Smear Campaign Against Hon. Ginika Tor Will Always Fail

My attention has been drawn to a malicious campaign of calumny against me by a faceless group which goes by the name Nigerian Citizens Action Group (NCAG). In a press release signed by an E-Thug who goes by the name Comrade Salahudeen A. Lukman , a native of Kwara State, Muheeba Farida Dankaka’s home State and published online. The group alleged that I presented forged certificates for my appointment as the Federal Commissioner representing Enugu State in the Federal Character Commission, FCC.

In order to give credence to its report, the online platform stated that I was grilled by the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) in Abuja for certificate forgery on February 22, 2024 from 11am to around 3:30pm.

Ordinarily, I would not have dignified them with a response but in order not to allow this blatant falsehood to fester, which is capable of misleading unsuspecting members of the public, I wish to state categorically that there is not one iota of truth in the press release.

I wish to state that all my certificates are well earned, authentic and not forged; the accusation is maliciously orchestrated, false and baseless. I, Hon. Mrs Ginika Tor functions by example and will not contemplate such demeaning dishonesty by parading a forged certificate. It needs to be re-emphasized that before my appointment, I was thoroughly screened by the relevant security agencies and had my certificates and academic credentials vetted and cleared. If there is any complaint about my certificates, it is obviously emanating from the camp of the Chairman of the Federal Character Commission, Muheeba Farida Dankaka, who is fighting me and other members of the Integrity Team for exposing her involvement in job racketeering and shady deals.

Secondly, it is very mischievous for newsroom.com.ng to claim that I was grilled for about Eight hours on February 22, 2024. The truth of the matter is that I arrived the FCID Complex in Garki to honour the police invitation at about 2.15 pm where I was shown a letter written and signed by the Chairman of the Federal Character Commission, Muheeba Farida Dankaka and a handwritten letter by one Ejiofor alleging that my certificates were forged. I gave a written statement dismissing the spurious allegations. I spent less than an hour at FCID Complex and proceeded to attend the 60th birthday ceremony of Chief Mrs. Beauty Ikeaka, the mother of Her Excellency, Barr. Mrs. Chioma Hope Uzodinma.

I wish to state unequivocally that this spurious allegation of certificate forgery against me is part of a grand conspiracy by the Chairman of the Federal Character Commission, Muheeba Farida Dankaka, in connivance with some persons from Enugu State, who are bent on fighting me for standing steadfast on the path of truth.

I now wish to put it on record, what I describe as the genesis of all these orchestrated campaign of calumny against my person starting with the role of the Federal Character Commission Chairman, who is desperately trying to cling on any straw just to survive the ongoing probe against her by the National Assembly.

Last year, the Federal Character Commission was invited by the House of Representatives ad-hoc Committee investigating Job Racketeering by Ministries, Departments and Agencies and mismanagement of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), chaired by Hon. Yusuf Gagdi looking into allegations of allotment of employment slots by the FCC Chairman, Muheeba Dankaka in exchange for financial gratification.

The Chairman in her response during one of the Committee hearings decided to chase shadows by accusing me of certificate forgery instead. The House Committee investigated the certificate forgery allegations and in the end I was vindicated because the Committee could not establish any evidence of wrongdoing or forgery.

In the course of that investigation I discovered that the Chairman of FCC had written a letter to all Service Chiefs and Heads of security agencies accusing me of illegal visits to MDAs and security agencies. I instructed my lawyer to write to her to withdraw such blatantly false and damaging letters to be accompanied with an apology or face a defamation suit but she ignored the warning letter and of course we are set to meet in court.

The FCC Chairman Muheeba Farida Dankaka did not relent but in fact went ahead to petition the DSS over her spurious allegation against me. In line with their standard procedure, I was invited by DSS on the strength of that petition, which I honoured. The DSS professionally engaged me in an interactive session as they sought to get my submissions on all the false allegations made by Muheeba after which I left vindicated.

On the 20th of February, a letter dated 15th February, 2024 from the Nigerian Police, inviting the Chairman of FCC Concerned Commissioners and Integrity Group, Hon. Augustine Wokocha representing Rivers State, Hon. Kayode Bawa-Allah representing Lagos State, Hon. Moses Anaughe representing Delta State and Hon. Adeoye Abdulrasak representing Osun State and myself was sent to me from the FCC Chairman’s office for an interactive meeting on the 21st of February, 2024.

