Gunmen suspected to be members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) on Monday invaded the Comprehensive Secondary School, Nkume in the Njaba Local Government Area of Imo State, stopping students from taking their examination.
The students were preparing to take English in the ongoing Junior Secondary School Examination before the armed men forcibly dispersed them, Daily Trust reports.
Teachers and students were said to have fled in different directions as the gunmen shot sporadically into the air.
The assailants also razed some motorcycles belonging to some of the staff members and students.
Although there were no report of fatalities, a video of the incident revealed the students and staff members were screaming and fleeing for their lives.
Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Mike Abattam, could not be reached for comments.
IPOB had initially declared Monday as sit-at-home day to show solidarity with its detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who is facing charges bordering on treason and others before an Abuja High Court.
But the group later said the sit-at-home order should only be observed on days Kanu is to appear in court and not every Monday, as initially directed.
However, that has not stopped residents of the South-East from staying indoors every Monday since the initial directive, with business activities grounded on the first working day of the week.
This week, IPOB expects that the sit-at-home order will be observed on Tuesday to honour members of the group killed by the Nigerian Army in 2017.
The Nigeria Police Force’s involvement in extrajudicial killings, torture, summary executions of suspects in custody, amongst other gruesome human rights abuses, is “overwhelming”, a Federal Court in Ottawa, Canada, said in denying asylum to Charles Ukoniwe, a former operative of the notorious MOPOL unit.
The conclusion came after Mr Ukoniwe sought a judicial review of the North American country’s immigration department that denied him asylum for his possible involvement in crimes while he served as a police officer in Nigeria, according to court documents.
Judge Patrick Gleeson held that any Nigerian who willingly joins the Nigeria Police Force will be guilty by association before the Canadian judicial system and the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, notwithstanding whether or not the person committed gruesomes crimes often associated with the NPF.
The judge hinged his decision on the landmark 2013 case of former Congolese representative to UN, Rachidi Ekanza Ezokola, in which the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that anyone who knowingly participates in an organisation or regime linked to crimes against humanity will not receive protection under the 1951 Refugee Convention.
The ruling came months after Nigerian soldiers opened fire on protesters who were participating in the #EndSARS campaign to end Police brutality in Nigeria, killing at least nine civilians in an operation said to have been authorised by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Days after the Lekki killings, some Nigerian soldiers were killed in a mysterious operation that the Nigerian Army has failed to publicly acknowledge or explain.
Ukoniwe joined the Nigerian police in 2001 and served 17 years before fleeing Nigeria in March 2018 on the grounds that he was being sought by members of a cult gang that he had investigated for homicide in 2016. He claimed to have received several phone calls and his house was burnt in 2017.
Documents seen by reporters showed Ukoniwe left Nigeria for the United States on March 5, 2018. He arrived in Canada on June 6, 2018, and subsequently filed a claim for refugee protection.
Having conducted some findings about his service in the Nigeria Police Force, the Canadian immigration department denied him asylum for evidence showing his involvement in the crimes against humanity.
Although the former police sergeant contended that the decision was “unreasonable” and denied his complicity in the crimes, Canadian authorities noted that it was unlikely that he did not know of widespread crimes perpetrated by the Nigerian Police.
“Documentary evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that the NPF and the MOPOL unit committed human rights violations during Mr. Ukoniwe’s service; and it was unlikely that he had no knowledge of these generalized violations despite the evidence that his awareness of criminal activity and human rights violations was limited to low-level corruption within the NPF,” the document said.
Evidence by the department also showed that the force’s crimes against humanity including extrajudicial killings and torture were “overwhelming,” citing the MOPOL unit as largely disposed to extrajudicial killings, torture and corruption.
In 2010, Open Society Justice Initiative, in collaboration with the Network for Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN), published a report that documented systemic crimes against humanity by the Nigerian Police, concluding that the institution had wrought untold destruction on the Nigerian society and had effectively become criminal.
