatest undoing against the sponsors of these unverified allegations against her that even though in the past have been subjected to all known manners of investigation and found to be untrue, the protagonists of these baseless allegations have refused to stop.

This richly funded media campaign is again being re-introduced and only aimed at nothing but to discredit Dr Muheeba Dankaka with the hope that she will lose focus and her reforms will not be wholesomely implemented.

While the smear campaigns are not surprising, as they are not new in the consciousness of all Nigerians who have followed the history of their vindictive pursuit from all along, what is however dumbfounding is how facts and true representation of her person and qualifications are being manipulated just to achieve a premeditated aim.

Her resolve to terminating systematic corruption and repositioning of excellence in performance and delivery of quality services in the Federal Character Commission is because of her experience in ensuring accountability and transparency in the private sector driven world.

Despite the media trial she is being subjected to from the beginning, Dankaka has continued in managing the crisis and has managed to restore sanity to the commission which many have attested to be on the right track more than ever before in delivering on its constitutional mandate.

This has confounded her critics with her dedication, poise, and determination to succeed. She will continue to take everything thrown at her in its strides, unafraid as ever in taking tough and painful decisions by demonstrating clearly that the change mantra of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is not a mere attempt in sloganeering.

The name”Farida” is her business name which today has become a household name in the country even before her appointment as the chairman of the Federal Character Commission because of her successes in the business world. In a saner society, her accusers should have availed themselves of the opportunity offered by the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act, to exhaustively enquire of the veracity of these allegations before going to the media. But they did not because they were beclouded by hatred and jealousy of her success.

Dr Dankaka attended Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna state where she obtained a diploma in insurance and later proceeded to Bayero University, Kano, for her BSc in public administration. She further obtained a Master’s in business administration (MBA), from the same Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

Her certificates were obtained before she got married which necessitated her change of name as it is not unexpected that when a woman gets married, she takes her husband’s name in the process, and the case of Muheeba Dankaka was not different.

The allegation of certificate forgery and identity falsification are false, despicable and desperately fueled by the clandestine motives of the purveyors of this allegation. One would have ordinarily dismissed it with the wave of the hand as its intent is to settle unknown scores but it is however necessary to put the record straight for the public to know the truth.

The general public is therefore advised to disregard these allegations as they are false, baseless and borne out of the evil and selfish machinations of their sponsors.

Dr. Okoli writes from Abuja