7. The critical question and general concern have remained why Bash Ali would choose to picket and blackmail NEXIM out of the numerous other members of the LOC, which include, but not limited to “…a representative of Chief of Staff to Mr President, a representative of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, a representative of Glo Nigeria Limited, a representative of Bank of Industry, a representative of Peugeot Automobiles Nigeria, a representative of the National Sports Commission, a representative of African Independent Television, a representative of Nigerian Television Authority, a representative of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, a representative of Bash Ali Boxing Project, a representative of Nigerian Boxing Board of Control, a Secretary and Assistant to be nominated by the LOC.”
8. Without abatement, for months on end, Bash Ali continued barricading the access road to the Bank, refusing both staff and clients, customers as well as other occupants of the building to enter the premises at any time of his choosing. This was without any regard that such acts of impunity could easily compromise the personal security of the Bank, its staff, its tenants which include a commercial bank amongst others; and most of all that he was deliberately costing the Bank its business when he avowed that his mission was to bring the Bank and its business down.
9. NEXIM, being a very responsible corporate citizen, lodged formal complaints with all the relevant security agencies. Despite the intervention of the security agencies at various times, Bash Ali’s did not refrain from his obnoxious and reprehensible conducts. Rather he became even more emboldened, and most brazenly, continued his onslaught against the Bank often with a pre-arranged media presence; continued with his midnight/early morning phone calls and sending of very uncomplimentary messages to top Management Staff, including the Managing Director. This trend continued till Wednesday, October 8, 2014, when he once again arrived the premises of the Bank with his thugs and pressmen and used a truck to block the single entrance to the Bank and completely prevented movement in or out of NEXIM premises causing a heavy traffic jam on the way intersecting the access road. This warranted the direct intervention of the Police to curb the public nuisance and the commotion emanating therefrom. Bash Ali was then arrested and charged to Court by the Police on Thursday, October 9, 2014 where he was subsequently admitted to bail but with a stern warning against further acts of harassment and intimidation of NEXIM Bank and Staff. Presently, the matter is at the Senior Magistrates’ Court, in Abuja.
10. We hereby categorically state that there is no iota of truth whatsoever in all the allegations levelled against the Bank by Bash Ali; these allegations are spurious and are merely designed to serve a singular purpose, namely to distort the facts and cast the Bank and its Management in a very bad light, disrupt its business, and by extension embarrass the country and cast it in a negative light internationally.
11. While we challenge Bash Ali to provide public evidence of the ‘’official’’ who made such a demand on him, we urge our stakeholders and the general public to ignore these baseless allegations as lacking in substance and proof, even as we call on the relevant agencies to investigate Bash Ali for his unpatriotic acts in levelling such weighty, reckless and costly allegations against the Trade Policy Bank of Nigeria and for maligning the name of Mr. President.
12. In the absence of such concrete evidence and proof, we will instruct our lawyers to pursue the matter to a logical conclusion through the judicial process.
Signed,
MANAGEMENT: NIGERIAN EXPORT-IMPORT BANK
Sunday, October 26, 2014
