The Media Adviser to Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Paul Nwabuikwu, has alleged that some Nigerians were sabotaging the campaign of Okonjo-Iweala for the leadership of the World Trade Organisation.
He said this in a statement on Friday with the title, “Ongoing efforts to misrepresent Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s campaign for director-general of the World Trade Organisation.”
Nwabuikwu stated, “It has come to our attention that there is an ongoing effort by some well-connected Nigerians to sabotage the campaign of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the country’s candidate for director-general of the World Trade Organisation.”
“As part of this campaign, these persons and their cohorts are peddling outright lies and distortions designed to invent a non-existent scandal in order to paint the candidate and her campaign in negative light.”
He stated that an example of this was the effort to misrepresent the campaign’s relationship with Mercury Communications, one of the organisations and individuals that had done voluntary, pro bono work for the campaign.
The statement said Mercury was never formally engaged by Okonjo-Iweala and its work for the campaign was done strictly on volunteer basis.
He added, “The attempt by these elements to manufacture a controversy in the local and international media by distorting the facts and creating falsehoods to link the campaign with some of Mercury’s current or past clients to push a false impression is contemptible.
“It is sad that the elements behind this campaign are placing their squalid concerns above the interests of the country.
“We urge all well-meaning Nigerians to ignore this condemnable effort.”