The Chairman of the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), Comrade Zikirullahi M. Ibrahim has provided an elaborate riposte to allegations levelled against him by some Board members of the organization. At a Press Conference, which held at the TMG National Secretariat in Gwarimpa, Abuja Comrade Ibrahim explained that those peddling the lies against him were angry Board members who are unhappy about reforms so far instituted in Nigeria’s foremost civil society coalition. Comrade Ibrahim noted that one of the reforms that have earned him the ire of the sit-tight Board members is the reviewed TMG Constitution, which bars members that have been on the Board for two or more terms for seeking re-election. The TMG Chairman noted that this reform had to be done in order to open up the TMG Board for better democratic participation and renewal, especially given the fact that certain persons have remained on the TMG Board since the organisation was founded in 1998.
Ibrahim lamented that beyond the long years spent on the TMG Board, the Board members in question have added absolutely no value to this organisation. He said to correct this anomaly, the majority of TMG members, during the review of the TMG Constitution at an Annual General Meeting in July 2015 made the landmark decision to exclude such all Board members that have served two or more terms.
He said: “So as I speak to you, all the current Board members including myself as Chairman, won’t be standing for re-election as a result of that constitutional provision. This democratic decision, which aims to open up the TMG space in the spirit of popular participation remains one of my biggest offences against these greedy Board members attempting to discredit me. To them, being on the TMG Board is a birthright. But to us, an umbrella body of over 400 civil society organisations in Nigeria, which seeks to hold the government to account, must practice what it preaches. This position of insisting that as democracy promoters, we must not be sit-tight leaders, is one of the major grouses being held against me by the traitors on the TMG Board.”
The TMG Chairman further explained that given the activist role that TMG has played in the defence of the votes of the Nigerian people, especially during the 2015 elections, it is not surprising that certain political interests would be hell bent on undermining this organization.
“Desperate politicians are always on our trail, as they seek to either compromise us or undermine the work we do. Having failed severally in their bid to induce us, they have now resorted to blackmail, using weak characters from within our Board. In the build up to 2015 general elections, for instance, I was offered the sum of N2billion by the immediate past Presidency to compromise our stand on credible polls.
“I stoutly rejected that ungodly offer. But alas, when I reported this situation to the Board, all the Board members now maligning me were visibly upset. To them, TMG should have met to considered the illicit offer. Such is the character of the men and women, who have been going about peddling falsehood that I have been involved in financial impropriety.”
Comrade Ibrahim turned the tables against his accusers including Eddy Ezurike, Rommy Mom, and Osita Ogbu, noting that they had a number of accountability issues based on how they have discharged their mandate on the TMG Board.
“It is not a coincidence that all those in the TMG Legal Committee, which we set up to recover TMG’s property, who failed to discharge this responsibility, are currently among those trying to tar us. For clarity, in 2007 TMG purchased a house for which it made part payment of N15 million. Till date, that transaction is caught in a web of conspiracies as TMG has neither be given the property nor has its initial deposit returned. My point of departure with Rommy Mom, Eddy Ezuruike, and Osita Ogbu is my insistence that the property be recovered in the interest of TMG disgruntled Board. Barrister Rommy Mom, who was appointed Legal Counsel to help recover the property, has been lethargic about this task. I have constantly had to pester the said Rommy Mom about the shoddy and lax manner he handled TMG’s property case, which was put in his charge even after collecting about N600,000 as fees and sundry expenses.
“After excuses upon excuses, he got us to a point where the case in court had to be struck out for lack of diligent legal representation in court. My orientation of service cannot cope with such unconscionable disregard for the interest of the organization. Today, I know how much TMG pays annually in rent. That property would have permanently solved our accommodation challenges. It is this insistence that the right thing be done that earned me the enmity of this particular Board member for terminating his legal contract.”
As for the allegations made against him, Comrade Ibrahim dismissed them as the work of those bent on soiling his name because they have no other place to earn money and peddle influence beyond TMG.
According to him, TMG is an organisation with proper financial controls, as well as mechanisms to ensure due process is followed. He challenged those making the allegations to provide documentary evidence to back them up.
“My traducers have not been able to point to one document, which implicates me in any financial misdemeanour. At the end of every fiscal year, project financial records are audited by external auditors appointed by the funders of the project. As of the last audit, TMG was given a clean bill of health. As Chairman of TMG, I have done more than any other TMG Chairman in the history of this organization to promote transparency, openness, accountability and prudent management of financial resources. It is on record that on my own, I brought in our Technical Partners to be a part of the TMG Procurement Committee. This Procurement Committee, which I excused myself from, is in charge of contracting vendors and awarding TMG contracts.”
Comrade Ibrahim vowed to immediately institute legal action against those who made the unsubstantiated allegations.
“To ensure those making these wild allegations, either substantiate them or immediately retract them, I have briefed my legal counsel to immediately institute legal action against all those character assassins. I am sure that the judicial process would help establish the truth.”
