Following the recent decision of the Senate Committee on Upstream Oil Sector to conduct investigation to determine the truth behind the acquisition, transfers and payments relating to OPL 245 (Oil Prospecting Licence) between the federal government and Malabu Oil Company on the one hand and the federal government and Shell on the other, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (rtd) has warned that the investigation must be open and transparent in order to reach honest and unbiased conclusions.
Speaking on the Malabu oil mess which the Senate committee is investigating, Col. Dangiwa Umar in a press statement to LEADERSHIP noted that it was already “long-overdue.”
Umar, who was a former military governor of Kaduna State, carpeted the Senate committee’s
decision “to conduct their investigation in camera and in total confidentiality”, saying that this “would do nothing but upset those already dubious”.
According to him, “Perhaps the senators believe an open investigation of this matter may imperil national security. Whatever they may believe, they are well advised to recognize alibis for what they are.
?“Any consideration that distracts them from an open and transparent investigation will surely distract them from arriving at honest and unbiased conclusions.”
?The ex-military governor, who though commended the senators’ decision to exercise oversight function on the messy matter, averred that this was “only after public pressure and diplomatic interests in the matter’.
“Nevertheless, it is commendable that a public enquiry is ordered into a transaction that stands all logic on its head,” he stated, stressing that, at present, revelations about the transaction raises troubling questions.
?“Some highly placed government official(s) probably abused his office, allocated a lucrative oil block to himself which another top government official later revoked. In retribution, the former goes to court, demanding huge amounts of money; money that was promptly paid up by yet another high government official. At issue are amounts so vast they boggle the mind. Clearly, the public is at a loss and have a right to ask how Nigerian government officials always manage to pull through monstrous transactions such as these which, in hindsight, seem otherwise impossible,” he stated.
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