- Minister contemplates resignation – Source
- Media twisted our statement – NNPC
Embattled Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, may be removed from office this week, in the aftermath of “thorough investigations into circumstances surrounding his leaked letter to the President,” a competent Presidency source disclosed to The Point at the weekend.
Kachikwu had, in a letter, dated August 30, 2017, complained to President Muhammadu Buhari, among other things, that the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru, solely awarded sensitive contracts, valued at over $25bn, without recourse to the Board of the NNPC. Kachikwu is the Chairman of the Board.
The source added that Baru was also likely to be sanctioned by the President, who might have faulted him on some of the contracts so awarded, as a way of striking a balance and calming frayed nerves.
But Kachikwu, the source added, had disappointed the President, following the Presidency’s alleged discovery that his letter, dated August 30, was leaked to the media on October 3, 2017, before it got to the office of the Chief of Staff to the President on October 5.
The Presidency source, who craved anonymity, owing to the sensitivity of the issue, explained, “When the President read of the letter in the media on October 4, he quickly called for it from the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, who denied receiving any such letter. Worried, the President immediately raised an internal query on the letter but a thorough pore through the file containing all the mails that had come in for the President proved there was none from Kachikwu.
“Surprisingly, on Thursday, October 5, Kachikwu’s letter was delivered at the Presidency, a situation that unsettled the President; a man who places high premium on straight deals and decency.”
The source added that, following the situation, the President had been given the impression that Kachikwu deliberately set out to embarrass the President and is now being suspected of disloyalty, “more so that there are many political forces contending with Aso Rock, especially those who don’t want him to run again in 2019.”
He said, “On that October 4, the search for Kachikwu’s letter set everybody at work in Aso Villa. Normally, all incoming mails to the Villa are stamped as ‘received’ with date, time and signature of the receiving clerk; and then, an acknowledgement copy is then given to the sender. I am aware that Kachikwu was asked that day by the office of the Chief of Staff to provide an acknowledgment copy of his letter, but he said he could not find it, which was really, really demeaning for a man of his status.”
However, instead of handing Kachikwu an outright sack this week, the President may explore the option of fast-tracking the timing for his proposed cabinet reshuffle to offload the embattled minister with some “non-performing ministers” that he has penciled down for removal.
This option, according to the source, may be taken if the plan to sack him is leaked.
Shedding more light on the issue, the source said, “What is certain in all of this is that, Kachikwu is on his way out. If the President is satisfied that Baru, the NNPC GMD, is not clean, he will descend on him, too, but I don’t know what the nature of his own punishment will be.
“In fact, as many people as may be identified in the embarrassing matter will be axed. I can tell you that the Presidency was thoroughly embarrassed about what you call the NNPC scandal. It is almost certain the two of them (Kachikwu and Baru) will go.”
But Kachikwu had since explained that he had no intention of embarrassing the President or creating any impression with the public that there was massive corruption in the NNPC, saying he was greatly “distressed” by the leakage to the media.
”It is most distressing to the Ministry of Petroleum Resources that a confidential communication to the President on the performance of one of its parastatals can be made public. The focus of the communication was on improving efficiency and deepening transparency in the oil and gas sector for continued investor-confidence,” he had said in his defence.
‘BUHARI WORRIED OVER DENT ON IMAGE’
As at last weekend, the Presidency, it was gathered, was convinced that the leakage of the letter that sparked off the scandalous sleaze in the NNPC was deliberately leaked to the media and that the intention was to embarrass the administration and make the opposition gain political mileage ahead of the next presidential election.
According to another source, what really hurt the President was the dent on his image.
The source said, “He is a man who would want to be remembered as a man totally opposed to graft and that he came to power, determined to tackle corruption and clean up the system. Now, this has happened in the administration under his watch. In the mood he is, President Buhari would want to be sure too that his Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, did right, both legally and morally, by appending his signature to the loans for the NNPC. The President is feeling very bad right now and that should be obvious to anybody.”
According to the source, the President may consider dealing at the same time with the issue of the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, and other embarrassing occurrences in his administration.
The SGF was accused of awarding grass-cutting contract to a company in which he had interest. The accusation against him was investigated by a three-man committee, headed by the VP, and the committee’s recommendation has not been made public, though the SGF was suspended.
