NDDC: Disregard fraudulent mail seeking funds in my name – Semenitari

Ibim Semenitari, the Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, on Thursday called on the public to ignore an electronic mail purportedly seeking funds on her behalf.
Semenitari disclosed this in a statement issued by her Special Assistant on Media, Bekee Anyalewechi.
She said that the fictitious email currently in circulation had sought various sums of funds to the tune of N700,000 from contractors and vendors doing business with the commission.
The statement said: “Fraudsters in a bid to make the email look authentic hacked into my Semenitari official NDDC email portal, subsequently signing-off mails in my name.
“The fraudsters claimed that I’m seeking various financial gratification to the tune of N700,000 from various contractors and vendors doing business with NDDC,” she said.
Semenitari quoted the fake mail as saying, “Good day, I’ve a personal outstanding totalling the sum of N700,000. I will need you to credit Mr Onos account details with the required amount.
“Find below his account information. Jonafuvwe Onos, 0040271951, Diamond Bank. Please note this is not official and should be treated as such.”
Semenitari explained that people who knew her correspondences would notice the mail lacked characteristics of coherence, quality diction and grammatical fluidity which she said was not her trademark.
The NDDC boss said she does not have any relationship with “Jonafuvwe Onos” and had no link to the Diamond Bank account.
She said the mail was the handiwork of online fraudsters commonly known as “yahoo yahoo boys and official pick-pockets” who are bent to rubbish and denigrate current reforms in the commission.
The statement added: “I had at no time, either in person, or through an intermediary, front, proxy, special or personal assistant commissioned anybody to solicit for or accommodate any gratification on my behalf.
“It is unfortunate that rather than aspire to attain nobility and character through hard work that Semenitari represents, the fraudsters mire deeper into ignominy and opprobrium.
“Contractors, vendors and the general public doing business with NDDC should not subscribe to the scam mail and its content.
“They should watch out for fraudsters who would stop at nothing to sabotage genuine efforts at reforming NDDC and repositioning it to fulfill its core mandate of driving development in the Niger Delta.”
Semenitari promised that ongoing reforms in the commission would not be compromised in spite moves by some individuals to sabotage it.