Those who are dragging the former president into the oily deal are mischievous
Azibola Omekwe
How time flies! It is another moment of euphoria as our country chalked 20 years of uninterrupted democracy. A 20-year-old child is addressed as an adult. It is trite to mention here that in the past 20 years the Nigerian state has had successive governments that have supposedly operated with the common mandates that are for the interests of the people. Each government has had the cause to consummate or consolidate on the good efforts of its predecessor. Some projects, programmes, policies, contracts have had to be adopted or inherited by successive governments in good faith. For example, the Olusegun Obasanjo regime saw the light in the adoption and consummation of mobile phone project which foundation is traced to late General Sani Abacha. President Muhammadu Buhari saw the financial discipline arising from BVN and TSA; he keyed in even if they were never his projects. One of those many beautiful projects worthy of inheritance was from the military administration of General Sani Abacha which aimed at encouraging indigenous participation in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry. This policy came with a signature bonus payment whereby the licensees’ companies were to enjoy a one-time fee for securing oil licences notwithstanding the licensees’ economic benefits. While people in some quarters might have read wrong meanings to it, it was to encourage local content.
Talking indigenous encouragement, Gen. Abacha’s administration in 1998 allocated an oil prospective licence (OPL) 245 to Malabu Oil and Gas Limited. The deal has so far gained popularity as the Malabu deal. The deal saw Malabu oil and gas appoint Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep Limited (SNUD) as its technical partner in an oil block that would be allegedly revoked in 2001 by the Obasanjo administration, and later on re-awarded to Shell without public bid. That transaction short-changed Malabu and would later attract the futile intervention of the lower chamber of the national legislative house. Malabu resorted to judicial cover, and later on in 2006, both Malabu and the federal government found themselves amenable to an out-of-court settlement. The feat which saw that 100 per cent of the OPL 245 was restored back to Malabu Oil and Gas Limited was executed on November 30, 2006 as the consent judgement of the Federal High Court. Recall that incidentally this happened under Dr Edmund Daukoru, the then minster of state for petroleum under President Olusegun Obasanjo government. Goodluck Jonathan, who later became the commander-in-chief and today being accused of it might have read it in the papers. Not satisfied, Shell resorted to litigation, but later thought it wise to negotiate directly with Chief Dan Etete, the face behind the mask of Malabu in 2010 to 2011 when it was finally actualised.
This piece is not a frolic on the transaction called the Malabu deal, but it is important to go through the timeline right from 1998 to date in order to remove all its dark silhouettes. In 2017, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) torch-lit on the Malabu deal seeking court order to return the block to the federal government. In its wisdom, the court held that ownership of the block be maintained with Shell and ENI. The fulcrum of this piece is on the allegation calculated to tar the image of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
In 1998 licence was allocated by the Abacha government for the sum of $20 million, a one-time pay off. In 2001 it was allegedly revoked and handed to another company. The original owner revolted and sought redress at the parliament and later at the court, and it got justice in 2006. The other party attempted judicial processes, but later thought it wise to negotiate with its counterpart and the negotiation finally got through in 2011. And the negotiation finally finished up incidentally under someone’s government. It has become imperative that we quarantine this issue and fish out the culpability of Dr Goodluck Jonathan in the light of EFCC claims. This is not an attempt to endorse corruption knowing that a lot of money had been siphoned in numerous shady oil deals. But in this case, where has Goodluck Jonathan been found wanting? Could it be he is culpable for allowing the negotiation between two private parties take place in his government? Is he culpable for abiding by the consent judgement of 2006? Dr Goodluck Jonathan is well known for his respect for the judiciary and judicial processes. To him, whatever the court says is what God had said because the court is the representative of the constitution. It is pertinent to state here that God Himself wants us to respect our constitution. Should he have frustrated the negotiation permitted by the court for fear of today? I think the answers are all in the negative.
