A former Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, has debunked a story by an online medium, gazettengr.com, which alleged that he smuggled a car stolen in Jamaica into the USA, where it was impounded by US authorities.
A statement by one of his aides, Lawson Chibuike, said on Monday that the car in question, a Jaguar, was impounded in the US for emission reasons – and has since been released.
According to Chibuike , Dr. Kachikwu bought the Jaguar car in 2009 from a company, Dazz Motors Nigeria Limited, with its registered office in Victoria Island, Nigeria, at time of the purchase in 2009.
Chibuike said: “Dr. Kachikwu paid fully for the car and the car was registered by the dealer in his name in Nigeria.
“After some period of using the car primarily in Lagos, Dr. Kachikwu, following due process, exported the car to the US as a gift to a relation.
“But the US Customs impounded the car because it was not built for the country, based on emission control reasons and on the suspicion that it might have been stolen.
“Of course, Dr. Kachikwu gave them the details of the car and they reached out to the car dealer, who corroborated his narration and validated his innocence.
“However, while it couldn’t be proven and established that the car might have been stolen in Europe, it was based on the emission control concerns that an administrative ruling was given in the US that the car be taken back to Nigeria.
“And once the US Customs determined there was no reason to continue to impound the car or prosecute the case against the dealer vendor, the car was released to Dr. Kachikwu, who brought same back to Nigeria, and returned it to the dealer, who in turn refunded his payment in full.”
According to him, all this happened in 2012, many years before Kachikwu was appointed into a ministerial position.
He stressed that the former minister did not “smuggle” a stolen car into the US but legitimately purchased a car that was later discovered to be unfit for the US roads.
“With the facts clearly stated above,” he said, “it is expected that gazettengr.com will take immediate steps to correct the errors in their earlier story and put out this accurate version, in the spirit of sound journalism and genuine contrition,” he said.
