A maritime consultant and Managing Director (MD) of Wealthy Honey Investment Ltd., Dr. Kayode Farinto has appealed to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to call on his kits and kins against casting aspersions on the person of the Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), Dr. Abdullahi Dikko Inde.
He said this when briefing a group of journalists in his office, last week.
Dr. Farinto pointedly said that the latest edition of the Shipping World, a maritime Magazine where the publisher, Mr. Asu Beks allegedly said that the CGC has been sponsoring the opposition party against the second term ambition of the president.
He however pointed out that such allegation should not be taken serious, adding that refusal of Dikko to be turned into money making venture that led to such accusation.
“The first salvo that he fired was that Dr. Dikko Nde Abdullahi was sponsoring Boko Haram insurgence, we all know that this is a matter of national security of our nation which should be everyone’s priority.
“I expected Mr. Asu Beks to be invited by the National Security Adviser or the State Security Service to either expatiate this grievous allegation or otherwise but this was not done until Dikko had to file a libel against Mr. Asu Beks to prove his allegation.
“The recent baseless, biased and grievous allegation against the CGC that he is sponsoring the APC, an opposition party against the candidature of Mr. President must not be swept under carpet. This is because most of us, players and stakeholders in the maritime industry know the role this gentleman, Dr. Dikko has played to ensure that Mr. President’s transformation agenda are carried out to the letter,” he said.
Asked why he decided to speak for Customs helms man, Farinto said, “I don’t want Asu Beks who is a veteran to mislead the people because people will believe whatever he says. This is just to correct the impression.”
He added that such publication is capable of casting a negative image for the country especially for those who may be visiting the country for the first time.
Speaking further, Farinto quipped, “Before Dikko’s administration, the Nigeria Customs Service was collecting not more than thirty billion naira into the federation account monthly but Dr. Dikko with his modernization of customs, this revenue has increased to one hundred billion naira monthly.
“His role alone has made Mr. President’s tenure to be the best in the area of revenue generation and trade facilitation. Even some of us that are Dr. Dikko’s critics gave him kudos and had to key in,” he added.
