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Nnamdi Kanu is in FG’s custody, claims lawyer

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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Nnamdi Kanu is in FG’s custody, claims lawyer

Kingsley Ejiofor, counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has told the Federal High Court in Abuja that his client is still in the custody of the federal government.

Ejiofor said this on Tuesday while announcing his presence in court for the continuation of Kanu’s treason trial.

Three of the co-defendants in the trial — Chidiebere Onwudiwe, Benjamin Madubugwu and David Nwawuisi — were present in court

They were brought to court by prison officials at about 10am on Tuesday, but Bright Chimezie, who became a co-accused person in the case following an amendment of the charges, was also absent.

Ejiofor had filed an application in court seeking to compel the Chief of Army Staff to produce Kanu in court as he was last seen on September 14, when his home was invaded by soldiers.

But Orji Uzor-Kalu, former Governor of Abia State, told newsmen that Kanu had fled to the United Kingdom through Malaysia.

200 human rights organisations seek expulsion of tobacco companies from ILO

Chikezie OMEJE
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200 human rights organisations seek expulsion of tobacco companies from ILO

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and nearly 200 other public health and human rights organisations have asked the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to drop tobacco companies from its membership.

A letter from the organisations to the members of the ILO governing body described how tobacco companies victimise farmers and other workers through practices that include unfair pricing strategies, abusive contracts and child labour.

The group told the ILO that companies employing these predatory tactics have no place in a United Nations agency concerned with fair labour practices and human rights.

The governing board of ILO will meet on October 26 in Geneva to decide whether to bar tobacco companies from participating in the activities of the agency.

A statement by Mark Hurley, International Director of Tobacco Industry Campaigns of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, urged the governing board to delist tobacco companies from participating in ILO.

“If the ILO is to live up to its promise of promoting rights at work, encouraging decent employment opportunities and enhancing social protection, the decision should be an easy one: The governing body must prohibit all members of the tobacco industry from participation in the ILO,” Hurley said.

He pointed out that tobacco companies use membership in respected organizations like the ILO to portray themselves as responsible corporate citizens when in fact they are the root cause of a global tobacco epidemic that is projected to kill one billion people worldwide this century.

According to Hurley, tobacco companies continue to aggressively market their deadly products to children and other vulnerable populations around the world, to mislead the public about the health risks of their products and to attack every effort to reduce tobacco use and save lives.

He insisted that tobacco companies that spread death and disease across the globe should have no place in a UN agency or any responsible organization.

He urged the ILO to join other international organizations and agencies acting to cut ties with tobacco companies.

Last month, United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) delisted tobacco companies from participating in its initiative of involving corporate leadership to achieving the UN development goals.

UNGC had explained that the exclusion of tobacco companies was to align with the policies of the broader UN system.

The World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control states that the tobacco industry’s interests are in clear conflict with public health goals and recommended that countries should implement proven strategies to reduce tobacco use.

Agbakoba asks Abuja court to sack Buhari as petroleum minister

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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Agbakoba asks Abuja court to sack Buhari as petroleum minister

Olisa Agbakoba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, (SAN) has filed an application before the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to restrain President Muhammadu Buhari from continuing in his dual capacity as President and Minister of Petroleum Resources.

Agbakoba said sections of the Constitution forbid the President from “holding any other executive office or paid employment”.

Among his prayers, Agbakoba wants the court to determine “whether, by virtue of Section 147(2) of the 1999 Constitution, the President can hold the office of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, without confirmation by the Senate of the National Assembly”.

“I looked at Section 138 of the 1999 Constitution and I verily believe it disqualifies the President from holding executive office including that of the Minister of Petroleum, during his tenure of office as President,” Agbakoba stated in a 14-page affidavit he deposed to.

“I also know that the President did not go through nomination process and confirmation by the Senate, before holding the office of Minister of Petroleum Resources.

“I again looked at Section 147(2) of the 1999 Constitution and I verily believe it prohibits anybody from holding the office of a Minister of the Federation, without confirmation by the Senate.”

Agbakoba also said that the recent management crisis between Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, and Maikanti Baru, Group Managing Director of the NNPC, “could not have occurred if the President was not also the Minister of Petroleum Resources”.

“I am aware that the NNPC provides up to 90 percent of the revenue accruing to Nigeria,” he stated.

“I am worried that the crisis in the NNPC will greatly reduce Nigeria’s revenue-generating capacity and will affect the revenue distributable to federal, state and local governments in Nigeria.

“This will gravely affect development nationwide and drastically impact one and all Nigerians, including those in Anambra State (my state of origin) and Lagos State (my state of residence).”

