Considering emerging but chilling revelations coming from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in the trending crisis between the managing director, Dr. Maikanti Baru and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachukwu, experts in law and other profession have been weighing issues.
In a national TV live interview on Tuesday, legal expert, Mr. Kach Ononuju said the implication of what is playing out is that Kachukwu has burst a dangerous cabal engulfing the government and it stemmed from the time many government officials started feeling that President Buhari’s medical vacation may be something else.
According to him, President Buhari must assert himself now or lose control of his government to a deadly cabal who are bent on ruining and running Nigeria like their fathers estate at the detriment of the nation.
He said how the presidency under Muhammadu Buhari will handle this matter will determine how Nigerians will weigh his acclaimed fight against corruption.
Ononuju argued that what is being exposed in the NNPC may be a small issue when compared to what may have actually transpired in other government agencies when President Buhari was away for 104 days.
In his submission, he argued that even if the Act establishing NNPC does not recognize the position of the Minister of State for Petroleum, it recognized the position of the chairman of the board who must over see all contracts which never happened within the period according to Kachukwu’s petition.
Already, legal luminary and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana has called for the removal of the NNPC boss to give way for proper investigations on Kachukwu’s petition.
Many other contributors on the issue queried not only the observed silence of the presidency on this matter till now, but on other pending corruption reports including that of the embattled Secretary of the Federal Government (SFG).
Business Hilights recalls that since the controversial removal of the SFG, Mr. David Lawal and submission of the report on him and DG of NIA, Mr. Oke, nothing had been heard about the report.
Only on Monday, after few days of silence, the NNPC came out to respond that “Following the publication of alleged lack of adherence to due process in the award of NNPC contracts, the President ordered the Group Managing Director and Management of the NNPC to consider and respond expeditiously to the allegations”.
The response released by image maker of the corporation, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu argued that “The substance of the allegations made by Kachikwu in a letter to the President dated 30th of August 2017, was that a number of “major contracts were never reviewed or discussed with me (Kachikwu) and the NNPC Board.”
Continuing, it averred that “important to note from the outset that the law and the rules do not require a review or discussion with the Minister of State or the NNPC board on contractual matters”.
“What is required is the processing and approval of contracts by the NNPC Tenders Board, the President in his executive capacity or as Minister of Petroleum, or the Federal Executive Council, as the case may be. There are therefore situations where all that is required is the approval of the NNPC Tenders Board while, in other cases, based on the threshold, the award must be submitted for presidential approval. Likewise, in some instances, it is FEC approval that is required.”
Trouble started when a memo from the minister to President Muhammadu Buhari, with reference number: HMS/MPR/001/VOL.1/100, dated August 30, 2017, with the subject, Re: Insubordination and lack of adherence to due process perpetuated by GMD NNPC- Dr. Baru, leaked to the media last week
Kachukwu had alleged that his office was being undermined while several contracts awarded by Baru did not follow due process.
Many Nigerians warned that if not urgently addressed, the situation could snowball and lead to a mockery of the anti-corruption campaign of the Federal Government.
Kachikwu’s memo said since Baru’s assumption of office, he has failed to consult and carry him along in the activities of the corporation. He alleged that acts of misbehaviour by Baru were already hindering all the envisaged positive changes for the oil and gas sector.
The Minister said he decided to bring the issues to the attention of the president after one year of tolerating “these disrespectful and humiliating conducts”. He said he would have preferred to personally discuss the issues with the president but he had not been able to secure an appointment despite many attempts.
Kachikwu appealed to Buhari to intervene and “save the NNPC and oil industry from collapse arising from above non-transparent practices and empower the board you inaugurated to do the needful”.
“That you save the office of the minister of state from further humiliation and disrespect by compelling all parastatals to submit to oversight regulatory mandate and proper supervision which I am supposed to manage on your behalf,” he wrote.
The minister said he had been accused of working against the north and also influencing the appointments of some persons. He denied the allegations and described himself as a “completely detribalised Nigerian”.
“I have lived my formative years in the east, west, north and south-south parts of the country,” he wrote.
“All my appointments were generated with key inputs from all the COOs of the NNPC and were balanced and based strictly on skills, experience, drive and ethnic balancing for senior management position.
“I have never betrayed the trust you placed on me. I did not deploy any public financial resources to achieve the results in the Niger Delta.”
