Kachikwu, Baru and the unfolding circus dance

The leaked letter by Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, against Maikanti Baru, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), is a clear indication of abdication of responsibility by President Muhammadu Buhari, who doubles as Petroleum Minister, experts have said.

Political economists and commentators have expressed concern over the lethargic response of the Presidency to critical national issues and the inability of the President to show leadership where needed.

They buttress their argument with a photograph that went viral on social media platforms of the President meeting with Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu and Minister of Steel Kayode Fayemi in his office, 24 hours after the leaked memo, on a day the Presidency should have reacted swiftly to the leaked document.

To many, blocking the minister from seeing the President reveals the high-handedness and impunity going on in the present administration, while others opine that contract awards by Baru without the board’s consent is a setback to the war against corruption.

In the leaked letter dated August 30th, 2017 and addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, Kachikwu had accused Baru of awarding contracts worth over $25 billion without the NNPC Board’s approval.

He also accused the NNPC GMD of insubordination and effecting changes in personnel at the state-run oil firm without recourse to the NNPC Board, which Kachikwu chairs.

According to the minister, he had tolerated the humiliating conducts of Baru for over one year and had decided to bring the issue to the attention of the President after he was denied access to see him one-on-one.

Some of these contracts, he stated, include the Crude Term contracts valued at over $10 billion; the DSDP contracts valued at over $5 billion; the AKK pipeline contract valued at about $3 billion; various financing allocation funding contracts with the NOCs valued at over $3 billion; and various NPDC production service contracts worth over $3 billion to $4 billion.

“The legal and procedural requirement is that all contracts above $20 million would need to be reviewed and approved by the board of NNPC. Mr President, in over one year of Mr Baru’s tenure, no contract has been run through the board.

“As in many cases of things that happen in NNPC these days, I learn of transactions only through publications in the media,” Kachikwu wrote.

Buhari as petroleum minister

The controversy has reignited the debate over the emergence of President Buhari as petroleum minister. Shehu Sani, senator representing Kaduna Central in the National Assembly, called for the appointment of a substantive petroleum minister whom the nation will hold accountable for goings-on in the industry.

“President Buhari should disengage from being a petroleum minister and appoint a substantive minister whom the nation can hold accountable to the happenings in the nation oil industry. The President’s position as a minister can drag him into issues in the oil sector of which he has limited time to attend to. A broom immersed in oil cannot sweep clean,” the outspoken lawmaker who chairs the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts said in a comment on his Facebook page.

It is public knowledge that since the President assumed the portfolio of petroleum minister in November 2015, the two chambers of the National Assembly had never summoned him on issues relating to the oil sector. Instead, Minister of State Kachikwu was summoned. Specifically, an attempt by a PDP senator to summon Mr President in his capacity as petroleum minister in late 2015 over fuel price increase was vehemently opposed by APC lawmakers.

A legislator who spoke to BDSUNDAY on condition of anonymity explained that federal lawmakers do not want to be seen as ‘disrespecting’ the President, saying this informed their decision to summon the junior minister then.

However, the revelation by Kachikwu that he had been unable to have unfettered access to his boss in the last one year and his sidelining by Baru could threaten reforms in the oil industry, as the two gladiators – Kachikwu and Baru – are obviously working at cross purposes.

Ivie Richards, executive director, Corruption Observatory, insisted that an incumbent President doubling as petroleum minister has helped to fuel corruption in the oil and gas industry. To him, this negates the anti-corruption crusade of the present administration.

“I quarrel seriously and I condemn in its entirety the fact that a sitting President doubles as the minister for petroleum. That has helped this rot a great deal and the right things need to be done,” Richards said on a live television programme last week.

“Again, that is another aberration. In that report, Kachikwu said that he is the chairman of the board, but he is not the minister for petroleum. Minister is supposed to be the chairman of the board. If you watch closely between the lines, you will see the insinuation that the tender board of the NNPC got some approvals from the President.

