NPA MD Denies Offering $2m Bribe to Stop Shehu Sani

The Managing Director, Nigeria Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala Usman, yesterday denied offering $2 million bribe to circumvent the result of the primary election for the Kaduna Central Senatorial District of the All Progressives Congress.

Usman, ally of Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, asked Publishers of Sahara Reporters to retract the publication or present proof of the allegation within seven days to avoid litigation.

She made the demand in a statement she issued at the weekend, describing the publication as totally false and untrue.

Sahara Reporters had on Friday reported that Usman gave $2 million to one Farouk Adamu, who collected the cash in Abuja on behalf of APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.

In her statement, however, Usman said denied involvement in any bribery allegation; neither circumvented the result of the primary election for the Kaduna Central Senatorial District.

She said, “My attention has been drawn to a recent report published by Sahara Reporters that I, Hadiza Bala Usman, was involved in bribery to circumvent the results of the primary election for the Kaduna Central Senatorial District.

“The report alleged that I handed over $2m to Farouk Adamu with the purported aim of buying the said senatorial ticket for Mr. Uba Sani. This is absolutely false, reprehensible and a total travesty, which negates every known principle of the noble profession of journalism.

“While I have respect for the role of the media in the development of our country, one would expect that a media platform like Sahara Reporters, whose promoters project themselves as respecters of the rights of others, would get their facts right and present incontrovertible facts rather than sponsored conjectures that attack the integrity of law-abiding citizens.

Sahara Reporters had reported that Usman gave $2 million to one Farouk Adamu, who collected the cash in Abuja on behalf of APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.

The medium reported that N50 million was offered to the Assistant Publicity Secretary of the party, Yekini Nabena, by Uba Sani, which he turned down.

It also reported that Nabena had issued several press statements that Shehu Sani remained the only candidate cleared for the zone and Nabena had insisted he would only do what the National Working Committee (NWC) asked him to do, as he had no power to upturn their decision.

Hadiza, however, threatened to do everything possible to stop Shehu Sani from getting the automatic ticket, whether the NWC liked it or not.

SaharaReporters gathered that after the failure of a series of attempts by the proxies to get Nabena’s cooperation, Hadiza decided to channel it through Farouk, who collected the cash.

The source also narrated how the El-Rufai slept in the National Chairman’s office, and threatened to pitch tent with Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), if Shehu Sani’s name was submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the APC candidate for Kaduna Central Senatorial District.