In his ruling on July 16, Mr Gleeson expressed his satisfaction with the immigration department’s decision and held that the application be dismissed.
“Having carefully considered the record and submissions of both parties, I have come to the conclusion that this application must be dismissed. For the reasons that follow, I am satisfied that the ID reasonably weighed the relevant factors in determining that Mr. Ukoniwe made a knowing and significant contribution to the crimes committed by the Nigeria Police Force [NPF],” the document said.
Police spokesman, Frank Mba, however, did not respond to request seeking his comment on the Canadian judiciary’s position that the police force is a criminal organisation.
In April, another Canadian Judge, Sébastien Grammond, also denied asylum to Olushola Popoola, a former member of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) on the grounds of his association with the Police unit.
Popoola had also requested for a judicial review of the decision of the immigration department which found him inadmissible into the country on the grounds of his membership of the Nigeria Police Force.
“I am dismissing his application because the decision-maker reasonably assessed the relevant factors for deciding whether Mr Popoola made a knowing and significant contribution to the crimes committed by the Nigerian Police Force,” Mr Grammond ruled.
Suspected armed bandits have invaded Kabba Prison in Kogi, freeing their colleagues and other inmates while killing soldiers at the facility in the process.
The bandits freed no less than 240 inmates, killing a yet-to-be-identified number of soldiers.
The heavily armed gunmen attacked the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Kabba around 11:35 p.m. on Sunday night, engaging the facility’s guards in a shootout.
A source in the facility told reporters that some soldiers were killed, but he could not immediately confirm the actual figure.
“They overpowered soldiers at a military checkpoint close to the correctional centre, and that gave them access to the facility,” he said, also confirming that bandits were part of the inmates.
He noted that most of the inmates escaped after the walls were broken down. Some returned while a few others were rearrested.
“The attackers in their number were said to have arrived at the Custodial Centre heavily armed and immediately engaged the armed guards in a fierce gun battle,” Francis Enobore, the spokesperson for the correctional centre, said in a statement on Monday.
Enobore noted that a recapture procedure has commenced as investigations were ongoing.
However, when contacted to confirm the casualty figure, Enobore said it could not be immediately ascertained as findings were ongoing.
“We’re going for an investigation. We’re heading to the site now and until we’re able to make a proper investigation on what transpired on the ground, we may not be able to ascertain that for now,” he said.
The spokesperson for the Nigerian Army, Onyema Nwachukuwu, did not respond to reporters’ request seeking comments on the attack.
Prior to the attack, the 200 capacity MSCC was said to have 294 inmates in custody, out of which 224 were pre-trial detainees and 70 convicted inmates.
A similar incident occurred in April this year, after unknown gunmen attacked a correctional facility in Owerri, freeing 1,844 inmates in custody.
The gunmen were said to have stormed the facility in the wee hours of April 5, gaining entrance by using explosives to blast the administrative block.
It had been discovered, in a recent report, that at least 3,600 inmates have escaped from different prisons between 2007 and 2021 with the aid of Boko Haram terrorists, among other criminal elements in the country.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has invited the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF), Suleiman Abba and five others over fraudulent activities including alleged procurement of substandard equipment by the NPTF for the Police.
Abba is also a former Inspector-General of Police.
The information is contained in a letter dated September 6, 2021, addressed to the Executive Secretary of the NPTF and signed by the Director of Operations of the ICPC, Akeem Lawal.
According to the letter titled, ‘Investigation Activities: Letter of Invitation Pursuant to Section 28(1(A-B) of ICPC Act 2000’, the anti-graft agency is asking the former IGP and others to appear before it between Monday, September 13 and Thursday, September 16, 2021.
A copy of the letter obtained by SaharaReporters on Saturday revealed that they will be investigated for alleged violation of the provisions of the ICPC Act No. 5 of 2020.
The ICPC had earlier commenced investigation into alleged procurement of substandard equipment by NPTF officials.
