The House of Representatives may be in the spotlight for the wrong
reasons yet again. This time the lure of oily lucre dripping from the
controversial OPL 245 oil bloc appears to be the catalyst that may
unravel the integrity of the House or whatever is left of it.
It has emerged that the work of the adhoc committee of the House empaneled to investigate a controversial payment of $1,092, 040,000
(about N155 billion as at the time of probe) to Malabu allegedly from
government coffers by Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of
Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke and the Minister of State for Finance, Mr.
Yerima Ngama has hit a crisis and whatever report emergent there-from
may be imperiled.
OPL 245 has a contentious ownership and operational status with
claims and counter-claims flying between an indigenous company, Malabu
and its technical partners on one hand and two multi-nationals, Shell
and Agip on the other hand. The federal government through the
imprimatur of Mr. Adoke’s office allegedly brokered the questionable
multi-billion naira settlement deal that is the subject of the House
probe.
An alleged USD 15million bribe deal to the probe committee from some
external interests is now causing ripples among its members with serious
tension and threats by some to disown the eventual report that will be
submitted taking the centre-stage at the moment.
Although, Hon. Leo Ogor (PDP, Delta State) deputy majority leader of
the House and chairman of the adhoc committee probing the Malabu deal
denied the bribery charges, LEGISREPORTS confirmed that there is indeed
mutual distrust, suspicion and disagreements over recommendations
concerning indictments of certain interests/entities investigated in the
probe amongst members of the committee.
The sharing formula of the sleaze sum, a source informed, is one of
the reasons behind the crisis in the committee besides findings that
several members of the panel have been working at cross purposes to
either protect different vested interests or pull some entities down
through the committee’s report. Failure to aggregate these varying
interests is another reason why the committee’s report which is said to
be ready but awaiting ratification by members, may suffer a credibility
crisis upon presentation.
LEGISREPORTS gathered that the internal wrangling in the committee
has attracted the attention of the Speaker of the House, Hon. Aminu
Tambuwal who summoned a meeting of the feuding parties late last week
with a follow-up parley early in the week in a bid to paper over the
cracks before the committee submits its report before the entire House.
The speaker’s intervention notwithstanding, our checks as at press
time reveal that the cracks in the committee still remain deep-seated
necessitating that a planned submission of the report today (Tuesday)
may be shifted forward to allow for tempers to cool and members come to
some form of agreement.
Some members of the committee are Hon. Samson Osagie (ACN, Edo
State), Hon. Victor Ogene (APGA, Anambra State), Hon. Adams Jagaba (PDP,
Kaduna), Hon. John Dyegh (ACN, Benue) and Hon. Adamu Kaita (CPC,
Katsina).
Apart from Hon. Ogor, some members of the committee contacted by
LEGISREPORTS neither owned up to the allegation of the bribe nor
categorically denied it. They simply played around the allegation in
response to direct questions posed but did own up that all was not well
with the work of the committee so far.
A particular member who craved anonymity in fact threatened not to
endorse the report if some entities investigated during the work of the
committee were not indicted. Another member simply pleaded for time to
allow members of the committee resolve their differences and present an
agreed report.
Hon. Ogor however, said during a telephone interview with
LEGISREPORTS that he is committed to protecting the national interest in
the committee’s work and that he would not allow any compromise from
any quarters no matter the pressure. He also reiterated his earlier
denial that some money had changed hands in a bid to influence the
committee’s report.
“Just lets wait for the report. Nigerians will be proud to see that
we protected national interest as against selfish agenda,” he said,
noting that the allegations of bribery are a distraction.
The Malabu oil deal has attracted huge public interest following
allegations that Messrs. Adoke and Ngama had deployed government funds
in a questionable brokerage that benefited some private pockets as
against the overall public good.
The Attorney General had a burst up with the committee during its
public hearing in December last year when he queried some members’ line
of questioning which he thought were presumptuous and injurious to his
person and office.
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Source: LEGISREPORTS
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