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By Sam Akpe
The late former Transport Minister, Umaru Dikko, must be turning in his grave as he hears how much Nigerians steal these days and still walk the streets freely. In 1984, Dikko made international headlines as the most wanted man in Nigeria.
Reason: he was accused of either stealing or illegally acquiring a few millions of naira while serving in the federal government. It was at a time our naira was stronger than the dollar. What he acquired then as a minister and was hunted into exile is what ministers give to their girlfriends these days to make their hair.
As soon as General Muhammadu Buhari sacked the then democratically-elected president, Shehu Shagari, in a military coup, Dikko ran to the United Kingdom on self exile. He knew his hands were not clean and he needed to either escape or end up in Kirikiri. But Buhari refused to leave him alone even in exile.
In July 1984, the former transport minister and an in-law to the deposed president, was kidnapped in a carefully planned operation involving three Israelis and a Nigerian military major.
He was heavily drugged and hauled into a transport crate and could have been forcefully flown undisturbed to Nigeria if everything had gone as planned.
But as in any operation, a minor hitch here and there led to what the New York Times in a front-page headline called the “Nigerian Drama.” That was how far Buhari went in fighting corruption more than 30 years ago.
The Dikko operation happened because he was alleged to have stolen a few millions of naira. Today, corruption has grown from a few millions of naira to dozens of billions of naira.
If anybody thought that such acts are the exclusive reserve of a few greedy politicians, what about the recent events at the NNPC Retail Limited, the downstream stronghold of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation?
This is another version of the “Nigerian Drama.” A little background will explain this better. Before the deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil industry in 2016, NNPC was not directly involved in the importation of petroleum products.
Therefore, it had no storage facilities of its own. So, when the implementation of the deregulation policy took off and the corporation found itself ready to import petroleum products, it needed to invent storage facilities of its own or rent one. It settled for the latter.
Capital Oil and Gas Limited owned by Chief Ifeanyi Ubah was one of the facilities the corporation settled for. There were terms of engagement which were not made public. But the bottom-line was that NNPC would import and store its products at the former’s tank farm and from there distribute them to its outlet nationwide.
But Capital Oil and Gas Limited seemed to have had other plans.
Sources at the NNPC Retail Limited disclosed that during one of the routine checks by NNPC staff, it was discovered that while the inventory reconciliation by NNPC Retail Limited book balance showed more than N13 billion worth of product in favour of NNPC, the ending stock disclosure or the actual volume of product in the depot was less than one quarter of that.
That was said to have sent shockwaves throughout the NNPC subsidiary. Its managing director, Mrs Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue, immediately summoned Capital Oil and Gas to a meeting. The company was ordered to either re-stock the supply or pay its equivalent in naira and kobo. Meanwhile, officers of the NNPC directly responsible for monitoring the stock were rounded–up and subjected to investigation.
Sources disclosed that when Capital Oil and Gas Limited refused to either restock or pay the monetary equivalent of the unaccounted-for stock, NNPC Retail Limited, decided to immediately inform the Economic and Financial Crime Commission and the Department of State Services. Unofficial sources said not less than five letters were sent to the two agencies on the issue.
Curiously, while the management of the retail subsidiary waited for the law enforcement agencies to take action against Capital Oil and Gas Limited, Mrs Nnamdi-Ogbue was given a retirement letter by the NNPC.
That raised and has continued to raise a lot of questions: why was she sacked? Was she a part of the scam? What did she do wrong by reporting the scam to the law enforcement agencies?
On May 6, 2017, the DSS in a statement almost confirmed that Capital Oil and Gas Limited or its owner, Chief Ubah, was guilty as charged. Here is the statement released by the DSS and signed by Tony Opiuyo: “In line with the statutory mandate of the Department of State Services (DSS) to investigate economic crimes of national security dimension, the Service, on 5th May, 2017, arrested Ifeanyi Ubah, the managing director of Capital Oil and Gas Limited.”
The statement accused Chief Ubah of “engagement in acts of economic sabotage which include stealing, diversion and illegal sale of petroleum products stored in his tank farm by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). So far, it has been established that the products stolen amount over eleven billion naira (N11 billion). There is no doubt that Ubah’s acts have the capacity to negatively impact on national economy.”
The statement stated further: “It is instructive to note that Ubah has further engaged in other activities inimical to national security and public order. In furtherance of his gimmicks to undermine the government and people of Nigeria, he has incited members of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), a critical player in the downstream sub-sector of the Petroleum Industry, to refuse/stop the lifting of products.
“This is part of his plans to curry their sentiments and cause them to embark on strike and also stage protests in his favour with the ulterior motive of arm-twisting the NNPC to abandon the cause of recovering the stolen products. The implication of this on law and order is, in fact, a common knowledge. It is consequence upon this that the Service arrested and will prosecute him forthwith.
“The public is hereby reassured that the Service will collaborate with appropriate agencies to ensure that the mischievous activities of any person or group(s) to engage in illegal activities will not affect the effective distribution of products across the country. It will also support such agencies to book individuals or companies involved in any criminal act that undermines the nation’s economy.”
So far, neither the EFCC nor the DSS has accused Mrs Nnamdi-Ogbue of involvement in the alleged fraudulent act. Not even the NNPC management has said anything to indict her in the N11 billion worth scam discovered by her and reported to the appropriate authorities. This keeps begging the question: why was she sacked from her job?
Until somebody speaks up, or until she is returned to her job, it would be justifiably assumed that by reporting the crime to the law enforcement agencies, this woman must have unknowingly stepped on toes of certain beneficiaries of the scam within the system. And based on this, the only way to shut her up or punish her was to have her sacked.
Somebody owes Nigerians an explanation on this. Except there is a proof that this woman has committed any crime, justice demands that she be reinstated by the NNPC. If the Buhari administration is serious about fighting corruption by encouraging people to report cases of corrupt practices, then Mrs Nnamdi-Ogbue must return to her job.