Falana Adds To Kachikwu’s Letter. NNPC Removes From It

Curiously, the presidency has demanded for the minutes of the meetings of the NNPC Board. This demand has confirmed that the meetings of the Board which are statutory required to be chaired by the Minister of Petroleum Resources have not been held as and when due. More importantly, the demand has corroborated that aspect of Mr. Kachikwu’s petition alleging that the powers of the Board have been usurped by Mr. Baru. -Falana

The latest update after the leakage of Kachikwu’s letter was his ‘behind closed door’ meeting with President Buhari and since then, the issue has become interesting as a lot government top officials have things to say including Femi Falana who is of the opinion that President Buhari steps down as the Minister of Petroleum and allows a more competent citizen to run the ministry and immediately suspend NNPC Group Managing Director for effective investigation of the allegations which should be investigated by the EFCC according to the standard promised by President Buhari.

Meanwhile, NNPC broke its silence over the issue by releasing an uncomfortable statement about Kachikwu’s allegations in mere words unlike Kachikwu’s letters which stated the allegations by citing figures worthy of investigation. The statement which states “There are situations where all that is required is the approval of the NNPC Tender 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” . It is an issue for NNPC to publicly state that the corporation does not run on written procedures in its operations making it hard for them to be answerable to any allegations in the first place. The NNPC statement further explains that some of the amounts quoted by Kachikwu was more of exaggeration than facts because some of the contracts Kachikwu claims were awarded are yet to be awarded and that some awaits FEC approval before it can reach the stage of contract award by precisely pointing out that the NPDC contract have undergone due process and the AKK Pipeline contract is awaiting FEC approval.

Read Femi Falana’s full statement below:

“In order to conduct a thorough investigation into the grave allegations of the reckless contravention of the provisions of the Public Procurement Act Mr. Baru should be placed on indefinite suspension while the presidency should refer the case to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. And once it is confirmed that the said $25 billion contracts were awarded without the approval of the NNPC Board they should be revoked while the recent appointment of the heads of the parastatals in the oil and gas industry should be reviewed in line with the Constitution and the Federal Character Commission Act.

Curiously, the presidency has demanded for the minutes of the meetings of the NNPC Board. This demand has confirmed that the meetings of the Board which are statutory required to be chaired by the Minister of Petroleum Resources have not been held as and when due. More importantly, the demand has corroborated that aspect of Mr. Kachikwu’s petition alleging that the powers of the Board have been usurped by Mr. Baru.

Therefore, the petition should provide an opportunity for the President to reorganise the NNPC with a view to ensuring that it is publicly owned in a manner that the Board is constituted by accredited representatives of the oil producing communities and credible civil society groups including the trade unions in the oil and gas industry.

Having regard to the enormous responsibilities of the office of the Minister of Petroleum Resources and Chairman of the NNPC Board President Buhari is advised to relinquish the ministerial position in view of his busy schedule and appoint another Nigerian of proven integrity and competence to superintend the affairs of the Ministry. If this advice is accepted in good faith and acted upon without any delay it would remove undue pressure on the health of the President and allow him to attend to urgent matters of the State.”

Kachikwu’s Meeting with President Buhari behind closed doors
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juIYJzF6Xjs]

After watching this video, it is easy to deduce a man walking alone with confidence as a result of what he holds against the presidency. In all fairness, Kachikwu would never have known his actions will shade the presidency in bad light because, his actions was to be a justification based on President Buhari’s school of thought which is; Fight against corruption and transparency. And Kachikwu’s letter puts him in a position to conflict himself and his principles. Only Baru was to be seen as the bad egg, seems a lot of things will be exposed if the presidency takes Falana’s advice on the issue.