From 1998 to 2011, the deal had lived five heads of state, several Attorneys General of the Federation and particularly signed by a minister of petroleum (not under Goodluck Jonathan government). Why is Goodluck Jonathan who only saw the last phase being painted black in this case? Could it be that four intelligent predecessors of his who scrutinized and approved of the deal did so mala fide? The answer is definitely in the negative. There are extraditions, litigations going on across Italy, USA and the UK on certain scandals surrounding the Malabu deal, but it is pertinent to note that no one party has either advertently or inadvertently mentioned Goodluck Jonathan’s name. There is no immunity covering him anymore. The investigation cannot be said to be forestalled and frustrated in nailing him if he is culpable. Could it be possible he has bribed the investigators still? Definitely not! Is the federal government pressurizing the prosecutors in other jurisdictions to amend their charge sheets to include Goodluck Jonathan by any means? Sincerely, those investigators and prosecutors know the common principle of the law that you cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stand. There is no trace of culpability of the former president. Litigation is determined on the strength of your case. Frivolous and vexatious claims are always discouraged.
I think it is high time state sponsored elements stopped the rash display of imagination. The right thing to do is to sue if you ever have a good case instead of publishing sensational reports in the media. Truth is, while it is also not being canvassed that the case be abandoned, it is not wise to drag innocent persons into it. It is even better not to follow this boring path of media trials. Malabu has been there since 1998 when Goodluck might not have even thought of being the president of this country. How come it’s suddenly a wholly Goodluck Jonathan’s affair?
Let this serve as opportunity to remind this government that as at the time of writing this piece, a high-ranking official of the government is allegedly hiding from the EFCC, following a scandal running into hundreds of millions of naira.
In recent times, an ace journalist, Ahmed Isa, canvassed that the president stopped all developments in the country and face the security situation clearly. It can be guessed accurately that all the print and online media in Nigeria today have issues involving banditry, kidnapping, robbery, etc., as their headlines. Nobody is sure of himself anymore. The roads are no longer passable, not because they are only bad but of criminals christened herdsmen. Lest we forget, the latest trend now is suicide, so much so that a national summit is being canvassed. That sounds like a medical report depicting this regime. May God help us! Until one takes a walk to the embassies and high commissions, you would not know that we are not the 200 million population as claimed. Nigerians are leaving by any means. These are issues for this government to tackle head-on and not personal vendetta.
To tackle corruption is not to tackle imaginative enemies. To tackle corruption is to borrow the Goodluck template of tackling it institutionally. Let them take example from the financial reforms that his government introduced; Bank Verification Number and Treasury Single Account that are a toast of every country today. The last time Nigeria enjoyed 30 per cent Returns on Investment (ROI) was in Goodluck’s regime. Penultimate week, the Economist magazine said Nigerians have become poorer since the last four years. Or put like this: Nigerians have become poorer since Goodluck Jonathan left office. This feat has seen him taking his trade to continental and intercontinental climes attending to pressing global issues.
Presently, what is trending is that Nigeria is internally haemorrhaging from contract fixation. Put it in the budget and borrowed funds from China would be used to pay. These are what bother Nigerians today and not how one Goodluck Jonathan was ferried into the Malabu oil deal processes. At any rate, where his government stood in this long-distance conveyor belt of Malabu deal, he obeyed the law.
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Questions Oshiomhole Must Answer on Benin Specialist Hospital
Julius Akhere
Former Governor of Edo State and National Chairman of the All Progressives (APC), Adam Oshiomhole has been called out concerning some financial infractions allegedly committed by his administration. At the moment, Oshiomhole is being battered on several sides by aggrieved members of the party whose toes he stepped in the aftermath of the internal elections of the party, which cost the APC dearly in the national elections. On another side, a fresh round of war has started between him and his predecessor in the office of the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun. As if that is not enough, the current governor of Edo, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has drawn a battle line against Oshiomhole.
It is not a surprise, therefore, that a string of supposed dirty deals involving the APC National Chairman has come to the public. Among many of his alleged sins is Benin Ultra-modern Hospital, particularly the supposed ‘Five-star World Standard’ Cancer Treatment Centre’ was playing games with the lives of cancer patients, what happened to the 5-billion-naira project budgeted for the hospital extension? Is Madam Golda, the caterer turned contractor and girlfriend of the ex-governor willing to emerge from hiding to tell Edo people what happened to the money for the project?
