The battle lines appear to have been drawn between the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Bashir Jamoh and legal luminary, Femi Falana SAN over the latter’s comment about acquisition of properties in England, the United Kingdom by NIMASA during the administration of the current helmsman of the agency, Jamoh.
Falana had during his appearance as a guest on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, said that NIMASA under Jamoh acquired three properties in England, which the agency denied in a statement and demanded that the renowned human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria retract his comment made on public television, insisting that the agency had not acquired any property in England in the past 30 years.
“We wish to state that there is no truth in the allegations, as NIMASA did not acquire any property in England, as claimed by Femi Falana,” the NIMASA said in a statement by the agency’s spokesman, Osagie Edward.
NIMASA continued: “The agency has not acquired any property in any foreign country in over 30 years.
“While we respect the views of the learned silk on public matters, NIMASA demands that he takes responsibility and retract this false claim.
“We also use this medium to caution that he and other members of the public should verify their facts before going public with any information.”
The agency therefore called on members of the public to disregard the statement by the highly reverred lawyer.
However, while reacting to NIMASA’s statement, Falana said he would issue a statement on the matter before the end of the week, insisting that he is careful enough not make any false claim against anyone or institution.
“I am aware that NIMASA has denied (acquiring properties in England). I will respond to NIMASA appropriately through a statement. I am not flippant. I won’t go on national television and make a statement that I cannot back up,” he told The Economy on the telephone.
Earlier in the Sunrise Daily programme on Channels TV, Falana had criticised the floating of the Naira in the forex market by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), saying there was no legal provision for doing such in the CBN Act. He called on the Tinubu administration to tackle the problem of “dollarisation” of the Nigerian economy in real terms.
