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LequteMan
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The UN Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, has thrown his weight behind Nigeria's ex-minister Amina Mohammed, insisting he has confidence in his deputy.
Guterres’s spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, in a statement said Mohammed had the UN Secretary-General’s “full support and confidence.”
“I will say the following. First of all, just to be clear that the secretary‑general was informed by the deputy secretary‑general about the reports, and he reiterates his full support and confidence in her. She, the deputy secretary‑general, Amina Mohammed, of course, categorically rejects any allegations of fraud.
“The deputy secretary‑general welcomes the effort to shine more light onto the issue of illegal rosewood logging and exportation that she fought hard to address during her tenure in the Nigerian government. She says that her actions as Nigerian environment minister were intended to deal with the serious issue of illegal wood exportation.”
“As a result, she instituted a ban and set up a high‑level panel to find policy solutions to the crisis of deforestation in Nigeria. Mohammed says the legal signing of export permits for rosewood was delayed due to her insistence that stringent due process was followed. She said she signed the export certificates requested before the ban only after due process was followed and better security watermarked certificates became available.”
Guterres’s spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, in a statement said Mohammed had the UN Secretary-General’s “full support and confidence.”
“I will say the following. First of all, just to be clear that the secretary‑general was informed by the deputy secretary‑general about the reports, and he reiterates his full support and confidence in her. She, the deputy secretary‑general, Amina Mohammed, of course, categorically rejects any allegations of fraud.
“The deputy secretary‑general welcomes the effort to shine more light onto the issue of illegal rosewood logging and exportation that she fought hard to address during her tenure in the Nigerian government. She says that her actions as Nigerian environment minister were intended to deal with the serious issue of illegal wood exportation.”
“As a result, she instituted a ban and set up a high‑level panel to find policy solutions to the crisis of deforestation in Nigeria. Mohammed says the legal signing of export permits for rosewood was delayed due to her insistence that stringent due process was followed. She said she signed the export certificates requested before the ban only after due process was followed and better security watermarked certificates became available.”
