Mischief At Work!!!
Many well-wishers have brought to my attention the campaign of calumny in the social media by some disgruntled elements that I caused 5 of my aides to be arrested over an alleged stolen amount ranging from N30 billion, N30 million and or 100,000 dollars, depending on their levels of fantasy.
These are mere fabrications and an attempt at whipping up sentiments. For the records I have not at any point in time kept any of such amount in my residence.
The fact of the inconsistency in the amount claimed to have been stolen speaks to the mischief of the campaign of calumny which is certainly aimed at maligning me and projecting me to the world as a callous and mean individual.
Facts of The Matter
1. The truth is that some of my aides gained access to my bedroom and took away some money (certainly not the amount claimed) sometimes in December, 2019 when my entire family and I were on vacation.
2. The unauthorized access was without any discernible forced entry as there were no signs of forcible entry. All the entry doors to the house and my bedroom were intact without any mark depicting or suggesting a break in.
3. It must be reiterated that only a very few of my aides have access to the keys to my room. This should show to any discerning mind the level of trust and confidence I had in those aides.
4.Soon after the incident, the ONLY maid in my house at the relevant time escaped from the house.The word “escape” is being employed here because she actually sneaked out of the house after throwing her belongings over the fence probably with the connivance of other aides. The most interesting part of her escape is that she left her two phones behind. When the phones were powered on, there was no information or message of any kind on them. This further raised security apprehension and collusion among personal aides to possibly harm me.
5. The rumour mill was agog with the arrest of my aides, but did any of the rumour mongers give a thought to the fact that were the maid to be harmed or not seen again, would I and my wife not have been called upon to answer to her whereabouts?
6. For me, beyond the issue of money being stolen, the incident raised issues of serious security breach in my residence and a potential threat to my life and family’s as the perpetrators may possibly even plant injurious items in my room or house or even have a grand and more sinister motive.
7. In as much as I did not want to unjustly come to a conclusion as to who is responsible among my aides, my mind was agitated particularly about the disappearance of the maid under very questionable circumstances and this is the genesis of the investigation, to track the maid and ascertain that she is safe, nothing more.
8. It was the apprehension of the maid that led to the arrest of two of my aides under lawful authority,and relevant orders of court obtained to search, investigate, arrest and where necessary detain the suspects.
9. Symptomatic of the intended mischief is the false story of arrest of five of my aides. It will be interesting to provide the names of the aides arrested.
10.The family of the suspects were duly informed and were obliged access to the suspects at all times. In fact, the lawyer to the family of my former Personal Assistant informed me that on Friday 28 March 2020, he and the family of my former PA agreed that the relevant security agency should rather conclude their investigations to avoid unnecessary stigma on innocent people.
11. However, in view of the meddlesomeness into and politicization of the investigation, I have taken the decision to distance myself from the aides in the interest of my security and that of my family rather than be concerned about the possibility of the innocence of any or all of them which was even consequential to the initial aim of the investigation which was to establish the whereabouts of the runaway maid.
12. A most mischievous lie is that I took the suspects to swear oath. I am a Muslim and I have never done and will never on any account do anything that negates my faith. I openly challenge the mischief makers to back their lie with evidence.
13. I have not done anything outside the law and I believe those orchestrating the mischief would act similarly in my situation if only to clear the air on their safety and security. I make bold to ask the naysayers that were they to be in my shoes, with the above stated circumstances, would they not want to know and investigate the circumstances of an unauthorized access by people they had implicit confidence in to the recess of their bedrooms even if it is fifty Naira that was stolen?
14. I pray that Allah will reward or punish all according to their actions and intentions in the circumstances.
Senator Dr. Ajibola Basiru