It is instructive to note that though the letter was received by the FCC Chairman, Muheeba Farida Dankaka on the 15th of February 2024, she mischievously held on to the letter until 20th of February 2024 before sending the letter to us after clandestinely fixing a plenary for the Commission on the same day (21st of February 2024) we were meant to be interacting with the Police in a bid to prevent us from attending the plenary.
On that note, we pre-empted her moves and reached out to the police to inform them that we will not be able to honour the invitation on the stipulated date (21st of February 2024) due to our plenary and suggested the meeting be shifted to the next day, which the Police obliged.

On the day of the supposed plenary of the Board of the Federal Character Commission fixed by the Chairman, Muheeba Farida Dankaka, she cancelled the plenary after realizing we were not at the Police station but rather already well seated at the Commission.

On that same day, I also received another Police invitation letter to appear for interaction on 22nd February by 11am over an allegation of certificate forgery leveled against me by Muheeba Farida Dankaka. This was the same date we had requested our earlier interaction with the police to be shifted to. So, I contacted the police to slightly readjust the timing of the new invitation.
On the said 22nd February, 2024 by 11am, I honoured the police invitation alongside the four above mentioned Federal Commissioners accompanied by 7 other Federal Commissioners, on our arrival we were made to understand that there was a petition from the Chairman of the Commission, Muheeba Farida Dankaka accusing us of disturbing the peace of the commission. She described I, Hon Mrs GINIKA TOR as the ring leader and further specifically accused me of doctoring a photograph to appear as if I took a picture with the IG of Police so as to use the said picture for influence peddling. The said picture was one I took with the I.G on the Presidential Inaugural Thanksgiving Service at the Economical Centre. As regards this particular laughable and bizarre accusation, I simply responded that the IG of Police is alive and the police should simply inquire from their boss if Muheeba Farida’s childish and malicious accusation is true. The above fact proves that this whole movie script targeted at me was indeed directed by Muheeba Farida Dankaka.

The Chairman of the Federal Character Commission from inception has had a criminal mindset. For instance, Muheeba Farida Dankaka claimed that the reason why she denied Commissioners access to MDAs was because prior to her assumption of office as Chairman, she knew that Federal Commissioners were engaged in job racketeering. Ironically, this FCC Chairman is the biggest job racketeer the Commission has ever seen going by the numerous revelations that have come to light in the course of the House Committee hearing on the issue of job racketeering in the Federal Character Commission. I have proof of how I used my hard-earned money to make publications in her stead against job racketeering. I published it in many national dailies including Vanguard, Thisday, Nation, Leadership Newspapers and then sent to her via whatsapp (Prove available upon request by relevant investigating security agencies). This woman did not send that publication anywhere, little did I know that she did not come to change the narrative as I had presumed rather she herself is the real job racketeer.

It is important to state that in the FCC, we have been witnessing close to 4years of misrule, violations of extant laws, of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and outright criminality by Dankaka. FCC is now a shadow of its old self. It’s no secret that I, Hon Mrs Ginika Tor and some of my colleagues have been pointing out these infractions for long and have followed the laid down due processes, exhausted all internal mechanisms, starting with informal discussions, memo presentation at FCC plenary and petitions to former President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, NASS, Senate Committee on Ethics and privileges, DSS, ICPC, Police and others.

It appears Muheeba Farida Dankaka has succeeded thus far in slowing down the wheel of Justice against her misdemeanors through many ploys including unrelenting bribery, intimidation and witch-hunting of any perceived advocate for transparency and accountability. The damning testimony of Kolo Haruna, her erstwhile SA at FCC is enough to elicit her instant resignation or removal from office under normal circumstances. Mr. Kolo Haruna, who testified under oath during the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee hearing on job racketeering in July 2023 outlined several criminal undertakings of Muheeba Farida Dankaka, which he helped carry out at her behest including selling jobs to 27 persons who were enrolled in the IPPIS and received salaries for more than 1 year. This was done in connivance with her cohorts including the driver of the Commissioner representing Taraba State and some other Commissioners.

Muheeba Farida Dankaka has always attempted to victimize and harass those who have stood up to her malfeasance and corrupt leadership. This is exactly what she is doing in this case by trying to use the Police, DSS, and the media to harass, intimidate and tarnish the image of those who have decided to defend the interest of the country by insisting on due process in implementing the federal character principle. Muheeba Farida Dankaka by her many actions is steering the Federal Character Commission away from its constitutional mandate and instead turning it into a criminal enterprise.