‘God save us from gullible citizens’ — Ezekwesili slams those applauding Kachikwu-Baru truce

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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‘God save us from gullible citizens’ — Ezekwesili slams those applauding Kachikwu-Baru truce

Oby Ezekwesili, former Minister of Education, is miffed by the “gullibility” of the Nigerians who have been applauding the reunion of Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum resources, with Maikantu Baru, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Ezekwesili also said the anti-corruption agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari will suffer a huge blow if he fails to investigate the issues raised by kachikwu in his memo.

She said despite the fact that Kachikwu and Maikanti Baru, the NNPC Group Managing Director, have “reconciled”, Buhari must now probe the allegations of breach of due process raised in the memo.

“As I did my weekend reading, I saw pictures of Nigerians applauding that the NNPC GMD and his minister, Ibe Kachikwu ‘have reconciled’,” Ezekwesili wrote in a series of tweets on Monday.

“I turned to my husband and said, ‘God save us from gullible citizens’! What does ‘reconcile’ mean to citizens who’re victims of Bad Governance?

“I hope the Muhammadu Buhari government does not plan on ‘moving on’. Governance is not about ‘personal beefs’ & ‘reconciliation’.

“The weighty Breach of procurement law raised by Ibe Kachikwu against the NNPC GMD is not the kind of issue a serious FG glosses over.

“Good that Ibe Kachikwu and his GMD at the NNPC have become friends again. Now let the breach raised be probed swiftly.”

Ezekwesili called for independent review of the  allegations raised by Kachikwu, adding that “the credibility of President Buhari’s anti-corruption agenda suffers deeper lethal blow if this gets buried like the #GrassCutterAllegations.

“So, here is my counsel to President Buhari, hasten probe of the NNPC breach, publish report and act swiftly on its recommendations. Do it.”

The #GrassCutterAllegations refers to the allegations of corruption and abuse of office made against Babachir Lawal, the suspended Secretary to the Government of the federation.

In May, Buhari set up a probe panel headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to investigate the allegations and file a report within two weeks. But months after, nothing has been heard of the report, which was presented to Buhari in August.

Zahra and Aisha Buhari as fashionable Aso Rock Clinic critics

'Fisayo Soyombo
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Zahra and Aisha Buhari as fashionable Aso Rock Clinic critics

There are the Buharis who are not Buharists. Credit to Nasir el-Rufai, the most recent and most persistent proponent of the term ‘Buharism’, ‘Buharists’ can be used loosely without guilt — in this case to mean the political heavyweights or followers in whose eyes Buhari can do no wrong and must, therefore, never be criticised. As there is still no proof of any ideological struggle underpinning ‘Buharism’, we will have to fall back on el-Rufai to precisely explain the concept. As the former FCT minister said last month, there is “a group of Buharists among governors, ministers…” that “wants to ensure that President Buhari runs in 2019”. But it seems some members of the first family are, knowingly or unknowingly, ‘un-Buharistic’.

Zahra Buhari, President Muhammadu Buhari’s daughter, unsettled the presidency with a late-September Instagram post implicitly accusing the management of Aso Rock clinic of corruption. To be honest, Zahra’s questions, asked with the hashtag StateHousePerSecPlsAnswer, are valid.

“More than N3billion budgeted for the State House clinic and workers there don’t have the equipment to work with? Why?” read the post.

“Where is the money going to? Medication only stocked once since the beginning of the year? Why? State House Permanent Secretary please answer.

“Why isn’t there simple Paracetamol, gloves, syringes… Why do patients/staff have to buy what they need in the state house clinic?”

THE SUPPOSED GROUSE

With the benefit of hindsight, there is real possibility that Zahra was merely providing the voice-over to mother Aisha Buhari’s thoughts, because roughly 10 days after her Instagram outburst, Aisha fell just short of embarrassing Husain Munir, Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Aso Villa Clinic.

At a stakeholder meeting on Reproductive, Maternal, Nutrition, Child Advocacy and Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH), which held at the banquet hall of the presidential villa in Abuja exactly a week ago, Aisha said: “The Nigerian health sector is in very poor state, sorry to say the least. I am happy the CMD of Aso Clinic is here, is here around? Dr. Munir or his representative? Okay, he is around…

“If the budget is N100 million, we need to know how the budget is spent… I’m sure Dr. Munir will not like me saying this but I have to say it out. As the Chief Medical Director, there are lots of construction works going on in this hospital but there is no single syringe there, what does that mean? Who will use the building? We have to be good in reasoning. You are building new structures but there is no equipment, no consumables in the hospital and the construction is still going on.”