“What my real interest is here is to invite the organized civil societies, at least those concerned with good governance, to drag the tender board of the NNPC, its governing board, to court to let Nigerians know of all that is happening behind the curtains,” he said.
Attention shifts to Senate

As part of its oversight function, the Senate has waded into the matter by constituting an ad-hoc committee to investigate the allegations levelled against the NNPC GMD.

The nine-man committee headed by former Sokoto State Governor, Aliyu Wammako, is also expected to probe the policy introduced by Baru for allegedly allocating almost all petroleum products to Duke Oil.

This followed a motion moved by Samuel Anyanwu (PDP, Imo State), chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.

Announcing the committee, Senate President Bukola Saraki did not, however, state a timeframe within which the committee will submit its report.

Other members of the ad-hoc committee include Tayo Alasoadura, chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Upstream, and his counterparts in Petroleum Downstream and Gas, Kabir Marafa and Albert Bassey, respectively, as well as Sam Anyanwu, Ahmed Ogembe, Chukwuka Utazi, Rose Okoh and Baba Kaka Garbai.

But as the committee commences its assignment, a member of another ad-hoc panel in the Senate investigating misappropriation of revenues, Yusuf Abubakar Yusuf (APC, Taraba State), has sounded a note of caution to the committee, pointing out that members may not get the needed cooperation from the state-run oil firm.

Seconding the motion moved by Anyanwu, he said, “When it comes to NNPC, just by investigating a part of it is not going to solve the problem. I’m on the ad-hoc committee on the misappropriation of revenues. We have been trying for NNPC to even come with records but they failed to do so. NNPC for the past 10 to 15 years, they have lived above everybody in this country. They think they are a government to themselves and so we have to take the bull by the horn. Since we want to fight corruption, we must fight corruption to its totality.”

Reacting to the development, Dayo Adeyeye, spokesperson of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), urged the committee to make its sitting open. This, he added, is to ensure that nothing is surreptitiously swept under the carpet.
President not showing leadership

Reacting, Kemi Adeloye, a public affairs analyst, expressed regret that the President has not shown leadership where needed.

He described as worrisome the Presidency’s handling of issues that could have earned the government accolade from within and outside the country. This, he said, is one of the reasons for the erosion of goodwill that brought APC government into power.

“The Senate has taken up the alleged corruption allegation made against the NNPC GMD by setting up a committee to investigate the content of the leaked memo of the Minister for Petroleum Resources, thus leading the way in an area that is supposed to be the kernel of the campaign programmes of this government. It is tragic and symptomatic of the confused state of affairs between the mouthing of desires and visible efforts at living up to the billing.

“No matter how bad the National Assembly is, it has relegated the executive to a second place position on the matter. Whatever the President does from now can only be seen as a reaction to whatever the Senate has started. What a monumental leadership tragedy!

“The President simply went on AWOL in a case where he is supposed to be the ‘Special Guest of Honour’. Those who should be clapping for him have taken over the podium to navigate the process to fill up the painful void created by the supposed leader.

“What I have observed thus far has taught me a great lesson. And I think it should to others too: to make a deeper assessment of the capabilities of individuals who seek public office as against the tide of the times. Mr. President, please lead. The Office of the President holds so much in renewed hopes and aspirations for Nigerians that any attempt not to live up to the expectations will forever leave a great dent on your legacy,” said Adeloye.
$25bn contract award for Buhari’s 2019 bid

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the $25 billion contract award by the NNPC is for funding President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2019 re-election bid. The main opposition party also asked the President to order the NNPC GMD to proceed on compulsory leave and allow for full-scale investigation into the matter.

The party’s spokesperson Adeyeye said this at a press conference in Abuja last week.

Addressing journalists, Adeyeye expressed concern that the fund, when converted to naira, is worth N9 trillion, more than the nation’s annual national budget.

He wondered why the report on the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Babachir Lawal has not been made public and acted upon, despite the President receiving the report since August 23, 2017.

