The Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello-Koko, has raised the alarm that some unknown Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have been after him peddling lies and sponsoring blackmail against him since he was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari to head the agency.
Bello-Koko said in a statement in Lagos that the CSOs in a desperate move have also written to the government of the United Kingdom to cancel his visa and seize his property.
Noting that his job at the NPA is not personal but national service to which he had resolved to give his best shot, he said the unknown CSOs have resorted to blackmail, using the instrumentality of a section of online media to push their mischief and blackmail.
He, however, threatened to sue any medium used to peddle untrue, unsubstantiated lies about him.
According to him, of all the years he served as a banker and a public officer, he has never been indicted or convicted by any court in or outside the country.
“In the past two years, in a desperate bid to defame and extort me, some faceless individuals under the cloak of unknown Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), having failed in their desperation to dent or hurt my integrity, they have resorted to a very cruel campaign of calumny against my person and my family.
“Because they are faceless, I don’t have the opportunity to seek redress in court on the grounds of their rehashed and rehearsed lies.
“I need to reiterate that for all of my years as a banker and a public officer up till today, I have never been indicted or convicted by any court. And this fact is in the public domain.
“I’m also certain that my integrity as well as dedication and fidelity to the rules of public administration must have influenced the decision by the Federal Government of Nigeria to promote me from the rank of Executive Director (Finance and Administration) to Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Ports Authority”, he stated.
He continued that “resorting to writing to the UK Government, seeking visa cancellation and forfeiture of assets belonging to my wife and I is not only malicious, but also cruel and wicked.
“I have yet to understand why these evil machinations would be orchestrated against me. Is the offence that I committed my acceptance and readiness to serve my country to the best of my ability?
“This latest attack, in the series of sponsored blackmails targeted at me, which began in 2021 immediately I was elevated from the position of Executive Director of Finance and Administration to the position of Managing Director of the NPA is intended to damage my reputation.
“Is there no limit to what vested interests can do in their desperate pursuit of power and influence?”
While condemning the act of the CSOs in its entirety, Bello-Koko, noted that the NPA under his watch has “recorded some modest achievements. The NPA has generated the sum of N286 billion and remitted over N100 billion to Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) account of the federation as of November 2022.

By: Nkpemenyie Mcdominic, Lagos