“We have no links nor business with Jamoh”-TEI

Jamoh and Jamo identified

Checks indicate that the allegations of N1.5trillion and $9million fraud against Dr. Bashir Jamoh, Director General of Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) are not true.

The report which was first tweeted by a United States-based Nigerian journalist, Jackson Ude @Jacksonpbn and later reported on his online news website, www.pointblanknews.com have been discovered to be a combination of outright falsehood, mistaken identity and or dubious mischief

It has been confirmed that Mr. Hamza Ibrahim Jamo , a retired employee of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and presently a representative of Talent Enterprise, a Dubai-based training firm, was wrongly identified as Bashir Jamoh of NIMASA.

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

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.

Jamo, the former NNPC employee who 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.

He told journalists during a telephone interview from his Kaduna base that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had invited 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 represents has issued a statement that they never had any business relationship with NIMASA.

In the statement signed by John Philip, Chief Executive Officer of Talent Expertise, stated “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.

“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.

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

The website of TEI www.talentexpertiseintl.com has the name, profile, and picture of Jamo Ibrahim Hamza published as one of its directors.

The Pointblanknews report had accused the DG of NIMASA of setting up the company, TEI. This is  also not true.