“Will it be considered a ‘hate speech’ if we say the money being stolen by President Buhari’s men is being kept aside into a special pool for the prosecution of his second term ambition? We challenge the President to prove us wrong by allowing his allies being caught up in acts of brazen stealing of our commonwealth get punished in accordance with the laws of the land. Anything aside this, we will take as confirmation of our suspicion that the rottenness is from the very top.

“We demand, as bonafide Nigerians, an express order from President Muhammadu Buhari to the NNPC GMD asking him to go on compulsory leave so that investigation into the matter at stake can be conducted without interference,” he said.

He accused the Federal Government of engaging in double standard in its fight against corruption, saying the present administration has set a national record in its looting of the nation’s resources.

The opposition party, he added, is opposed to soft landing to corruption and corrupt members of the APC government.

“Nigerians have not forgotten the acts of illegality and double standard perpetrated by the President in refusing to hand over Babachir Lawal to the EFCC for proper investigation and possible prosecution for graft, but rather preferring to give the task of investigation of the open sleaze to the Vice President, in a move not known to any law of this nation.

“Even at that, the report of the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo-led committee is gathering dust on the shelf of the President because he probably could not bear to see one of his closest allies punished by the laws of the land, even when all facts show that blatant and unbridled theft was perpetrated by the President’s man.

“The sum involved in the NNPC scandal is $25 billion. Less than 10 percent of that ($2 billion) is involved in the so-called arms fund allegedly converted by the former NSA for which hundreds of Nigerians have been arrested and hounded. Nigerians can now see the hypocrisy in the so-called anti-corruption fight. We may as well say that the privileged class of APC members enjoys total immunity from the anti-corruption campaign,” Adeyeye said.

Who’s blocking Kachikwu from seeing Buhari?

The controversy has also brought to the front burner the issue of the President’s cabal and their efforts at blocking those not loyal to them from seeing the President. It is believed in many quarters that while Baru is in Buhari’s kitchen cabinet and has direct access to him, Kachikwu is just a ceremonial minister and does not have the President’s ear. This, some sources say, explains why the minister was not only blocked from seeing his principal but his letter was prevented from getting to the President by the cabal.

Already, fingers are pointing towards the direction of the President’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, who coincidentally doubles as a member of NNPC Board. He was reported to have fenced off other top government officials like Information Minister Lai Mohammed, and his counterpart in Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, from seeing the President in the past.

Recall the shocking revelation by the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, that cabals had hijacked her husband’s government and a leaked memo by Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai where he accused the cabal of ensuring that the President excluded governors from key decision-making at the federal level.
Grounds for impeachment of the President?

Richards of Corruption Observatory noted that if the allegation is proven true that President Buhari gave approval for procurement to NNPC’s board, it is more than enough ground to impeach the nation’s Commander-in-Chief. He cited countries like South Korea and Brazil whose Presidents were impeached for less grievous offences.

“But my major interest and focus would be, is it true that at any time, the President gave approval tacitly to this procurement, direct approval to the tender board of the NNPC? If that is true, to me, that is an impeachable offence,” said Richards.

“If you look at the case in Brazil, South Korea, for we know leaders have been shown the door. They are not as grievous as this. So I would want this nation, organized civil societies to properly unravel what happened between the tender board of the NNPC and Mr. President,” he stressed.
CSOs react

The issue has elicited reactions from Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). In an exclusive chat with BDSUNDAY, Adetokunbo Mumuni, executive director, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), charged the President to take decisive action on the matter.

According to him, “The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources is entitled to complain, to bring challenges to his job from whatever source to the attention of the President. All the allegations raised by Kachikwu should be investigated. And once they are found to be true, it is for the President to take decisive and convincing decision so that people in Nigeria will know that he stands for what he said he stands for: probity and accountability.”

On his part, Jude Ohanele, programme director, Development Dynamics, called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the matter, even as he submitted that the President has the right to appoint himself as petroleum minister.

 

OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja