The House of Representatives may be in the spotlight for the wrong reasons yet again. This time the lure of oily lucre dripping from the controversial OPL 245 oil bloc appears to be the catalyst that may unravel the integrity of the House or whatever is left of it.
It has emerged that the work of the adhoc committee of the House empanelled to investigate a controversial payment of $1,092, 040,000 (about N155 billion as at the time of probe) to Malabu allegedly from government coffers by Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke and the Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Yerima Ngama has hit a crisis and whatever report emergent there-from may be imperiled.
OPL 245 has a contentious ownership and operational status with claims and counter-claims flying between an indigenous company, Malabu and its technical partners on one hand and two multi-nationals, Shell and Agip on the other hand. The federal government through the imprimatur of Mr. Adoke’s office allegedly brokered the questionable multi-billion naira settlement deal that is the subject of the House probe.
An alleged USD 15million bribe deal to the probe committee from some external interests is now causing ripples among its members with serious tension and threats by some to disown the eventual report that will be submitted taking the centre-stage at the moment.
Although, Hon. Leo Ogor (PDP, Delta State) deputy majority leader of the House and chairman of the adhoc committee probing the Malabu deal denied the bribery charges, LEGISREPORTS confirmed that there is indeed mutual distrust, suspicion and disagreements over recommendations concerning indictments of certain interests/entities investigated in the probe amongst members of the committee.
Justice Minister, Mohammed Adoke
The sharing formula of the sleaze sum, a source informed, is one of the reasons behind the crisis in the committee besides findings that several members of the panel have been working at cross purposes to either protect different vested interests or pull some entities down through the committee’s report. Failure to aggregate these varying interests is another reason why the committee’s report which is said to be ready but awaiting ratification by members, may suffer a credibility crisis upon presentation.
LEGISREPORTS gathered that the internal wrangling in the committee has attracted the attention of the Speaker of the House, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal who summoned a meeting of the feuding parties late last week with a follow-up parley early in the week in a bid to paper over the cracks before the committee submits its report before the entire House.
The speaker’s intervention notwithstanding, our checks as at press time reveal that the cracks in the committee still remain deep-seated necessitating that a planned submission of the report today (Tuesday) may be shifted forward to allow for tempers to cool and members come to some form of agreement.
Some members of the committee are Hon. Samson Osagie (ACN, Edo State), Hon. Victor Ogene (APGA, Anambra State), Hon. Adams Jagaba (PDP, Kaduna), Hon. John Dyegh (ACN, Benue) and Hon. Adamu Kaita (CPC, Katsina).
Apart from Hon. Ogor, some members of the committee contacted by LEGISREPORTS neither neither owned up to the allegation of the bribe nor categorically denied it. They simply played around the allegation in response to direct questions posed but did own up that all was not well with the work of the committee so far.
A particular member who craved anonymity in fact threatened not to endorse the report if some entities investigated during the work of the committee were not indicted. Another member simply pleaded for time to allow members of the committee resolve their differences and present an agreed report.
Hon. Ogor however, said during a telephone interview with LEGISREPORTS that he is committed to protecting the national interest in the committee’s work and that he would not allow any compromise from any quarters no matter the pressure. He also reiterated his earlier denial that some money had changed hands in a bid to influence the committee’s report.
Finance Minister Yerima Ngama
“Just lets wait for the report. Nigerians will be proud to see that we protected national interest as against selfish agenda,” he said, noting that the allegations of bribery are a distraction.
The Malabu oil deal has attracted huge public interest following allegations that Messrs. Adoke and Ngama had deployed government funds in a questionable brokerage that benefited some private pockets as against the overall public good.
The Attorney General had a burst up with the committee during its public hearing in December last year when he queried some members’ line of questioning which he thought were presumptuous and injurious to his person and office.
