The pan-Yoruba organisation, Afenifere, has queried the silence of President Muhammadu Buhari and his presidency on the $25 billion oil sector contracts scandal currently rocking the government.
Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, had, in a letter dated 30 August, 2017, written to Buhari, listed a number of contracts which he said were illegally awarded by the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). All the contracts, valued at over $25billion, according to the minister, were not approved by the board of the NNPC as required by law.
Afenifere spoke as the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) also called on the presidency to institute a probe into the allegations, which it said were “very grave and weighty”.
Speaking with Saturday Tribune on the telephone, on Friday, the spokesman of Afenifere, Mr Yinka Odumakin, described the allegation by the minister as a “monumental national tragedy” and called for the suspension of Dr Baru to allow a proper investigation into the allegations.
Odumakin said “it is surprising and unfortunate that a contract scam of monumental proportion to the tune of $25billion occurred long ago in the NNPC and the presidency was notified but did not say a word on it until it was blown open.
He declared that “Baru should be suspended from office immediately, rather than President Buhari holding a meeting with the petroleum minister and the NNPC GMD, to suggest that it is a family affair.
“It is not about meeting between the Minister and the GMD with the president, it is about weighty allegations of infraction, of award of contracts worth $25billlion. It is not about meeting; it is not a family affair. This is about public interest; this is about public procurement; this is about anti-corruption and this is about due process.
“It is tragic and heartbreaking that a fraud of such monumental proportion, as disclosed by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, could be perpetrated under the nose of this administration.
“It is more tragic that the Minister of State could write a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari in respect of the allegation since August and nothing was done over the issue over a long period of time.
“Recall that the administration came into power on the basis of fighting corruption but we are witnessing such a monumental fraud. The amount mentioned in the letter is more than our foreign reserve and the 2017 budget.
“It is a tragedy for the anti-corruption war that a scam of the monumental proportion of the type the minister made against the GMD would be in the archives like the 2014 Confab Report, until it was leaked.
“And days after the leakage, it has been mum from the presidency. We are talking here of an amount that is more than our foreign reserve. To restore public confidence in the anti-corruption war, the GMD should be suspended to allow proper investigation.
“This scam confirms our fears that we may just be engaged in anti-corruption propaganda while keeping the architecture of corruption. If we are fighting corruption and we are arraigning those who were accused of stealing less than N60 million, we must not keep quiet over this scam, running into trillions of naira,” Afenifere said.
ACF calls for probe
Also reacting to the development, ACF spokesman, Muhammadu Ibrahim Biu, said the presidency must urgently probe the allegations which he said his organization considered too grave to be ignored.
“The issues raised in the letter to the president by the Minister of State for Petroleum on allegations of unilateral awards of contracts by the GMD NNPC and other acts of insubordination are very grave and need to be thoroughly investigated by the presidency to know the facts.
“Therefore, the prompt intervention of President Buhari into the matter, as we read in the newspapers, is most appropriate and timely. We hope the GMD and the minister will be given a fair hearing so that Nigerians will know the facts.
“Thereafter, the president should do the needful and douse the tension the letter has generated, thereby restoring confidence in the oil sector,” the ACF spokesman said in a statement made available to Saturday Tribune.
Kachikwu meets Buhari, keeps mum. Baru in Aso Rock for Friday prayers
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu and Group General Manager (GMD) of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, were, on Friday, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Kachikwu was the first to arrive and met alone with President Muhammadu Buhari, even as he refused to speak on the details of the meeting when approached by State House correspondents after.
Baru, who had earlier observed the Juma’at prayers at the State House Mosque, later showed up at the office of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, but it was not clear whether he met the vice president in a formal meeting.
Also Read: $25 billion allegation: Group calls for urgent investigation of NNPC GMD
Wike accuses APC of plunging Nigeria into worst pit of corruption
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, in his reaction, has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government of plunging the nation into its worst depth of corruption since the attainment of independence.
The governor, in a statement by his media aide, Simeon Nwakaudu, said the mind-blogging $25 billion monumental corruption unveiled in the leaked memo of the Minister of State for Petroleum brings to the fore an alleged high-level sleaze among top officials of the APC-led Federal Government through the NNPC.
“When they said judges were accused of corruption, they were told to step aside. They have not told anyone to step aside so that they can conclude investigation. When you are in office, investigation will be compromised.
“It is for Nigerians to see. Are we fighting corruption? The corruption they are fighting is against some people who are their opponents. All of us are victims. I have never seen this kind of scandal in my political career. We have never heard of it like this.
“What about this $26billion (N9trillion) contract scam and nobody is talking. Everywhere is quiet”, Wike asked, adding that the anti-corruption fight was simply aimed at brow-beating the opposition because APC had allegedly metamorphosed into a monumental failure.