It was discovered that some of the equipment the NPTF recently donated to the police was inferior.
The NPTF had recently donated operational vehicles and other equipment worth N11 billion to the police as the NPTF for the training and retraining of police personnel.
Some of the said equipment included 640 bullet proof vests, 120 buffalo vans, and 190 ballistic helmets but the equipment was said to be substandard.
For instance, it was learnt that the bullet proof vests are supposed to have resistant shields in the front and back but they only had protective shields in the front. Therefore, the bullet proofs will fail to effectively protect police personnel during shoot-outs with criminal elements like Boko Haram terrorists, bandits or robbers.
In the letter obtained by reporters, those invited for questioning are identified as: IGP Suleiman Abba (rtd), Board Chairman; Mrs Victoria Ojogbane, Director, Legal Services; Alhaji Yahaya Mohammed, Director, Planning, Research and Statistics; Mr. Lawal Gunjunju, Director, Finance and Account; Mr. Salihu Abubakar, Special Assistant, Technical; Dr. Fred Femi Akinfala, Director, Human Resources and General Services; Mr. Ben Akabueze, Board Member; and Engr. Mansur Hammed, Board Member.
Akabueze is the Director-General, Budget Office of the Government of Nigeria. He was before now the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning in Lagos State in the administration of Babatunde Fashola.
Meanwhile, the invitation letter specifies the different times each of them is expected by the ICPC to come in for questioning.
The former IGP, Suleiman is expected to come in for questioning at exactly 1pm on Thursday, September 16, 2021; Ojogbane is expected in by 10am on Monday, September 13, 2021; Mohammed is expected in by 1pm on Monday, September 13, 2021, while Gunjunju is expected in the ICPC office for questioning by 10am on Tuesday, September 14, 2021.
Also, Abubakar is expected in for questioning by 1pm on Tuesday, September 14, 2021; Akinfala is expected in by 10am on Wednesday, September 15, 2021; Akabueze is expected in by 1pm on Wednesday, September 15, 2021 while Hammed is expected in by 10am on Thursday, September 16, 2021.
The letter partly read, “Similarly, the invited staff is to come with the following documents as applicable to their office and schedule as well as the original copies for sighting:
“Copies of all payment vouchers for overhead, recurrent and capital for year 2020 and 2021, copies of all contract agreement for contracts awarded from the takeoff grant and capital, copies of staff nominal roll, comprehensive list of staff on transfer, posting and secondment. Vote for take-off grant, breakdown of all spending and approvals, print out of ledger vote and spending, all no objection certificate from Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).
“Evidence of BPP clarification on contract award, financial limit and thresholds, procurement methods and threshold of application and expenditure as related to NPTF.
“They are also expected to come with any of the following: a lawyer, Justice of Peace, Staff of the Legal Aid Council or any individual of their choice.
“Accept the assurances of the Commission’s highest regards, please.”
MMA fighter, Vitor Belfort, knocked out former boxing undisputed heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield in the first round of their boxing match in Saturday’s Triller Fight Night.
On the commentary box was former U.S. President Donald Trump whom Triller hired alongside his son to run alternate commentary. Rapper and actor, 50 Cent, and MMA Superstar Jorge Masvidal were also on hand on the night.
Coming into the fight, there were a lot of concerns about the health and abilities of Evander, who, at 58 definitely had his best years behind him; and looked exactly so in the open workouts. Vitor, on the other hand, looked in supreme condition.
To start the card, former British champion David Haye defeated multimillionaire businessman turned pro boxer Joe Fournier in a unanimous decision. That was followed by Jono Carroll who got a majority decision over Andy Vences.
In the co-main event, MMA legends faced off as Anderson Silva, the former UFC Middleweight Champion finished Tito Ortiz, the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion in devastating fashion with a first round KO.
This was followed by the Holyfield versus Belfort main event which ended just as quickly with Belfort dropping Holyfield early and following up with a barrage of punch combinations right after he got back up.