Recently, Muheeba Farida Dankaka attempted to rope some Commissioners into her criminal routine of transferring the commission’s funds to private accounts, a clear violation of financial regulations law 2009 in an illegal meeting held by 8 members of the FCC who are her cohorts (a meeting which did not meet the quorum of 1/3 of the 36 members of the commission as stipulated by the FCC Establishment law). At the said meeting they took a decision that the commission approved the illegal action of transferring public funds into private accounts. Muheeba F. Dankaka unilaterally spends the funds of the Commission with total disregard to due process and the spirit of Section 10 and Section 2 of the FCC Establishment Act, which established the structure of the COMMISSION and Administration of Funds which conspicuously omitted the Chairman but rather placed the mandate on the COMMISSION which is comprising of the Members and the Chairman. She presented the minutes of that illegal meeting held by the 8 members (Plenary meeting 306) and insisted that it should be adopted but I and two other Commissioners stood up and stopped it.

Actions to be taken by the FCC in the discharge of its duties must be a product of decisions by a properly constituted plenary of the commission where votes are conducted. However, today Muheeba Farida Dankaka seems to have turned FCC into her personal commission tagged FARIDA VENTURES, taking unilateral decisions without the inputs of the majority of Federal Commissioners. In fact, the Chairman has used every means at her disposal to stifle the effectiveness of the Commission in discharging its primary responsibilities of ensuring equitable distribution of national resources and public service positions. Muheeba has actually promoted imbalance and lopsidedness in allocation of public service positions against the provision of section 14 (3) and (4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and other extant laws through her mostly illegitimate actions.

She negotiates for employment slots from CEOs of MDAs when they come for employment request approvals, and then allows these CEOs to distribute the remaining jobs the way they deem fit without recourse to consideration of the federal character principle. I make bold to say that hundreds of agencies have come for waivers and certificates of compliance but you cannot find one agency with compliance. Requests for Waivers and Certificate of compliance are to be brought to plenary of the Commission to afford every Federal Commissioner opportunity to ensure that his or her state is well represented and should there be need to balance up things in case of any obvious imbalance, but for almost four years of our existence in the commission, no waiver or certificate of compliance has ever been brought to the plenary for deliberation.

The Chairman, Muheeba Farida Dankaka sits in her office and singlehandedly dishes out certificate of compliance as she deems fit.
In fact, today the Federal Character Commission is simply led by a sole administrator. The Federal Commissioners who are meant to be part of the day to day decision making of the commission do not know the budget that we are operating on as a Commission. Muheeba Farida Dankaka unilaterally sits on the budget of the Commission in total violation of Section 10 of the FCC Establishment Act. I pray the authority to conduct investigation on financial status of the Commission whether there is near compliance at all, Dankaka is crime personified and some government officials glorify her because of employment slots. Section 10 of our Act conspicuously omitted the Chairman but rather stipulates thus; “(1) There SHALL be established and maintained by the COMMISSION a fund into which shall be paid and credited”, the “COMMISSION “ according to Section 2 (1) (a)(b)(c) of FCC Act is to consist of the Chairman, representatives of each states in Nigeria and FCT, yet the Chairman made herself alone the “THE COMMISSION” and functions as a sole administrator. She prepares, presents and unilaterally executes the budgetary provisions. Even the number one citizen of Nigeria, the President took the national budget to FEC for collective deliberation and agreement, so I wonder if Madam Dankaka is above the law since she does all these and still sits as the Chairman of FCC.

Muheeba uses staff accounts to transfer money from public account to private accounts; She unilaterally awards contracts to cronies and friends without following due process. In fact she does whatever she likes through the instrumentality of the office.
Like an Emperor, she has victimized, oppressed, suppressed, intimidated and denied the five commissioners who have remained resolute in challenging her impunity and gross abuse of office their rights, while favoring those Commissioners who support her reign of impunity without question in the assignment of duties of monitoring of agencies, the foreign travels etc. Also she runs the generator at the commission only when she is in the office.

And in furtherance of her personal vendetta against me, Dankaka had made frantic efforts; including writing a petition to the FCT police command to have my police escort and orderly withdrawn.

A civil society organization (CSO), Youth and Leadership Initiatives, in a petition dated May 23, 2023, addressed to the former Deputy Inspector General of Police, Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Garki Abuja had alleged that Dankaka presented false information to the President and the National Assembly to secure the Chairmanship of the FCC and the above was published 2 months ago by Leadership Newspaper, the publication which was written by Bode Gbadebo exposed the other side of Dr. Muheeba Farida Dankaka criminal history involving her highly questionable academic records and various inconsistencies seen in her certificates.