On the surface, Aisha appears to be primarily concerned about the “poor state” of the health sector, and secondarily about the clinic’s frivolous spending or possible corruption and misappropriation of funds. The latter will be discussed later but analysing the real motives of the twin outbursts can’t be deferred for a further second.

THE REAL GROUSE

Although buried in the equipment-versus-drugs criticism, Aisha’s real anger is that she couldn’t access the State House clinic during her illness. Elsewhere in her speech that same day, she gave herself out: “…as you are all aware, Nigeria wasn’t stable because of my husband’s ill health. We thank God he is fully recovered now.

“If somebody like Mr President can spend several months outside Nigeria, then you wonder what will happen to a common man on the street?

“Few weeks ago I was sick as well, they advised me to take the first flight out to London, I refused to go. I said I must be treated in Nigeria because there is a budget for an assigned clinic to take care of us.

“I insisted they call Aso Clinic to find out if the X-ray machine was working, they said it was not working. They didn’t know I was the one who was supposed to be in that hospital at that very time.

“I had to go to an hospital that was established by foreigners in and out 100 percent. What does that mean? If something like this can happen to me, no need for me to ask the governors’ wives what is happening in their states.”

It is obviously fashionable to criticise a government, but lest we’re carried away, Aisha Buhari is fighting for herself, for her “husband”, for the “governors’ wives”. Zahra and Aisha are both fighting for the political elites, not for the masses, some of who are now hailing them for speaking out.

AISHA AND ZAHRA ARE PART OF THE GOVERNMENT

Had the two women been fighting the cause of the hoi polloi, they wouldn’t have waited for the first family’s unsavoury encounters with the State House clinic before speaking out against a government that they’re part of. Since their outbursts, neither Aisha nor Zahra has, for example, visited some of the public health facilities in Abuja, personally or through a proxy, to see how the poor are being shortchanged daily by their government. Neither woman has told us what efforts she made behind the scenes to get the President to investigate the Aso Rock clinic.

Zahra may have tried to explain away her post and why she would rather call out the Permanent Secretary than “ask my father”, but it is still inconceivable that she cannot see the damage to her father’s image. Zahra argues that “the President can’t be at every point… can’t be monitoring everyone’s post”, but it’s the clinic inside the President’s abode we’re talking about here. If Buhari cannot fix the Aso Rock clinic, how on earth will Zahra or Aisha convince the people that he can fix the larger health sector, or even the country itself? Their public upbraid of the clinic is self-indictive, unless they can prove that they tried, but failed, to privately get the presidency to address their complaints, which is itself a dent on the plot of the Buharists to return Buhari to power in 2019.

NOW THAT WE’RE HERE

A previous investigation by TheCable on the difficulty of getting paracetamol or cotton wool at the clinic did not seem to pique the interest of the presidency. But now that Aisha and Zahra have spoken, what will be the President’s excuse for silence?

The combined N3.1billion budgetary allocation to the clinic in 2016 and 2017 is higher than the combined allocation to all the tertiary healthcare centres in the country! A State House clinic richer than all of the country’s tertiary centres cannot be struggling with drugs. Who knows, Buhari may soon set up a probe committee on the clinic. Never mind that the committee’s report may be binned, eventually. If Dr. Munir and Jalal Arabi, the State House Permanent Secretary who oversees the clinic, were worried about the outbursts from Zahra and Aisha, somebody must have told them: “Keep calm, ‘baba’ will do a Babachir again!”

 

Soyombo, Editor of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), tweets @fisayosoyombo

 

‘Okorocha is a curse’… Twitter reacts to the unveiling of Jacob Zuma statue in Owerri

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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‘Okorocha is a curse’… Twitter reacts to the unveiling of Jacob Zuma statue in Owerri

Nigerians have taken to the social media to criticise Rochas Okorocha, Governor of Imo State, over the unveiling of a statue of Jacob Zuma, President South Africa.

Zuma, who is not having the best of times in his political party, the African National Congress (ANC), back home over allegations of corruption and abuse of office, has been in Owerri, the Imo State capital, since Friday.

The unveiling ceremony was only one of the many honours conferred on Zuma by Okorocha and witnessed by Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria.

He was also given the Imo Merit Award, the highest award in the state, which is usually given to honour persons who have distinguished themselves in various fields of human endeavour.

A chieftaincy title, Ochiagha di oha mma of Igbo Land (meaning The People’s Warlord) was also conferred on Zuma, and a street was also named after him.