The referee stopped the fight and Holyfield protested but it was a great decision.
The document released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation detailing the U.S. 9/11 attacks contains allegations of Saudi Arabia’s involvement.
The document, written in 2016, is based on the FBI’s investigation called Operation ENCORE, released following an executive order by President Joe Biden.
The newly declassified document details the FBI’s investigation of alleged support between a Saudi consular official, a suspected Saudi intelligence agent in Los Angeles and at least two of the men who hijacked the aircrafts in September 11, 2001.
Of the 19 Al Qaeda terrorists who hijacked four U.S. aircrafts and attacked on the morning of September 11, 2001, 15 were citizens of Saudi Arabia.
The partially redacted 16-page document released by the FBI does not, however, provide any evidence the Saudi government was involved with the attacks.
The Saudi government responded to the development, denying any connections between Saudi nationals named in the investigation and the hijackers, describing the claims as “categorically false”.
The Saudi Embassy released a statement removing itself from the allegations that it worked with the terrorists.
“No evidence has ever emerged to indicate that the Saudi government or its officials had previous knowledge of the terrorist attack or were in any way involved in its planning or execution,” the statement said. It added that “any allegation that Saudi Arabia is complicit in the September 11 attacks is categorically false.”
Biden’s executive order came after over 1,600 people affected by the attacks wrote a letter giving the release of the information as a requirement for him visiting Ground Zero in New York City to mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks.
Nigeria is generally a country without value-added, as it produces nothing most people outside the country want to buy. Are you surprised that only about four states and FCT generate 85% of all the realisable Value Added tax in the country, and the rest- 32 states, generate 15%? The country thrives underneath the par of developing countries. It is a corrupt dungeon being suffocated by an anti-development, virus-infected, decree 24 document, called 1999 constitution.
Justice Stephen Dalop Pam may have started a restructuring revolution in Nigeria, just as Tunisian graduate Tarek el-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor who set himself on fire in Ben Arous, started the Tunisian revolution and the wider Arab Spring in 2010. While Tarek’s initiation of the Tunisian revolution involved some dint of violence or self-immolation, the Nigerian revolution has commenced via a subtle but sharp-edged Court declaration. Whichever way the revolutions started; the outcomes justify the acts.
Justice Pam’s ruling is a watershed that has outlawed collection of VAT, Withholding and Education taxes and Technology levy by federal government’s weaponised FIRS. The declaration gently advises the regime to concentrate on collecting Capital gains tax and taxes on profits as ascribed under the exclusive list of the Nigeria constitution.
According to Daily Trust Newspaper, “many states may not be able to meet their financial commitments if Pam’s ruling stands”, and Gombe governor was quoted as begging, “states should be their brother’s keeper. This is the greatest exposure of hypocrisy and an attempt to deceive the rest of the country. Must some states meet their financial commitments by continuing to rob other states? Does the governor of Gombe state believe in restructuring or is he one of northern elements who fake ignorance of the true meaning of restructuring?
FIRS’s race to the appeal court in Abuja with the aim of frustrating Pam’s declaration is thoughtless and retrogressive. It is an attempt to reverse progress and keep the redundant status quo, ongoing, and continue to keep some states in desperate almajiri conditions. Moreover, FIRS’s nocturnal race to the national assembly to attempt to sneak VAT into the exclusive list is criminal. FIRS is now the greatest enemy of the redundant and superfluous states which it claims to protect.
Those northerners feigning ignorance of the meaning of restructuring should wait no longer. Here it is. They should read Justice Pam’s declaration. It is called fiscal restructuring. It is also the first restructuring missile fired in anger, and full resource control would follow. The anti-development virus called the 1999 constitution has been punctured by a pro-development virus cleansing declaration. The ruling has freed laisse affaire and healthy competition among states.
