Eyewitness reporter

An attempt to link Dr Bashir Jamoh, the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has been punctured and discovered to be the handiwork of mischief makers who are uncomfortable with his reform programmes in the maritime industry.

 It was gathered that the hatchet men have twisted an alleged fraud said to have been committed by another person whose surname bears a striking similarity with that of the NIMASA DG.

Investigations revealed that a Twitter by the name Jackson Ude with a Twitter handle @Jacksonpbn, has twitted that one Hamza Ibrahim Jamo, committed fraud worth about N1.5 trillion and $9million.

However, an online platform (not the Eyewitnessnews) has amplified the tweet and maliciously twisted it to look like the NIMASA DG  was involved in the alleged fraud, playing on the similarity in the spelling of the surname of the two characters.

Fact check has however exonerated Dr Jamoh and that he was mischievously accused by the online platform.

It was gathered that Mr Hamza Ibrahim Jamo , a retired employee of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and presently a representative of Talent Enterprise International (TEI) a Dubai-based training firm, was wrongly identified as Dr. Bashir Jamoh of NIMASA.While the NIMASA DG’s surname is Jamoh, the individual journalist Ude chatted with and published screenshots of their conversation is Jamo, an almost similar surname without the letter ‘h’ at the end.

Following screenshot images of chat and MTN phone number of Hamza Jamo published in the report, journalists used the Truecaller application and direct phone calls to the owner of the line, which was confirmed to be a different individual without a link to NIMASA DG.

Jamo disclosed to reporters that he retired after 35 years of service, added that his gratuity was paid into the Fidelity Bank account where Ude had reported a humongous sum to the tune of 1.5trillion.

While stating that he never had such a huge amount in his account, he disclosed further that the account has been closed due to activities by fraudulent persons to steal his funds.

During a telephone chat from his Kaduna base, he told journalists that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had invited him between August and September 2019 when they uncovered plans by criminals to hack into the account and steal his money.

According to him, the anti-graft body arrested suspected fraudsters in Lagos, Benin and Bauchi in connection with the fraudulent acts which caused him to shut the account for almost a year.Following the release of the publication, the Dubai company Jamo representative has issued a statement that they never had any business relationship with NIMASA.

Findings also revealed that the website of TEI www.talentexpertiseintl.com where the name, profile, and picture of Jamo Ibrahim Hamzat published as one of its directors.

However, in a statement signed by  Chief Executive Officer of Talent Expertise,John Philip, explained that:” I wish to confirm that at no time in the past has TEI had any formal or informal client/supplier relationship with NIMASA. At no time have we ever provided services to or received payment from NIMASA.

“Contrary to the said notification, Dr Bashir has never at any time held any position within TEI and he has never had a role in the formation or running of this company.

Speaking further, he said, “I wish to confirm that Talent Expertise International operating out of Dubai, UAE and Abuja, Nigeria has no connection with Dr. Bashir Yusuf Jamoh, Director General of NIMASA.

“Talent Expertise International is being represented by Mr. Hamza Ibrahim Jamo as its local Nigerian Director, a retiree from Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation”.

The online news platform had accused the DG of NIMASA of setting up the company, TEI which has also been discovered to be false.