The Empowerment for Unemployed Youth Initiative and the Coalition of Civil Society Groups have described the recent protest in London against the former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), Mallam Mele Kyari, as a campaign of calumny by sponsored, unpatriotic individuals. They labelled the protest as baseless and unwarranted.
During a press conference in Abuja, the convener, Comrade Igwe Ude-Umanta, said the protest was another evolution of a previously exposed blackmail scheme.
“It is now visible to the blind that these shenanigans have nothing to do with any genuine crusade against corruption. Instead, some truly corrupt interests are on a mission to blackmail Mallam Kyari — a plot we believe he has rightly and firmly refused to be coerced into. It has now become an exaggerated joke,” he stated.
He recalled that the campaign started with a phantom group named Concerned Citizens Against Corruption, allegedly convened by a now-repentant Kabir Matazu.
“We challenged that group to a public debate regarding its existence, antecedents, operations, and the allegations they were making against Mallam Kyari. But instead, Matazu made a volte-face — he apologized, retracted all his statements and petitions, and confessed to having been misled and sponsored. That should have been enough to put the matter to rest,” Umanta said.
“But as if possessed by evil spirits, they reemerged under a new fake group claiming to represent 500 lawyers, going by the name Guardians of Democracy and Rule of Law. We traced that name‘s origin, usage, and operations, and it was clear the group was fabricated for public mischief. We exposed them as fake and sponsored, with unassailable facts, and went further to formally report them to the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), which we believe is now investigating them.”
According to him, their operations collapsed once the group was exposed and could no longer impersonate the legal profession for their nefarious activities.
He further challenged the perpetrators to reappear publicly, insisting their claims are entirely false and part of a coordinated effort to malign a patriotic citizen.
“Having failed in all their antics in Nigeria, they have now relocated to the United Kingdom — particularly London — where some Africans, not necessarily Nigerians, facing economic hardship, are easily hired for protests on issues they know nothing about.
The entire charade against Mallam Kyari in London is laughable. It only exposed those hirelings who pose as concerned citizens in the diaspora.”
“How can someone who any security or anti-graft agency has not invited be said to be on the run? How can someone not under investigation be seeking refuge from imaginary wrongdoing? How can someone not under any form of trial be evading justice? Some Nigerians used to think that everyone living abroad, especially in Europe or America, is well-informed. But clearly, these are crass illiterates struggling to survive, willing to do anything, including tarnishing the image of an innocent patriot. Some of them may even be criminals or ex-convicts,” he added.
He stated that Mallam Kyari was not even in the UK at the time of the protest.
“That fact alone proves that the protest was nothing more than a campaign of blackmail, tactical defamation, and aggravated mischief.
He described the London protest as an “abysmal outing” and a “recycled blackmail format.”
“You cannot ask for the deportation of someone who is not a fugitive and has no reason to run. Now that this plot has failed, we are watching what new form their next mutation, transmutation, or gimmick will take. We’ll be here to expose and dismantle whatever it is, until they develop a sense of shame.”
“We are also gathering more facts to identify those behind the mask. Once uncovered, we won’t hesitate to name and shame them. They must not think they alone have the power to harass law-abiding citizens. We sincerely thank the media for their vigilance — for always balancing their reports and exposing lies.”
“Let us continue this sanitary project. Civil society is a respected part of every civilised democracy, and we must not allow these rodents to pollute that noble space,” the Convener concluded.