A group of lawyers on Monday, submitted a petition to the Minister of Finance demanding a judicial commission of inquiry into the tenure of the immediate past Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari.
The lawyers, under the aegis of the Guardian of Democracy And Rule Of Law, alleged that Kyari’s leadership was marked with cases of tax evasion, abuse of office, and misappropriation of public funds, particularly in the spending of over $4 billion on refineries repairs.
Led by Barrister Benjamin Theophilus, they alleged that the amount spent on repairs of refineries was inflated, citing a proposal by a consortium of private sector firms to repair the three refineries for about $1 billion.
According to the petition, “Under Mele Kyari, NNPCL took various crude-backed loans which hit $21.565 billion since 2019. Aside from mortgaging future production, the structure of these loans disadvantaged Nigeria as upside from trading Nigeria’s crude in the international market was ceded to traders.”
The lawyers demanded a thorough investigation into Kyari’s tenure and the recovery of public funds if found to have been misappropriated.
They also called for collaboration with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to probe suspected tax evasion and fraudulent declarations.
The lawyers emphasized that the demand for a Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the affairs of the NNPCL in the last five years is non-negotiable, and expected the Commission to be populated by Nigerians of impeccable character led by former justices of the Supreme Court.
The petition was submitted after a protest by a group of lawyers, who are demanding justice and transparency in the management of Nigeria’s petroleum sector.
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