Whatever was written by Ibe Kachukwu was written by the hands of president Muhammad Buhari ever since he could not choose between his integrity of discipline and a form of tribalism he seems not to be able to control. This means that the letter leaked days ago was seen coming. The feud between Kachukwu and Baru is nothing but the handiwork of the president and the accusation against Baru for insubordination to the NNPC board was allowed by the presidency.
Senator Sehu Sani at the panel seating to investigate Kachukwu’s letter to president Buhari , says; “Am of the firm belief that if he(President Buhari) is aware of this, he would have taken action.” The letter which the presidency denies being aware of even after its leakage and its display on social media spreads the dirty linen of The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in public and puts the investment possibilities of the country in a state of jeopardy.
According to report gathered by The Daily Sun, There has been a growing enmity between The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru because of the way the presidency has exchanged power platform between them. Baru who was The Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production before he was appointed as the GMD by President Buhari in July 2016 was first answerable to Kachikwu when the latter was appointed as the GMD in August 2015 before he was given the ministerial potfolio which requires him to step down as the GMD.
Baru who expected to climb the ladder after filling the position of the Group Executive Director to become the Group Managing Director was shocked when Kachikwu an outsider was given the position. Speculations going on inside the corporation at that time suspected that Baru won’t have that and so went on to connect himself to the powers that be and the position was eventually given to him. His confidence must have grown into an unquestionable one has Kachikwu laments about his insubordination in his leaked letter to the president.
Although, earlier in the feud, Kachikwu had accused Baru of his actions during the Lake Chad Basin hydrocarbon exploration which has cost the nation millions of Dollars and billions of Naira, precisely $340 million and an extra 27 billion Naira by the federal government in the past despite warnings from investment experts geologist and petroleum engineers that the find might not result into a commercial quantity. Kachikwu queried Baru’s actions in which Baru refused to acknowledge till date. The Lake Chad Basin exploitation which attracted one of Boko Haram’s attack and the kidnapping of NNPC officials and geologists from University of Maiduguri.
According to Dr. Kachikwu’s claims, Baru totally by-pass the board to award contracts against the legal procedures required and his actions has not been questioned by the presidency even after the Lake Chad issue which points out that the presidency permits Baru to act as he likes as the GMD of the corporation. Allegations made by Kachikwu against Baru includes; the award of $ 10billion crude term contracts, $5billion direct sales direct purchase contract, $3billion AKK pipeline contract, financing allocation funding contracts worth $3billion and NPDC production service contract worth a total of $4billion. All together the contract awarded by Baru without the proper legal and procurement requirement whereby the board was not involved with amounts to a total of $25billion. There is still the allegation of filling official positions within the corporation without the knowledge of the board.
The sketchy angle to whether the allegations against Baru through Kachikwu’s letter will be taken up by the senate, is about the chairman of the committee Aliyu Wamako, the former Sokoto State Governor who happens to be a northerner, therefore making the process a little shaky. Although other members of the seven member ad hoc committee are; Tayo Alasoadura, Albert Bassey, Samuel Anyawu, Ahmed Ogembe, Chukwuka Utazi, Rose Okoh, Baba Garba and Kabir Marafa. The other angle to view the case from is that the letter was written directly to the presidency not as a complaint to the house, which means hearing the allegation in the house is not the right procedure. Another letter should be written either by Kachikwu or President Buhari himself to acknowledge the senate looking into the issue. But the presidency still claims, they are not aware of the letter. The only reason the senate are on the case now is because the letter was leaked and the call of duty by the senate is to protect the interest of the nation, which means all the senate can do is to establish peace or summon Baru to clarify the allegations against him. And that does not solve the issue of corruption going on within The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