Justice Pam’s declaratory judgement has exposed the fact that state creation by the country’s corrupt and unhinged ex-military juntas, was dishonest. They created unviable, parasitic states that build nothing, innovate nothing, produce nothing, earn nothing; but exploit everything. The declaration is a wake-up call for docile ethnolinguistic governors and their cabinets, whose only reason for becoming governors is because they speak a particular language and belong to a certain religious sect or tribe.
Federal collection and arbitrary distribution of VAT since 1993 is a function of impunity that has bedevilled the country, and FIRS’s nugatory speech following the Pam ruling is regrettable.
The current unjust regime can ignore freedom fighters and throw the 2014 confab report to the dust, as much as it wants; but one thing is certain, the country must be restructured or dismembered one way or the other. Pam’s declaration reminds everyone that the impending dismemberment may emanate from very unconventional source/s. UK BREXIT happened because the EU pussyfooted on giving minor concessions to the imperial island, which led to the vote of Yes to exit the amorphous union in 2016. The Tunisian and Arab spring sprung up via a frustrated graduate street hawker, who self-immolated himself on a street in Tunis in December 2010. #Endsars sprung up with the spontaneity of impulsivity and nearly rescued the country from the cabal before the civilian junta struck at Lekki toll gate. A little-known Kuru born Federal High Court Judge, Justice Pam, has triggered the restructuring revolution. Restructuring and/or outright dissolution of Nigeria is neither negotiable nor avoidable. The earlier these facts stick onto the ageing brains of those delaying the processes, the better.
Justice Simon Haruna’s ruling last Friday, may have sent Justice Pam’s declaration to legal purgatory (depending on your interpretation of his ruling), but be assured, this revolution is not going away, because governor Wike has inaugurated a four-man tax appeal commission charged with the responsibility of ensuring mass compliance with the state’s brand-new VAT law. Governor Sanwo Olu has also signed the Lagos State Vat law and gone further to request to be joined as a respondent in the ongoing FIRS appeal case in Abuja. His motion for joinder will be heard before Justice Haruna on 16 September. So, the battle is just starting.
While the lawless regime, hopes, that Rivers and Lagos states would obey Justice Haruna’s order not to proceed with collecting VAT, until the substantive suit is resolved, the #unjust regime needs to be reminded that it has NOT obeyed any single court order made against it for the past 6 years, courtesy of the instrumentality and rascality of its badly trained childlike Gestapo organisation, known as DSS. Though two wrongs do not make a right, the popular opinion is that Governors Wike and Sanwo Olu should please, bell the cat.
Simon Ekpa, an athlete who represented Nigeria at the 2003 African Junior Athletics Championships, has denounced Nigeria and vowed to return the medal he won for the country.
He said this in a Facebook post on Sunday, adding that leaders have failed the country.
Ekpa said his action is in with his allegiance to the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra.
He also vowed to “put everything I have to the disintegration of Nigeria”.
The Biafra agitator said this while reacting to a letter he claimed he received from the Institute of Management Consultants , Nigeria, nominating him for a fellowship.
Ekpa posted, “I reject your nomination publicly, this is the second time the IMC-Nigeria is nominating me for whatever reason. I am not interested in your nomination, I am not interested in your award, I am not interested in anything that will move Nigeria forward because Nigeria is not structured nor created to move forward, so anybody trying to move Nigeria forward is already a failure.
“Let me give you a brief brake down on these failures: Awolowo, Zik, Ahmadu Bello, Abiola, Obasanjo, Jonathan, and every other person that have held any political position in Nigeria from 1960 to 2021 has all failed because they didn’t realise that Nigeria was never created to move forward.
“I am now putting everything I have to the disintegration of Nigeria and restoration of Biafra as that is the only way to move forward, anything outside this, don’t bring my name.
“Finally, I will be returning every award given to me in Nigeria by Nigeria state or organisation within Nigeria acting in the capacity of representing Nigeria, including medal given to me by Nigeria will be returned to the Ministry of Sports Abuja in the nearest future.