This is one of the charges brought against the ex-governor by the present generation of Edo people. This is a man who projects himself as a former labour leader and therefore a defender of the interest of the vulnerable population. We are talking about a former activist who supposedly embodies the ideals of progressive governance, the true story of the unconscionable criminal deception regarding the building of an ultra-modern extension at the Benin Specialist Hospital is indeed an instructive expose on his real character. It is may be believable that Oshiomhole could play games with many other aspects of our political affairs, but to tell a reckless lie before the world that he was commissioning an extension of the Benin Specialist Hospital for the treatment of cancer, which was not true, marks the absence of any compunction.
Oshiomhole had amassed a N5billion budget from the wealth of hard working people of Edo State under the guise that he was going to execute a project for the extension of the Specialist Hospital in Benin and that the extension will include a cancer treatment centre. Of course, a considerable segment of the population was justifiably excited that Edo land would have a near world class cancer detection and treatment centre to confront a very vicious medical condition. Unfortunately, the entire project was a conceived by a morally diminutive character. Let those who really care about a modicum of accountability in governance pass by the flimsy cartoon-like box structures next to Benin Specialist Hospital- that is the pitiful contraption that the ex-governor described as the proposed extension to house the world class cancer treatment center. Of course, the location will be so classed in the warped imagination of Oshiomhole. Far beyond the physical structure, the entire facility does not even have furniture like beds and much less any medical equipment. So, what happened to the money budgeted for this project as Edo State seem to have simply been dumped into huge debts? One must ask, how and why Oshiomhole’s successor should try to revive such a humungous financial liability without restarting the whole idea all over with transparent and sustainable fiscal strategy. It is in fact advisable that Governor Obaseki should steer clear of the alleged hospital project until the thick cloud of questions are cleared by Oshiomhole and Madam Golda.
Despite the obvious monumental fiscal disaster that the project represented, Oshiomhole had no qualms in inviting President Buhari and the distinguished Edo community to the commissioning shortly before he left office. Five months before the end of his tenure, Oshiomhole allegedly hijacked some beds from another hospital and commandeered furniture from a nearby secondary school to stage the launch of his lifeless Specialist Hospital extension. Right there without an iota of regret, Oshiomhole told President Buhari and the other guests that the hospital was ready for takeoff and that Edo people will not need to travel too far any longer for the treatment of cancer. The ex-Governor orchestrated the ceremonial cutting of the tape to the project only to ship the beds and the furniture back to their rightful locations immediately after the President’s departure.
How can someone entrusted with such sacred responsibility and the blessing of two terms by Edo people act so criminally and cruelly against his people? How can Oshiomhole be so heartlessly avaricious to deliver such a crucial life- saving project to the hands of a woman with no experience whatsoever in building since the woman in question has spent all her life in low level catering services in Abuja?
The truth must be laid out for the sake of accountability and transparency. Can it be true that Madam Golda and Oshiomhole simply walked away with huge fraction of the initial 75 percent that they collected as mobilization for the contract? The 75 percent would amount to N3.75 billion. I would expect the National Chairman of the APC and ex-governor not to stain the banner of integrity that President Buhari has so nobly flown. At the minimum, Oshiomhole should show his presumed boldness and encourage Madam Golda, to come out from hiding and publicly explain how far she went with the execution of the hospital project before Oshiomhole left office. This is not the time to immediately join the advocacy with those who think that an organized Edo citizenry should seek the assistance of the EFCC and the DSS to ensure the recovery of what they consider an executive heist.
So far, this special investigation project has failed to locate Golda in her supposed place of business in Abuja. Other addresses linked to Golda do not seem to show any credible association between her and building contracts. It behooves ex-governor Oshiomhole to boldly step out and tell the world where Golda is hiding. On his own, Oshiomhole must respond to inquiry for full accountability on the ill-fated extension of the Specialist Hospital project which he said was meant for cancer detection and treatment. Oshiomhole should be careful not to become a political cancer on the APC as President Buhari begins a historic second term.