Baru is also likely to be sanctioned by the President, who might have faulted him on some of the contracts awarded, as a way of striking a balance and calming frayed nerves
KACHIKWU CONSIDERING RESIGNATION?
The Point further gathered that Kachikwu was worried about the conviction of the Presidency that the letter was deliberately leaked, despite the fact that he seriously denied leaking the letter to embarrass the government or put the second term ambition of the President in jeopardy.
According to those close to him, he is still at a loss as to how the letter was leaked to the media. He is said to be seriously considering resignation to forestall a looming embarrassment.
I’M INNOCENT, BARU INSISTS
Baru, meanwhile, has denied the accusation that he unilaterally awarded the $25bn contracts and also made lopsided appointments without recourse to the NNPC Board, which Kachikwu chairs. “No money was lost and no process was breached,” he said.
He clarified that the NNPC Act and the Public Procurement Act vested procurement powers in the NNPC Tenders Board, the President and the Federal Executive Council, adding that the NNPC Board had no role in the process.
Baru, said to have been a member of the NNPC Anti-corruption Committee, it was learnt, felt bad that he could be linked to financial scandal.
He was reported to have hosted members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria and Petroleum and Gas Workers when they paid him a solidarity visit last week.
He was quoted as saying, “Our contracting process is perfect and we will continue to follow the process. NNPC Board has no role; I repeat, has no role as far as the contracting process is concerned.”
Presidency is convinced that the leakage of the letter that sparked off the scandalous sleaze in the NNPC was deliberately leaked to the media and that the intention was to embarrass the administration and make the opposition gain political mileage
OF OSINBAJO, NNPC’S SUBTLE DISAGREEMENT
What seemed to have finally turned the tide against Kachikwu, the Presidency source further stressed, was the public declaration of Vice-President Osinbajo that he approved a loan and not contracts, for financing arrangements for joint ventures between the corporation and International Oil Companies, and not any kind of dollar or naira-denominated contracts.
But while Osinbajo said what he approved was a loan, the NNPC, in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Ndu Nghamadu, said it was approval for contracts.
In the statement, the NNPC said that the Vice President approved two oil contracts, worth N640 billion, when Osinbajo acted as President.
Specifically, it said it got approval on July 10 and July 31, worth $1bn and $780 million on July 31.
Osinbajo told reporters in Bony, Rivers State, last Thursday, that “they (NNPC) were financing loans of course; you know what the joint ventures with the IOCs like Chevron are. In some cases, NNPC and their joint ventures have to secure loans and they need authorisation to secure those loans.
“While the President is away, the law actually provides for such authorisation. So, I did grant two of them and those were Presidential approvals, but they are specifically for financing joint
ventures.”
Earlier, Osinbajo’s spokesperson, Mr. Laolu Akande, tweeted: “In response to media enquiries on the NNPC Joint Ventures financing arrangements. VP Osinbajo, as acting President, approved the recommendations after due diligence and adherence to established procedures…The action was necessary to deal with huge backlog of unpaid cash calls, which the Buhari administration inherited.”
But the NNPC, through Ughamadu, still said that it stood by the six-page statement issued last Wednesday in defence of the organisation.
“We issued a statement; it was a six page statement. It explains our position,” the NNPC
said.
The Point, meanwhile asked Ughamadu in an interview to explain why the Vice President emphasised the fact that what he approved was loan and not contracts, and the former replied, saying what the NNPC meant in its statement was funding and not money for contract.
“What we said was that it was funding. It is the media that said it was contract,” he said.
When asked if the statement of the Vice President exonerated the NNPC, he replied, “That is left for the media to interpret and draw conclusions. It is not in my place to draw conclusions. It is you journalists that can analyse with the facts at your disposal.”
In July last year, President Buhari had removed Kachikwu as the NNPC GMD and replaced him with Baru.
The President had also approved the composition of the Board of the NNPC as provided for under Section 1(2) of the Corporation Act of 1997, as amended.
Before his removal and Baru’s appointment, Kachikwu had doubled as the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources and GMD,
NNPC.
With the development, Kachikwu became the chairman of the NNPC board, while the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, also became a member.