“I am Simon Ekpa, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s Disciple on Biafra Restoration.”
The first two bid-winning companies of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)’s controversial slop oil sale have been found to be owned by the same directors.
The third-highest bidder was also initially thought to be unregistered. But facts have since emerged that that company is known as Korpu Energy Limited (which is registered) and not Kurpo Energy Limited (which is unregistered.
These are but some of the new revelations tumbling out of the closet at the NNPC weeks after the Group Executive Director (GED) Refinery, Mustapha Yakubu, supervised a controversial bid that saw scarce slop oil – traditionally reserved for local industries – being controversially offered to preferred bidders that are export companies. The slop oil consignment is domiciled at the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC).
Figures from separate financial bids submitted by the three companies are a window to the behind-the-scenes manoeuvres that underpinned the entire bid exercise. Specifically, they show that the three preferred bidders, namely Sign Oil &Gas Ltd, Synthesis Integrated Pure Oil and Gas Limited and Kurpo Energy Ltd possibly took cues from NNPC insiders and decision-makers.
While Nigeria’s public procurement rules forbid any form of insider dealing, abuse of process and collaborative exploitation of nonpublic material information, the financial quotes submitted by the three export companies suggest everything but the contrary.
A six-naira difference is a common factor in their three separate financial bids. While the first preferred bidder, Sign Oil & Gas Ltd quoted N111.00K per litre, the second preferred bidder Synthesis Integrated Pure Oil quoted N6 less at N105.00K per litre while the third preferred bidder, Kurpo Energy Ltd bid N99.00K per litre – a further N6 lesser than the second.
Checks at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) confirmed the worst suspicion. The first and second preferred bidders are owned and promoted by connected individuals. While the first preferred bidder – Sign Oil & Gas Ltd – has Orereh Kingsley and Orereh Oghenetejiri as directors, the second preferred bidder – Synthesis Integrated Pure Oil and Gas Ltd – has Orereh Kingsley and Orereh Oghenerukevwe as directors.
Weeks back, it was reported that cash-hungry NNPC officials sold off to an export company 30 million litres of slop oil reserved in Port Harcourt Refinery as a national strategic stock.
The sale, carried out under a shady bid process, got industry stakeholders, particularly local manufacturers, reeling because slop oil has never been exported in the history of the NNPC. What’s more, the taboo transaction was capable of precipitating disastrous knock-on effects on local industries thereby sabotaging the Buhari administration’s economic programmes.
For local manufacturers in Nigeria – particularly those in labour-intensive industries like textiles, cement, rubber processing, food and beverages – slop oil is the only alternative to Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO), a product of fractional distillation that keeps the boilers of manufacturing industries running. The LPFO is also used in power generating plants to get around the challenge of acute gas shortages.
However, 24 months ago when the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries completely halted the refining of crude oil to give room for major rehabilitations slated to last 44 months, LPFO as a corollary has gone off the market. With this harsh reality, it is the slop oil that has come in as a stop-gap arrangement and indeed a last-ditch measure to keep the many beleaguered but still faithful local industrialists from moving their operations to neighbouring countries.
Industry watchers are baffled at the uncanny coincidences of each of the first three preferred companies bidding N6 differently from the next. To them, the bid appears very well-coordinated and lacking in character.
PREMIUM TIMES learned there have been a lot of behind-the-scene moves since the bid winners were announced. The first allocation issued to Sign Oil & Gas on June 22, 2021, expired with the company unable to meet a 10 working-day deadline for payment.
On July 8, 2021, the allocation was transferred to the second bid winner, Synthesis Integrated Pure Oil at N105.00k per litre instead of N111.00k per litre. It came with a 10-day deadline. Like Sign Oil before it, Synthesis was also not able to meet payment obligations.
