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Chief Willy Ezugwu
…Says CNPP, CSOs’ 21-Day Ultimatum Against NCDMB Boss Stands
….Considers Legal Action Against Online Media Platforms
Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has said that its 21-day ultimatum, in collaboration with a coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs), demanding that the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, steps aside for a thorough investigation of allegations of corruption against him stands.
The CNPP in a statement signed by its Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, while reacting to a fake news which said the organisation commended the NCDMB boss, urged members of the public to disregard the media report published by some online media platforms, saying its considering legal options against publishers of the fake report.
The report had claimed that “the National Secretary of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Chief Willy Ezeogu, has commended the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) over his exceptional performance in office.”
The publication also claimed that “Ezeogu also dissociated himself from the call on the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to step aside for a thorough investigation of allegations of corruption against him within 21 days.”
In its reaction, the CNPP described the report as fake which it said was poorly cooked and packaged in desperate move to misinform the public.
“First, the CNPP has no National Secretary position and the Secretary General of the CNPP is not Chief Willy Ezeogu but Chief Willy Ezugwu.
“Secondly, the claim that the CNPP scribe “was misinformed about the leadership of the Executive Secretary at the NCDMB and his positive impacts on the country’s oil and gas sector” is far from the truth.
“In this light, the CNPP is weighing legal options against media organisations which published such fake reports attributed to the umbrella body of all registered political parties and political associations in Nigeria.
“The issues CNPP and a coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) raised had nothing to do with whatever achievements or otherwise of Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote as Executive Secretary of NCDMB.
“The NCDMB boss has obviously taken his alleged desperation to cover up his track and obstruct the course of justice too far by this latest sponsored fake news.
“As a matter of fact, in a statement signed by the National Coordinator of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko last Thursday, the organisation had while standing by the CNPP’s call on Engr. Wabote to step aside for thorough investigation, queried the source of funding for his legal action in the court in United States, which is usually very expensive and paid in dollars.
“We strongly reiterate our demand that Engr. Wabote should step down to allow for open investigation into corruption and perjury allegations against him by a Nigerian journalist based in the United States”, the umbrella body of all registered political parties and political associations in the country said.
The CNPP then recalled that recently the media reported that Mr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) allegedly risks contempt sanction and a possible jail for alleged perjury and lying on oath in a libel case he instituted against the US base Nigerian journalist, Jackson Ude.
The libel suit against the journalist was instituted in a United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Attorney to Ude from Amadi Law Office at 204 Blossom Street Extension, Suite A. Lynn MA 01901, Barr. Beneth O. Amadi, had in a letter dated January 15, 2022 and addressed to the Honourable Joseph F. Leeson, Jr., United States District Judge, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 504 West Hamilton Street, Suite 3401, alleged that Wabote perjured (lied on oath) in his response to interrogatories.
The court had on Tuesday, December 21, 2021 ordered Wabote, to provide “full and complete responses to defendant’s interrogatories”, as the court was not satisfied with earlier responses provided by Wabote and his counsel.
But in his reaction to the responses by Wabote to the interrogatories, counsel for Defendant (Ude) wrote to the court demanding sanction for “Plaintiff (Wabote) and his Attorneys for committing fraud on the court, for perjury and for acting in subornation of perjury in this case.”
Alternatively, the Defendant’s lawyer requested “for an order of this court mandating the Plaintiff and his attorneys to appear and show cause why they should not be held in contempt and/or sanctioned by this court.
