A close associate of the detained former Principal Secretary to the immediate past president Goodluck Jonathan, Hassan Tukur, Mr. Akeem Babalola has described as pure fallacy, a report by an online medium that "out of $40m collected by Hassan Tukur to facilitate negotiation of the release of abducted Chibok schoolgirls by the Boko Haram sect, he gave only $5m (five million dollars) to the Chadian President, Idriss Derby, and pocketed the rest of the money, which amounted to $35m (thirty-five million dollars)."
He said "such report was nothing but fictitious, offensive and misleading." He also frowned at another part of the story which claimed that Tukur ferried the supposed money to the Chadian capital with Presidential jets.
"It raises a lot of concerns that the whole story is either a figment of the writer’s imagination, an attempt to be mischievous or a total reliance on a mere pepper soup joint gossip." Thereby urging journalists to adhere to the ethics of the profession and conduct researches and through investigations before going online with any story.
"We were surprised that the story about Mallam Hassan Tukur collecting any amount of money on behalf of the abducted Chibok girls was so plainly incorrect and misleading."
“The critical questions readily come on the story are: what was the money meant for, was it to be distributed to members of Boko Haram for them to free the girls? Was it meant for logistics? The part of the money said to be given to Chadian President (if any), was it given to him on his personal capacity or to the ministry of finance? Was the money meant to buy weapons for Chadian army? These and others are pertinent questions those vilifying Tukur should ask themselves before any further action."
“Also, insinuations that Tukur has been singing in the EFCC cell, implicating Jonathan and others, who worked under him, is nothing but the imagination of the writer. Tukur was not involved in the sharing of the money; if at all any money was shared".
He went further to say that "for the avoidance of doubt, Tukur never got a kobo from the so called negotiation deal. Being the man he is, he would not have been part of the looting of this great country as we are been made to believe in the said story."
"As published by the report in question, Tukur indeed served President Muhammad Buhari as a military Head of State and he did that without blemish and it has being confirmed by many who have known him". He was appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan as Principal Secretary based on his track record of loyalty, integrity and accountability.
He had served this country at the highest level as professional and career driven personality and should be accorded such respect", Akeem Babalola submitted.
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