Odorige had a few months ago questioned the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire and Dabiri-Erewa, asking them to account for funds budgeted in 2020 to attract Nigerian medical professionals in the diaspora.
The coordinator of the Global Coalition for Security and Democracy in Nigeria (GCSDN), Frederick Odorige has threatened to sue the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, over alleged defamation
Odorige had a few months ago questioned the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire and Dabiri-Erewa, asking them to account for funds budgeted in 2020 to attract Nigerian medical professionals in the diaspora.
He added that another N24 million was proposed to be spent on training and conferences.
Dabiri-Erewa had conceptualised the framework for the Ministry of Health, to engage Nigerian health professionals resident abroad.
Odorige questioned Ehanire and Dabiri-Erewa regarding how the funds meant to be used to attract Nigerian medical experts back to the country were spent.
“Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, under Abike Dabiri-Erewa, & Min. of Health- Osagie Ehanire, jointly proposed N234.6m to attract medical professionals from the diaspora,” he had posted on Twitter.
Reacting to the tweet, Dabiri-Erewa posted, “The shame is on @FOdorige, and his sponsors. Hope @NIDOEurope1 has noted their hungry member who lives in Hungary. He wanted to exploit Nigerians stranded in Ukraine but we resisted. So @FOdorige is hungry and angry.”
However, Odorige claimed the response had dented his reputation.
In a statement sent to SaharaReporters, the activist also asked the NIDCOM boss to pay him the sum of N300,000,000 in damages for the defamation of his character.
It read, “The Global Coordinator of the Global Coalition for Security and Democracy in Nigeria, Frederick Odorige, has given the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, NiDCOM, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, two weeks ultimatum to tender an unreserved apology and retraction which must be published on Twitter and five national daily newspapers with nationwide circulation in Nigeria.
"She has also been requested to pay the sum of Three Hundred Million Naira as compensation for her “ill-advised, false, misleading and malicious publications” concerning him.
“On the 15th day of July 2022, Erewa-Dabiri published on “Twitter” where she has at least 760,000 ardent followers, that “The shame is on @FOdorige, and his sponsors. Hope @NIDOEurope1 has noted their hungry member who lives in Hungary. He wanted to exploit Nigerians stranded in Ukraine but we resisted. So @FOdorige is hungry and angry”.
“NiDCOM further wrote and published 'A Rejoinder' dated 15th August 2022 and saying, “While the said Hungary-based Frederick Odorige of one Global Coalition for Security and Democracy in Nigeria whom Sahara Reporters quoted, is notorious for dark, spurious, ridiculously bizarre allegations and should ordinarily be ignored, we are responding to this because it borders on finances and we owe our esteemed diaspora community a proper clarification of facts.”
“The several publications by Dabiri-Erewa and NiDCOM were in response to a tweet posted by Odorige in respect of a joint budget proposal of N234.6m made between NiDCOM and the Ministry of Health in 2020.
“Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, under Abike Dabiri-Erewa, & Min. of Health- Osagie Ehanire, jointly proposed to attract medical professionals from the diaspora. N234.6m to be spent on training & conferences abroad. A NiDCOM without a board! @gcsdn_org shall ask questions”.
“It could be recalled that as widely published, (https://www.vanguardngr.com/2019/10/ministry-wants-n234-6m-to-hire-diaspora-health-professionals/) the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, while defending the Diaspora-related parts of the budget of the ministry before the House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora Affairs, said that the money was needed to engage Nigerian medical doctors, pharmacists, medical academics and other health sector professionals from the Diaspora. According to Ehanire, the Chairman of the Nigeria Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, had conceptualised the framework for the Ministry of Health, to engage Nigerian health professionals resident abroad.
“Odorige insists that his statement about the fund did not in any way accuse anyone of corruption but was based on the fact that 2020 was a year of global lockdown when movements were globally restricted. “Every Nigerian has the right to know how our commonwealth is being spent in a country that has become highly indebted.”
He found Dabiri-Erewa's responses to be libellous and an affront to his integrity, respect, and reputation. Odorige is also a former Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organization, Hungary.
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