Buhari Approved N640 Billion oil Contracts From His Sick Bed in London - NNPC Boss Baru
Buhari
It has been revealed that President
Muhammadu Buhari was granting approvals for oil deals to the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation during the time he was on his sick bed in London
– and when he had relinquished presidential powers to his Vice President – Group Managing Director of the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, has
indicated.
Mr. Baru said Mr. Buhari
approved at least two separate oil contracts on July 10 and July 31 worth $1
billion and $780 million, respectively.
The N640.8 billion contracts (at
N360/$ exchange rate) were approved when Mr. Buhari was receiving treatment for
undisclosed ailments in London, and when he was not supposed to be exercising
presidential powers, having named Vice President Yemi Osinbajo acting president
in a formal correspondence to the National Assembly.
THE CONTRACTS
Mr. Baru revealed that Mr.
Buhari had been exercising presidential powers by granting approvals for NNPC
joint venture contracts when he was supposedly on his sickbed and not
exercising presidential powers.
Mr. Baru gave details of the
contracts as follows:
S/N
|
PROJECT
|
Amount
(US$mn)
|
APPROVALS
|
LOAN
EXECUTED BY
|
||||||
S/N
|
PROJECT
|
Amount (US$mn)
|
APPROVALS
|
LOAN EXECUTED BY
|
||||||
NTB
|
PRESIDENTIAL
|
|||||||||
1.
|
NNPC/CNL JV
Project Cheetah
|
1200
|
16/04/15
|
01/09/15
|
Dr. E. I.
Kachikwu
|
|||||
2.
|
NNPC/CNL JV
Project Falcon
|
780
|
26/04/17
|
31/07/17
|
Dr. M. K. Baru
|
|||||
3.
|
NNPC/SPDC JV
Project Santolina
|
1000
|
26/04/17
|
10/07/17
|
Dr. M. K. Baru
|
|||||
TOTAL
|
2980
|
|||||||||
Showing 1 to 5
of 5 entries
The disclosures
were made when the NNPC responded – on behalf of Mr. Baru – to
the allegations of contract fraud and insubordination raised by Ibe Kachikwu.
Mr. Kachikwu, the Minister of
State for Petroleum Resources, had in an August 30
memo to Mr. Buhari said Mr. Baru unilaterally approved
contracts without recourse to him or the NNPC board, amongst other concerns.
The memo surfaced on social media on October 3, sending ripples through the
country’s polity.
On October 9, the NNPC responded
to Mr. Kachikwu’s allegations by publishing the above contract details, which
it said was at the instance of Mr. Buhari, who had kept mum
since the scandal broke.
But a look at the dates of the
three contracts shows that two of them received presidential approval on
dates Mr. Buhari was not in the country, July 31 for the second contract
with Chevron Nigeria and July 10 for the contract with Shell. Mr. Baru’s name
was placed against the contracts as the person who administered the contract in
his capacity as the Group Managing Director of the NNPC.
Only the September 1, 2015,
contract which Mr. Kachikwu oversaw during his tenure as the GMD of NNPC
received presidential approval on a date Mr. Buhari was in the country and
wielding presidential powers.
A compilation of
Mr. Buhari’s travels reveals that he was in the country from early August 2015
GETTING OSINBAJO’S
CONSENT
In his memo to Mr. Buhari, Mr.
Kachikwu stated that when Mr. Buhari was unwell in London for several months
between May and August, Mr. Baru tried to get direct approval from Acting
President Osinbajo for some personnel changes at the NNPC.
But Mr. Osinbajo asked Mr. Baru
to go back to Mr. Kachikwu and get his input and approval first before making
the changes. Mr. Baru refused to consult Mr. Kachikwu on that.
For weeks, the changes were not
made, until Mr. Buhari returned on August 19. By August 29, Mr. Baru announced
the changes.
This prompted Mr. Kachikwu’s
letter to the president on August 30, complaining that he learnt of the
development in the media.
Sources at the presidency
corroborated Mr. Kachikwu’s claim that Mr. Osinbajo rebuffed Mr. Baru’s
attempts to get presidential approval behind Mr. Kachikwu.
Neither the vice president’s
office nor Mr. Baru also denied that claim by Mr. Kachikwu.
It is not immediately clear if
Mr. Baru also attempted to get approval for the multi-billion dollar contracts
from Mr. Osinbajo. But presidency sources said it was unlikely that Mr.
Osinbajo, who did not allow Mr. Baru to make personnel changes, would allow the
NNPC GMD to circumvent Mr. Kachikwu with such high-profile contracts.
Ndu Ughamadu, spokesperson for
the NNPC, would not confirm or deny if Mr. Baru got the approval from Mr.
Buhari in London.
On May 19, when NNPC sources
told Daily Trust and a few other media houses that it had finally entered
into a $6 billion
deal with 10 companies for 2017-2018 edition of DSDP contracts,
Mr. Buhari was also not in the country. The NNPC spokesperson declined
comments about DSDP contracts.
Buhari Approved N640 Billion oil Contracts From His Sick Bed in London - NNPC Boss Baru
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Thursday, October 12, 2017
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