The Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission ( NBC) who was reported to have been charged to court along with at least three other persons by the Federal Government for an alleged N2.5b contract fraud involving one Pinnacle Communications and NBC has replied the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) saying their reports were untrue and unfounded, INFORMANT247 has gathered.
The case which was first announced by ICPC in October last year was said to be under investigation until yesterday, when the body filed a case against the NBC boss along with three other persons namely ; Pinnacle Communications Limited, its founder, Lucky Omonuwa, and its Managing Director, Dipo Onifade, in a Federal High Court, Abuja, sequel to an investigation by the ICPC.
According to court documents, Kawu Modibo along with others face a 12-count charges filed by Mr. Henry Emore and Adenekan Shogunle, on behalf of the Attorney General of the Federation.
The controversial contract was said to have been in the pipe since 2016 when the Presidency had released the sum of N10bn to the Ministry of Information and Culture for the digital switch – over program, a program which was to enable the migration of telephone lines from analogue to digital platforms and a white paper was issued directing that the process be handled by the government- affiliated companies.
Meanwhile, the whole exercise was said by the ICPC to have been laced with alleged corrupt practices after their investigation.
In the charges filed before the court, the Federal government has accused Kawu of ” recommending to the Minister of Information to approve payment of the substantial sum of N2.5b to the Pinnacle Communications Limited, a communication company owned by Sir Lucky Omonuwa as a ” seed grant ” under the Digital Switch- Over Programme of the Federal Government when you knew that the company was not entitled to receive such a grant and thereby, committed an offense contrary to Section 26 (1) (c) and punishable under Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000”.
Meanwhile, the DG boss, Mallam Is’haq Moddibo Kawu has exclusively responded through our reporter that ” ICPC report is untrue ”.
While responding to questions, Mallam Kawu confidently affirmed to INFORMANT247 that the whole deal is open and he has nothing to hide. He said, ” They stated that I recommended “an unqualified company” to the Minister for payment of DSO funds. The statement is also the substance of their alleged court arraignment that I just read on online outfits like any other Nigerian. But the truth is that the company in question, Pinnacle Communications isn’t an “unqualified” company. They won an open competitive bid in 2014 to be appointed the Second National Signal Distributors for the DSO.
In fact, For that license they paid NBC N680million. That’s the single biggest contribution to the DSO so far! There were discrepancies in their license and they went to court against the NBC, for two years, until I was appointed DG in 2016. I got them out of court and they accepted to return to the DSO process. We appointed them as the Signal distributors for the Abuja, Kaduna, Gombe and Asaba switchover. They delivered the Abuja Switch over in December 2016 and Kaduna in 2017. They are concluding work in Gombe and Delta now as we speak.
For their work, they were paid N2.5b in May 2017. Meanwhile, ITS the first signal distributor, had been paid N1.7b in 2015. At the time, the Naira exchanged at N160 to the Dollar. When Pinnacle was paid N2.5b in 2017, the exchange rate was N380 to the Dollar.
These payments had been done on the basis of the FG White Paper on the DSO. That’s the instrument of the process. As well as the FG directive that all payments for DSO be approved by the Hon Minister of Information and that’s exactly what we did with the process and payments.
Asked for his opinion on the veracity of the reports by ICPC, he said ” ICPC said they received a petition from a faceless person as the basis of their action. And that was the basis of their original press release that had several factual errors and is also the basis of their alleged court action as carried by the media tonight.
The veteran broadcaster and award-winning journalist maintained his inculpability in the alleged fraud saying his principles and integrity has never been in doubt as a patriotic Nigerian.
Kawu affirmed to the INFORMANT247 that ” I have maintained certain basic standards all my life. And those standards and values are guiding principles in public and private life. They didn’t change in just two and a half years of work as DG NBC. I’ve had 42years of professional media, ideological, family, historical and political life. The standards are consistent for me. I have also held other political and professional responsibilities over the past 42 years. I am dedicated to the good of our country and never forget the values of my background and forefathers. These are the platforms upon which I base my life in public service and they are also the values that guide the work I do as the DG of the National Broadcasting Commission. NBC boss, Kawu Modibo reaffirmed.