“So many promises were made, but none has been fulfilled. Everyday, what they have to say is corruption, corruption, no other statement. Corruption, from day one and corruption till the day they will leave office. What have they achieved? No roads, no infrastructure. I could not come to Abia by road. It is not possible “, he said.
Tanker drivers backs Baru
The Petroleum Tanker Drivers’ branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG), at the weekend offered another insight into the supremacy tussle between the duo, backing Baru.
Dismissing the allegation by Kachikwu that Baru sidetracked him, the national chairman of the union, Comrade Salmon Oladiti, said it was diversionary and deeply political and warned against what he said was an unnecessary politicisation and promotion of certain entrenched interests in the oil industry, both in the upstream and downstream sectors.
Oladiti, in a statement, said the development would be to the detriment of the nation, alleging that some individuals not comfortable with the achievements of the NNPC GMD had been working to create confusion in the industry to ensure that Baru was sacked from office.
The NUPENG chairman said “some individuals, allegedly not comfortable with the refurbishment of the NNPC depots, and scheming to buy the national assets and turn them to private depots are behind the orchestrated plot to paint Baru in bad light in the eyes of President Buhari.
“Our stand is that we are in support of what he has been doing, especially in the downstream sector. What Dr Baru has been doing is in the interest of Nigeria and our union and the larger downstream sector as a whole.
“Before Dr Baru came on board, there were moves to privatise all the depots into private hands. Petroleum marketers and other stakeholders, we were being told that the depots were decrepit and could no longer function.
“Their mission was to privatise all the depots in the country into private hands. Those administering the corporation before him were empowering their cronies in the private sector. When Dr Baru assumed office as GMD, NNPC, he said all these depots are national assets and must be made to work,” he said.
Oladiti advised President Buhari to ignore the wailings of those pursuing private interests under the guise of national interest and expressed concern that the relief being enjoyed by his members was about to be aborted by those he called the anti-Baru elements in the oil sector.
Kachikwu’s memo, a pointer to discord in Buhari’s administration – Lawyer
A constitutional lawyer and public affairs analyst, Godwin Sunday Ogboji told Saturday Tribune that the leaked letter from the Minister of State for Petroleum was an indication of a sharp division in the Buhari administration.
Ogboji wondered why the minister was not allowed access to the president, who personally chose to oversee the affairs of the ministry, adding, “The question that naturally comes to mind is, should that be the case, particularly as in this instance, the president also doubles as the substantive Minister of Petroleum which pre-supposes that he should be in constant touch with his minister of state”.
He said the development clearly pointed to the fact that the ministry and the Federal Government were not run on any agreed plan and policy, but on the whims and personal discretions of persons in positions.
“This also points to the fact that there are indeed sacred cows in this government that can commit blue murder and go scot free with it. If not, can an official of a government blatantly breach the clear provisions of the law as Baru allegedly did, if he is not urged on and shielded by the power-that-be?,” he said.
Lagos lawyer challenges Buhari to integrity test
A Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Mr Ebun Olu Adegboruwa, on Friday, challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to an integrity test over the NNPC contract scandal.
He called on the president to match his words with actions and further advocated a shake-up of the entire oil system, adding that Nigerians were waiting to see what Buhari would do on the alleged contracts scam rocking the NNPC.
“I think Nigerians are waiting for the president to match his words with actions because all the committees that have been set up have amounted to nothing, especially the committee on the grass-cutter and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
“We expect the President to walk the talk. This is a test case for his anti-corruption war. How he handles this would go a long way in tackling the fight against corruption.
“We didn’t think that any single individual could sign a contract worth $25 billion under this administration but it happened. [The allegation] coming from the minister himself, there is no doubt that it calls for sober reflection,” Adegboruwa said.
Group calls for investigation of NNPC GMD
A group, known as Committee for the Protection of Peoples Mandate (CPPM), on Friday, also called on the executive arm of government to thoroughly investigate the allegation leveled against the NNPC GMD, by the Minister of State for Petroleum and do the needful for the collective image and good of the country.
The group, in a statement by its executive chairman, Nelson Ekujumi, a copy of which was made available to Saturday Tribune in Abuja, said it was worried by the allegation of indiscipline rearing its ugly head in the life of the present administration, because it was at variance with the integrity and character of President Buhari as a disciplinarian of the highest global standard.
“The CPPM, like other patriotic Nigerians, interests and groups, is saddened and disturbed by allegations of insubordination and abuse of due process in the discharge of his responsibility leveled against Dr Maikanti Baru by Dr Ibe Kachikwu, via his leaked memo to President Buhari.
“We regard the allegations as very weighty and deserving of urgent investigation because of it is negative effect on the reputation of this administration which has propagated adherence to due process and accountability as cardinal programmes in its official engagements,” the statement added.
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