Is Nigeria’s newly-appointed Comptroller-General of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko, or is it Muhammadu Dikko?
This is the question many are trying to answer as further stunning revelations pertaining to his identity have continued to surface. His birth certificate bears "Muhammadu Dikko," and the date of birth appears to have been tampered with.
And this is the background to the man’s outbreak of temper today in Abuja, where he ordered his subordinates to brutalize newspaper distributors that dared to republish the expose by Saharareporters, and burnt thousands of copies of the paper.
According to a 50-item sworn affidavit by his former protege, Mr. Olajide Oyewole Ibrahim, Mr. Dikko’s entire academic school certificates were allegedly forged, but the atrocious scam has remained covered up by his relatives, Yar'Adua and his wife, Turai.
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A statement signed by Olajide lawyer, Festus Keyamo, states:
"Today, Friday, September 11, 2009, the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service, Alhaji Abdullahi Inde Dikko ordered the seizure of 2000 (Two Thousand) copies of vol.1, No.9 of “The Premier Tabloid”, an Ibadan-based newspaper, with the caption: “DikkoGate: How Customs boss forged his way to the Top”.
The raid took place near customs headquarters in Zone 3, Abuja.
The newspaper agent, Mr. Oluwatosin Testimony, was arrested by Customs officers on the orders of Alhaji Dikko and taken to the Customs Security Post at Zone 3 Headquarters where he was detained for hours. All the seized copies were later brought out to the open and set ablaze.
The story that Alhaji Dikko is so desperate to kill is the allegation by his former boy, Mr. Olajide Oyewole Ibrahim, that almost all the certificates of the Customs boss were forged for him by the boy. Instead of Alhaji Dikko to respond by publishing his certificates (if he has one at all) he has resorted to this stone-age tactics that cannot save his job. If Dikko feels that a crime has been committed by the vendors circulating newspapers containing a story on him, he can report to the Nigerian Police, but cannot resort to self help to vent his spleen.
I once again call on the President, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to save the Customs Service and Nigerians this national embarrassment by ordering the immediate probe of these grave allegations and not to continue to play the ostrich on this matter."
Sources told Saharareporters that since the scandal broke, Mr. Dikko has been buying newspaper editors off the story and to ignore the scandal. He has also embarked on propaganda and tried to appear capable and efficient at his new job.
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Saharareporters officially requested Mr. Dikko to send copies of his certificates for verification with the institutions he claimed to have attended. Instead, he sent a bunch of names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of persons who can attest to his sojourn in Bulgaria, where he had claimed he received a Masters degree in Economics in 1985.
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