There is rising controversy over the declaration of assets by the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Wabote before the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) as required by law.
A memo, purportedly dated 24th January, 2022 with subject titled “Re-request for certified true copies (CTC) of completed assets declaration forms of Mr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content, Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and Pwajok Matthew Lawrence, the Chief Executive of the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) revealed that the CCB does not have record of his asset declaration.
Contrary to the report, a slip obtained as evidence of his asset verification when he was first appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2017 and also when he was reappointed in 2020.
It was gathered that the memo being brandished by his opponents was a reply to a petition written to the CCB against Wabote as a fallout of the ongoing Wabote versus Jackson Ude’s defamation suit which is currently ongoing in a court in the United States of America. The CCB on receiving the petition in turn wrote Wabote asking for information which is a normal practice when an agency of government has a petition before it.
The back-up evidence displayed by the pro-Wabote group is an acknowledgement slip with No 0073117 from the Code of Conduct Bureau showing that Wabote attended the CCB’s Conference Assets Verification Exercise in 2017. There is also acknowledgement slip for the end of Wabote’s first tenure as the executive secretary of NCDMB and another one for the start of a new tenure.
Quoting from the CCB slip showed that “This is to certify that the assets declared by WABOTE KESIYE SIMBI on form CCB-1 PGAO: 000653 has been verified by the Assets verification committee, PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE on This 31st of May 2017.”
Emerald News reports that any public officer going before the CCB for asset declaration is expected to come forward with documents including the acknowledgment slips of asset declaration to Code of Conduct Bureau from when he joined the public service to date; copies of letter of appointment, records of service and pay slips from January to December 2021; all documents of buildings and landed properties both developed and undeveloped in Nigeria and abroad; details of personal companies, businesses and shares; bank account statements of all personal bank accounts from January 2021 to date.
However, in the purported memo, which surfaced yesterday, the request is made “pursuant to the mandate and powers of the Bureau as enshrined in the 3rd schedule, Part 1, Paragraph 3(e) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended: Section 137 (a) and (b) and 138 (a) and (b) Penal Code Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990 and section 104 of the Evidence Act 2011.”The letter demanded urgent treatment of the request.
It was gathered that the Constitution empowers CCB to “receive complaints about non-compliance with or breach of the provisions of the Code of Conduct or any law in relation thereto, investigate the complaint and where appropriate, refer such matters to the Code of Conduct Tribunal.”
Sources at the Bureau told newsmen that they have established enough premise of alleged breach of the Code of Conduct by Wabote, but they could not immediately confirm if Wabote would be arraigned before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
However, the allegation of breach of declaration of assets is contrary to the claims of the NCDMB Executive Secretary, Simbi Wabote before the United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania during deposition that he filed and declared all his assets before the CCB in an ongoing libel suit filed against the publisher of the Point Blank News, Jackson Ude.
A close source, who claimed to be close to Engr. Wabote and pleaded anonymity, dismissed the existence of the CCB memo, describing the reported Memo as another antic being employed by the Publisher of the Point Blank News, Jackson Ude to divert attention from his losses at the US Court and possible indictment over alleged libel.
“If the CCB internal investigations are ongoing, it would have been better we wait for the outcome instead of brandishing a Memo without report of the investigation. Ude and his sponsors should stop the media diversion and allow the court rule on the libel suit against him. Engr. Simbi Wabote is an upright man and we will not allow a shady character to rubbish him.”
Also speaking, the national coordinator of Transparency In Petroleum Exploration and Development Initiative (TIPEDI), Mr. Igho Emuobome, said “It is not surprising that Jackson Ude and his sponsors would continue to look for all kinds of extraneous issues to distract from the main matter on ground, which is the defamation and libel suit he is facing in the USA. Only a corrupt person or the one that has failed to comply with the provisions of the law that will have cause to worry about Code of Conduct Bureau investigations”.
“Engr. Simbi Wabote does not fall within any of those categories and therefore doed not have any cause to lose sleep. Whatever questions are being asked of Engr. Wabote will be answered satisfactorily, with documentary evidence so there’s no cause for alarm whatsoever.”
