A coalition of Arewa Initiative (AI), Coalition of Youth Against Corruption (COYAC) and Good Governance Initiative (GGI) have called on Nigerians and the anti-graft agencies and security organization to discountenance the smear campaign and frivolous writings, ill motivated petitions, self-serving and mischief orchestrated by former disgruntled employees of the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NNRA) vowing to get at the Management for not allowing them unfettered access to the financial resources of the regulatory agency.

In a statement signed by the Secretary, Arewa Initiative (AI), Com. Mohammed Dantijo, President of COYAC. Mahmud Bello and National Coordinator of (GGI), Com. Sani Ninjiba Sarki, condemned the clandestine plot, blackmail and malicious petition to anti-graft agencies and security organization as wicked and defamatory aimed at resolving personal grievances and scores all in a bid to discredit the transparent management of NNRA.

As champions and propagators of transparency, good governance and accountability in the public service, these malicious ethnic casting of aspersion on the management of the NNRA, campaign of calumny, witch-hunt, and threatening the management of the regulatory agency is not only detrimental to good governance practice, but to the lives and security of management of NNRA. This smear campaign of calumny presently being orchestrated by these disgruntled former employees is intended to pull down the name of the organization into public odium and therefore should be disregarded by all well-meaning Nigerians in its entirety. These petitions are vindictive, callous, wicked and repugnant to natural justice and meant to settle old scores for having returned them to their pool for unprofessional conduct and behavior.

The trio maintained that this matter has gone beyond the anti-corruption war but has become highly ethnic and political aimed at distracting the management of NNRA. It is a matter of witch-hunting and blackmailing the management insisting the said former employees who are very unhappy and have an axe to grind with the management for calling them to order and therefore, called on the security organizations and the anti-graft agencies to be vigilant and cautious of blackmailers and mischief makers who are hell bent to smear the reputation of honest and hardworking Nigerians on the board of NNRA.

The CSOs called on the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to ignore the antics of this unpatriotic disgruntled former employees and their cohorts masquerading themselves “as northerners and APC members” to hoodwink the gullible members of the public and security agencies. Adding that it should be disregarded as false, mischievous innuendoes and concocted lies hatched by these fifth columnists to draw the ire of the present administration on the mercurial management of the NNRA.

That the present transparent leadership of NNRA are ardent advocates of the change mantra of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, honest and patriotic to the core and we therefore, pass a vote of confidence on the board and management of NNRA for the current institutional capacity building and repositioning that can best be compared with international best practices globally and therefore, urged them to remain focused and undeterred in their efforts to rebrand the organization and provide best management practices to actualize PMB proactive agenda.