For someone accusing another person of certificate forgery, it is ironic that her academic credentials are very shoddy and at best fraudulent. The media publication dug into her academic records and revealed that Muheeba Farida Dankaka refers to herself as ‘Dr’ when in actual fact she holds no Ph.D degree from any recognized university. The acclaimed Honorary Doctor of Philosophy which she holds was issued by an institution that was proscribed, not recognized and not accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC). National Universities Commission had since declared Pacific Western University. Denver, Colorado, USA, Owerri study campus as illegal and thereby shut it down.

They went further to disclose that “Dr. Muheeba Farida Dankaka was issued with the certificate in 2007 and her name appears as MUHEEBA H. DANKAKA. This name is also at variance with the present name she bears ‘Dr. Muheeba Farida Dankaka.

In addition, the Master’s degree certificate copy attached to her Curriculum Vitae, have her name as Muiba Nike Salau. This name is also at variance with the present name she bears ‘Dr. Muheeba Farida Dankaka. While her marital surname of Dankaka was substituted for Salau or Salawu, the name Nike is not on any of the appointment documents.”

The media investigation further noted that, “that her first-degree certificate dated August, 1986, her name appeared as Muibat Adenike Salawu. This is also at variance with the name she claimed to bear and supplied to the Presidency and the Senate during screening and the name with which she officially signs all documents. Conversely, her name on the NYSC discharge certificate which reads Salau, Mulbat Nike is also at variance with the name on the first-degree certificate which reads Mulbat Adenike Salawu. On the West African Examinations Council School Certificate obtained in 1978, her name was ‘Salawu Muibat Adenike’. This is also at variance with the name she claimed to bear and supplied to the Presidency and the Senate during screening and the name with which she officially signs all documents”, the report added.

From the foregoing, it is clear that if there is anyone who needs to clarify to the public or investigated by the security agencies for certificate forgery, it is surely Muheeba Farida Dankaka. Muheeba in her petitions against me to the police, she accused me of masterminding the above publications and I charged the police to investigate her claims thoroughly if I Ginika actually masterminded it or not. I am not such a person who is afraid to admit my actions so should I be the one, I would have admitted it but since she enjoys accusing me wrongly, I leave her to her games.

To buttress my point, I urge every reader of my submission to search the following on google
“Police Grill FCC Chair Dankaka Over Alleged Certificate Forgery” by Leadership Newspaper—8th Jan. 2024

“Certificate Forgery: FCC Chairman kicks as CSO demands resignation” by Punch Newspaper—16th July 2021.

“Group wants Tinubu to suspend FCC Chairman over alleged certificate” by The Guardian Newspaper—17 Jan 2024

“Police grills FCC Chairman, Dr. Dankaka over alleged certificate forgery” by Capital post—12 Jan 2024.

“Controversy trails FCC Chair’s MBA certificate” by Trust radio—-23 Jan, 2024

“BREAKING: Anti-Graft Agency, EFCC Currently Grilling Chairman of Federal Character Commission, Moheeba Farida in Abuja for Alleged Fraud” by Sahara Reporters—16th Jan , 2024.

These and many more publications are from reputable media firms but on her assumption that I masterminded the publications, she engaged her Kwara e-thug to damage my reputation in an unpopular social media news platform named the newsroom.com.ng and furnished her cronies in Enugu with it for smear campaign against me.

It is worthy of note that should Federal Character Commission function in line with the extant laws, it will be a vital tool to creating atmosphere of peace for the country, champion renewed hope agenda in earnest, cushion the effect of hardship and then command national loyalty, however should be scraped if it remains so unproductive with its essence defeated.

The President cannot be everywhere, that is why in choosing heads of government offices especially a place designed to give everyone a sense of belonging such as Federal Character Commission, thorough check should be conducted to ensure such persons possesses the needed competence, capacity, selflessness, leadership qualities, just and with utmost regard for the rule laws are appointed to occupy such position.

Renewed Hope is assured should those in authorities’ work in accordance to the extant laws and work selflessly for the betterment of all citizens.

Finally, the people of Enugu State and Nigeria at large should be informed that close to four Years that I assumed office as Federal Character Commission charged to represent my State, I have been vehemently denied my right of representation which I took an oath of office to stand by and serve by the Chairman of FCC MUheeba Farida Dankaka by failing to function as Chairman in line with the provisions of the Constitution of Nigeria and FCC Establishment Act.

Her rights and Commissioners rights and limitations are well stipulated therein but her hunger for power and domineering spirit has made her never to work as mandated by the legal provisions but rather constantly boast to our faces that she is above the law.

The FCC Chairman, Muheeba Dankaka should stop chasing shadows and own up to her failings and throw in the towel.

Ginika Tor
Hon. Federal Commissioner
Global President
OPI Igbo Kwenu