Hadiza threatens legal action over online ‘campaign of calumny’

Hadiza Bala Usman, the suspended managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), has threatened to go to court over a series of “false” online publications against her.

In a statement released at the weekend and shared with TheCable, Bala Usman, who was suspended after a cold war between her and Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, complained about the spread of “false and rehashed stories directed at maligning my personality and casting aspersions on my reputation and service to the nation”.

She said her rebuttals would not have been needless “but for the need to maintain my personal integrity and that of my family”.

Bala Usman said a report that she was indicted for “unapproved N831million spent on hotels in 2016,2017” was a continuation of the “relentless war” being waged “against my personality for reasons best known to them”.

“The fact is that the NPA has its audited financial statements for the years 2016, 2017 and 2018. These statements have the authentic figures of the Authority’s expenditure over those years,” she said, maintaining that snapshots of “unauthenticated” documents being circulated were being used to fit the “already concocted and devious narratives that they love to sell to the public”.

She also denied the allegation that she built an edifice in Zaria while serving as NPA MD, challenging her accusers to produce any evidence linking her to the building.

“The story is total falsehood,” she said, further describing it as “pathetic”.

“I have chosen to maintain a calm mien to this consistent falsehood, conscious of the demand of accountability, which national service places on me,” she said.

“However, there is always a limit to which one can endure this needless perpetuation of falsehood.”