The organization noted that the FMBN, which has never declared profit since its establishment, manufactured the report to deceive the Minister of Power, Works and Housing whose Ministry supervises the bank, into believing that the bank was performing well.
It urged Mr. Fashola not to be misled by a report whose sole aim was to cover up the massive fraud and bad management which the bank had experienced over the years.
The statement referred the minister to a Central Bank of Nigeria report which vindicated the audit group that there was indeed no profit contrary to the report of the stated period submitted by the bank’s management.
The CBN report also discovered a loss. But where the audit group merely reported a loss without putting a figure to it, the CBN report actually put the loss at about N7billion.
“We request Mr. Fashola to look critically at that CBN report and he would discover that not only was he shamelessly taken for a ride, the management of FMBN also went on to unlawfully sack an officer who was only carrying out his duties in an honest and professional manner,” Onumah said.
According to AFRICMIL, the cruel treatment of Ibrahim by FMBN has again brought to the fore the recurring victimization of officers who report wrongdoings in government offices.
“The persistent victimization in any form of those who are courageous enough to blow the whistle must not be tolerated if the whistleblower policy of this administration must succeed,” Onumah noted.
“We have said it repeatedly that whistleblowers deserve nothing more than full protection as this will further encourage accountability and enrich the right of the public to know.”
