The HEDA Resource Centre has responded to a report in the Cable newspaper about a purported indictment of its chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, of falsehood and cyberstalking in the probe of an allegation that an e-mail and phone conversation attributed to a former Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke, was forged.
The organization noted that the said media report by the Cable was based on a report by the IGP Monitoring Unit of the Nigeria Police Force.
It, however, described the report as “fake”, and an attempt by the sponsors of the report to distract public attention from the subject matter of an investigation that is already receiving deserving professional attention of the IGP Monitoring Unit, the Interpol and Cybercrimes Unit of the Police Force.
Sulaimon Arigbabu, HEDA’s Executive Secretary, said in the statement that two journalists, one from the Cable News and another from ‘The Nation’, called Mr Suraju to get his reaction to the purported police report, but that Suraju declined to give any comment, since he was unaware of any such report.
According to him, an immediate reach-out to the IGP Monitoring Unit dismissed the existence of any such report.
He said it was expected that “an average discerning mind and professional reporter” would detect the report “as fallacious, unprofessional, distractive and poorly concocted by its producers.”
The statement reads: “The Police IGP Monitoring Unit invited Mr Olarewaju Suraju, in his capacity as chairman of HEDA Resource Centre, on 27th March 2021, based on a petition by a lawyer, Kanu Agabi, on behalf of Mr. Bello Adoke, SAN titled ‘Forgery of Document for Unlawful Purposes of Interference with the Course of Justice’.
“Though, the name of HEDA Resource Centre or Mr. Suraju was not mentioned in the petition, the invitation was received by the organization in good faith and as an opportunity to assist the police in its investigation.
“Contrary to the claims of non-appearance to refute allegations in the fake indictment report, Mr. Suraju has been officially invited and visited the IGP Monitoring Unit and made statements six times between April 1st and today (Wednesday), with the last visit being on Friday 27th August, 2021.
“On each of these occasions, he had had to bear the cost of flights, taxis and hotels for his trips. The first visit, wherein Mr. Suraju was detained and eventually released on bail, is in the public domain.
“It is important, as a reminder to the public, that the subject of the petition was forgery of an email in which Nigeria as a Sovereign State was shortchanged to the tune of $1.1billion (one hundred and one billion US dollars) and HEDA and its international partners have been involved in the advocacy for recovery of this money and prosecution of principal actors behind the heist.
“To the delight of HEDA and its partners, Nigeria has recovered $75m of this money and the processes for the recovery of the balance are subjects of judicial processes in both the United Kingdom and Italy.
“Every other fabrication of ‘cyber stalking, giving false information to “misled” public officers, injurious falsehood and criminal defamation with intent to incite’ can only exist in the imagination of the purveyor of the fake report and their collaborators in and out of government.”
Arigbabu noted that the sponsored report came about because “some despicable characters who obviously are feeling the heat of the investigations and afraid of the potential outcomes have suddenly become jittery, especially with the overwhelming evidence and materials supplied by HEDA to the police system in the course of this investigation.”
He thanked all those who have called the organisation’s management and have expressed their solidarity and concerns.
“We shall continue to pursue every legitimate and legal process to see this matter to a logical conclusion and ensure Nigeria recovers its criminally diverted fund from all those beneficiaries of proceeds of criminal activities,” he also hinted that HEDA is consulting with its legal department and “reviewing some of the media reports for actions considered necessary.”
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