The coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have accused a group, known as “The Concerned Citizens on Economic Reform Nigeria (CCERN)” of impersonation, saying the organisation is not known to the coalition of civil society.
Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja on Monday, the coalition, said their investigations showed that CCERN is not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
The coalition was represented at the briefing by the Convener of Initiative for Leadership and Economic Watch, Comrade Splendour Agbonkpolor; Convener, Civil Society Group for Good Governance, Chief Dominic Ogakwu; Convener, Social, Political, Economic, Educational and Environmental Rights Initiative Comrade Jacob Okpanachi and the Convener of Restore Nigeria Initiative, Comrade Victor Itsede.
They accused the CCERN impersonating CSO to commit crime, alleging that the group most recently wrote a letter to US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), asking it to investigate the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and its CEO, Mele Kyari, for allegedly violating sanctions on Russian crude oil.
The coalition described the address used in the said letter as fake, noting that the building was previously used by members of its coalition and currently not habited as a new buyer is renovating the facility.
The CSOs, which stressed that it is not against any group registering a civil society organisation, also called on security agencies to investigate, unravel and prosecute the imposters in order to preserve the image of CSOs in Nigeria.
“Last week, we were flooded with calls from all sectors of Nigeria following a petition to the U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) through its United States, Embassy in Abuja by one NGO self-styled as The Concerned Citizens on Economic Reform Nigeria, signed by two persons namely Comrade Tijani Ibrahim as Convener and Amb. Fatima Abubakar as Secretary.
“The petition titled: ‘Persons of interest in the violation of the coalition-agreed price cap on Russian crude’ was against the GCEO of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, Mr Mele Kyari and the Chief Executive Officer of Matrix Energy group, Abdulkabir Adisa Aliu.
“The various calls to us from Nigerians centered on the fact that the office address listed on the group letterhead belongs to us and the name used by the group was also twisted to look like one of our own. The name of the convener also happens to be assumed to be one of us since we have such a name in our coalition.
“Gentlemen, we have gathered you here to denounce the letter written to the US government and to state categorically clear that we were impersonated by those who wrote it. For the records, the NGO who wrote it in disguise of one of us is not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission. Secondly, the two phone numbers used in their letterhead do not exist anywhere but created out of their memories.
“Most importantly, the address listed there as Suite B5, 3rd Floor, Danville Plaza, No 5, David Ejoor Crescent, Abuja is currently unoccupied. We all occupied various sections of Danville Plaza for over ten years as NGOs but last year December, the owner of the place sold it and we all moved to new place. Even while we used the plaza as our office, there was nothing like B5 and it was never numbered that way.
“As we speak, the place is currently unoccupied and totally empty. We therefore wonder who will use a non-registered NGO to write to a country like the USA from a non-existing address, in order to make it look like our work as former occupants of the place.
“As NGOs, we do not subscribe to blackmail of the NNPCL GCEO, Mele Kyari and the CEO of Matrix Energy, Abdulkabir Adisa Aliu and will not sit back and watch people impersonate organisations we have built credibly for years in order to make us look like enemies of a well-meaning Nigeria state.
“Anyone who has an axe to grind with NNPCL and its management as well as the Matrix Energy Group should be bold to use their registered NGO as well as address and not ours. The United States Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) should disregard the petition submitted by the impersonators as it’s not authored by any of us who are former occupants of the address in the non-existing NGO,” the coalition said.
The coalition also urged the US government to disregard the letter from CCERN, noting that, “We find it distasteful to be used by any group of persons or companies fighting for their own interests, and will be proceeding to submit a letter of withdrawal to the U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control, through its United States, Embassy in Abuja on this issue that is almost eroding our integrity, credibility and reputation.”
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