A civic and political action group that promotes democracy and good governance, Move on Nigeria, has come to the defence of the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan over alleged fraudulent sale of oil blocks.
The described as another mischievous lies the claims by various segments of the public, including the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) that former President Goodluck Jonathan sold an oil block for $1.85billion but remitted only a $100 million to government coffers.
The group sees the claim as the machination of the media in collusion with the the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to create wrong impression of the former administration.
According to Move on Nigeria, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Mr. Clem Aguiyi, “We have good and evil and unfortunately we live in a country where truth has taken flight and lies are told by political elites without a pinch of shame. Sadly those spreading these lies and making unsubstantiated allegations are not inspiring support for President Muhammadu Buhari.”
The group wondered who is the buyer of this block and how the payment was made.
It accused the media of aiding falsehood against the former president by abandoning the basic tenet of the profession, which makes it incumbent on them to ask proper questions before publishing half turths nd bltnt lies.
The group described the Nigerian media as intellectually lazy and compromise, saying that failing to ask simple questions or conduct critical investigation on issues they have failed to live up to the most important ingredient of their profession..
“The facts, which remain verifiable are that at no time throughout the life of the Jonathan government was there a sale in whatever form of any oil block. Neither was there a time Jonathan awarded an oil block to himself , family or cronies for that matter,” Aguiyi said.
He challenged anyone with evidence to the contrary to come up with them.
“The fundamental questions begging for answers which the Jonathan haters are unwilling to ask are, “when did the transaction take place? What OPLs/OMLs were sold? Who held/operated the block(s) before the sale? Who bought the block(s)? Through what bank(s) was payment made?” he queried.
The group, which claimed it had done a detailed investigation on the matter in other to properly inform the public, said, “We have gone into detailed investigation to unravel the truth of the matter and have discovered that it is all a ruse, a mischief aimed at demonizing and criminalizing the former president so as to achieve a larger sinister agenda.”
The Secretary General of EITI, Ms Scot Clare, had recently alleged that the federal government under President Jonathan sold an oil block for 1.85billion and remitted only $100 million to the Federation Account.
President Buhari and the ruling APC have latched on this and other claims to make frivolous allegations without making any effort to verify or substantiate them.
It will be recalled that the country was completely paralysed a few weeks before the May 29 handover following politically-motivated strikes and protests by members of PENGASSAN and NUPENG over the purported sale of OMLs 4, 38 and 41 to some foreign interests.
PENGASSAN and NUPENG had alleged the then Minister for Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Alison-Madueke, had sold the said oil blocks improperly, illegally and without due process.
But in a swift reaction, the former minister denied and debunked the reports, saying the facts of the matter had been jumbled up “as no sale of oil blocks took place at all. “The oil blocks in question remain the assets of the federal government and can only be sold through an open bid and in line with extant laws and agreements.’’
Contrary to widely held speculations, the group noted that Shell who held the particular oil blocks in question on behalf of the federal government under a Joint Venture Agreement, decided to relinquish their interest and had attempted to illegally sale or transfer the oil blocks to a consortium of Nigerian companies and their international partners , a move the federal government resisted and took steps to recover the said oil blocks which it rightly transferred to NPDC, a subsidiary of NNPC.
According to reports, the NPDC being also a government agency was asked to pay the book value of the blocks, a directive they had since complied with.
MoN sid, “Shell had operated the OMLs under a Joint Venture Agreement on behalf of NNPC. By that agreement, the OMLs would automatically revert to NNPC should Shell relinquish its interest. The transfer of the OML to NPDC alone has increased the NPDC production capacity to nearly 100,000bpd as against previous 40,000bpd capacity thereby repositioning the company to play within the ranks of such giants as Petro bras of Brazil and PETRONAS of Malaysia. This was well in line with the strategic planning of the Federal Government to strengthen NPDC as a major development company.’’
Aguiyi challenged anybody with any contrary evidence to advance them and provide answers to the questions raised.
The group asked Buhari administration to direct its anti corruption energy on the alarm raised by the country Executive Secretary of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI), Zainab Ahmed, in which she alleged that a whooping $7.5 billion proceeds of extractive activities was unaccounted for between 1999 – 2011.
“We think that is verifiable and should get the presidents immediate attention.”