True to the expectations of keen watchers wary that the entire bid exercise was a deception ab initio, the slop oil allocation fell on the lap of the third preferred winner, Korpu (not Kurpo) Energy Ltd at N99.00k per litre. This development has generated widespread belief in the oil industry that not only was the bid process tailored to sell the slop oil to handpicked bidders but also at the lowest quote possible.
Some of the companies that participated in the slop oil bid included:
1) Oando Energy
2) Yunusawa Petroleum Resources Ltd
3) Northbridge Energy Ltd
4) Slk Oil & Gas Services Ltd
5) Gas Project Ltd
6) Sign Oil & Gas Ltd
7) Speedo Energy Resources Ltd
8) Korpu (not Kurpo) Energy Ltd
9) PT Intim Perkasa
10) AMG Musa Integrated
11) Synthesis Integrated Pure Oil
12) Silver Anchor Shipping
13) Vigor Ltd
14) Prachal Energy Ltd
15) B O Gas & Chemical Ltd
16) 24 Hour Light Nig Ltd
17) Imani Petroleum & Transport Co. Ltd
18) A.Y. Mai Kifi Oil & Gas Co. Ltd
Perhaps to achieve a predetermined goal, the NNPC made the bid exercise a mismatch between local companies and export companies. The two categories of companies were invited under two separate pre-qualification conditions that were based on technical competencies.
The three preferred bid winners – Sign Oil &Gas Ltd, Synthesis Integrated Pure Oil and Korpu Energy Ltd – participated in the bid under the export category.
The technical capacities required of export companies were understandably different from those for local companies. However, during the financial bid, the NNPC, without explanations, merged export and local companies together knowing full well that the latter cannot match the financial muscles of the former.
To add to the woes of participating local companies, the NNPC insisted the slop oil must be off-taken ex-coastal. While that was good for the export companies which would just pick up the slop oil and sail off overseas, it was bad news for local companies which, in addition to paying cost price for the oil and extra N60 million handling charges to NNPC, must also rent storage facilities for the consignment. Also, because slop oil is a heavy liquid, truck drivers charge far higher to transport slop oil than they would petrol, kerosene or diesel.
Furthermore, by pitting struggling local companies against export counterparts in the same bid, NNPC officials succeeded in selling the slop oil to the bid winners at a rock-bottom price. A source at the NNPC Towers, who would not want to be named for fear of retribution pointed out that the best price offered by the export companies is still too low and cheap considering they will be selling at the international market at a dollar rate.
The source further revealed that following PREMIUM TIMES’ earlier report which exposed the plot to export the nation’s slop oil, a national strategic asset, the NNPC mulled a U-turn. Top-ranking officials charged with damage control quickly went to work; a development that saw the slop oil allocation going to yet another different company, the fourth bid winner said to be a local company.
At the time, it could not be ascertained if the third bid winner, Korpu Energy Ltd, could also not meet the payment deadline or was forced to give up its hold by the NNPC.
While stakeholders were grimly watching to see if the slop oil allocation would be passed on to a fifth company or that the fourth bid winner will supply to local end-users, information came in that Korpu Energy Ltd has paid for the allocation.
The official telephone contact provided by Korpu Energy Ltd in its bid documents failed to connect even with several call attempts made by PREMIUM TIMES.
When contacted on Thursday afternoon, the NNPC asked for time to allow it to investigate the allegations against its officials concerning the controversial bid. Hours later, its spokesperson, Garbadeen Muhammed, called to say he should be given till Friday to complete his inquiry.
Twenty-four hours later, he again requested another 24 hours to enable him to provide a comment. On Saturday afternoon, Mr Muhammed was reminded via WhatsApp that the time he requested had lapsed. He did not reply to that message as of the time of publishing this report.
![Minister State for Petroleum Resources, Timipreye Sylva [PHOTO CREDIT: @@HETimipreSylva]](https://i0.wp.com/media.premiumtimesng.com/wp-content/files/2020/07/EVPGSAmUcAEzOzO-e1612090974701.jpg?resize=680%2C481&ssl=1)