Twitter users who reacted to the development wondered what Zuma had done for Imo State or Nigeria to merit such honour.

Some noted that despite Nigeria’s role in ending apartheid regime in South Africa, Nigerians are still being killed in the country on a regular basis, and Zuma had done nothing to check the disturbing trend.

Here are some photos of the events and reactions from various Twitter users:

Oil search in the north mere wild goose chase, says Tam David-West

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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Oil search in the north mere wild goose chase, says Tam David-West

Nigeria should divert the huge amount of money being spent in search of crude oil in the North into the health and education sector because going ahead with the search is like a “wild goose chase”, says Tam David-West, former Minister of Petroleum and Energy.

David-West, who was also a Professor of Virology from the University of Ibadan, said that during his time as oil minister in 1984 to 1985, under Muhammadu Buhari, then a military Head of state, he commissioned numerous oil exploration exercises in Gaji Gana, Borno State, with no success.

In an interview with Punch, David-West added that if there were any chances of hitting crude oil in commercial quantity in the region, investors from developed countries would have sunk in money into the exploration process.

“Before I became minister of petroleum, a lot of money had been spent on the search for oil in the North and the search stopped,” David-West said.

“When I came, I called Aret Adams and told him that we should try again. He said a lot of money had been spent without getting even gas in that area. Adams was in charge of exploration at the time.

“I insisted that we try once more in 1984. I gave him six weeks to get me a rig. In four weeks, he got a rig for me and I bought it and took delivery of it at the Port Harcourt harbour.

“I took it to Gaji Gana to begin the search all over again. We started digging but we could not find anything.

“On my way to Maiduguri (in Borno State), I had an accident and almost died. I told Buhari what happened.

“Before we left Gaji Gana, someone wrote in the newspaper that oil had been discovered in the North. I told my personal assistant to counter the report that it was not true.

“I said it would be better to use the money to build schools and hospitals for our people instead of wasting that money.”

David-West said he was taken aback when Ibe Kachikwu, the current Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, “assured the North that by January, he would strike oil in the region.”

“This is the typical Nigerian factor. They have made this issue political,” he said.

According to David-West, during his time in charge of Nigeria’s oil sector, “I was shown two wells that were drilled but which were closed because they could not find oil there”.

“It was like a wild goose chase. The search for oil has been made political.

“On the French side of Chad there is oil so, they said there should be oil on the Nigerian side.

“I alerted the nation that foreign countries were not willing to go to the North and start looking for oil. If there was oil there, they would have rushed to the place.

“Some read conspiracy theory to it but I said I and Adams are from the Niger Delta and we made so much effort to find oil in the North.”

David-West added that assuming there are traces of crude in the Northern region, if it was not in commercial quantity, it would be a waste of time and resources going ahead with the exploration.

“Let us assume that there is oil there, is it in commercial quantity? If you say technically you have oil there, the only reason for anyone to go there and dig is if it is in commercial quantity, else, it is a waste of time and money,” he said.

“Some years ago, northern governors came together and said they would explore the possibility of getting oil in the North.

“ It was a good move to jointly look for oil there. I have the record. They thought NNPC was not serious enough about it.

“I wrote a three-page article titled, ‘Ankali, Ankali (be careful)’. I gave them the history of oil search in the Chad basin, the record of failures, how much was spent and how I bought a rig and took it there.

“I advised them to spend the money on education and health instead of spending it on the search.

“A professor from Maiduguri said I was wrong so they continued. I knew it was a chase that would not be fruitful.”

The recent search for crude oil has so far recorded huge losses in human and material resources.

In July, almost 50 members of the NNPC oil exploration team in the Lake Chad Basin were killed in an ambush by Boko Haram terrorists, while some of them were kidnapped.

Three of the abducted persons were shown in a propaganda video released by the terrorists days after the attack.

Following the incident, the NNPC suspended the search in the Lake Chad. However, in September, Maikanti Baru, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, announced the commencement of another search in Sokoto State.

READ ALSO:

Without the PIB Diezani stole billions, with it she would have stolen trillions, says Tam David-West

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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Without the PIB Diezani stole billions, with it she would have stolen trillions, says Tam David-West

Tam David-West, a professor of virology and former Minister of Petroleum and Energy, says if Diezani Allison-Madueke, a former Petrleum Minister, could steal billions of naira from the oil sector without the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), she would have stolen trillions if the bill had been passed at the time.

David-West, who served as Petroleum Minister under Muhammadu Buhari’s military regime between 1984 and 1985, said the PIB may not be the all-round solution to the numerous challenges facing the Nigerian oil sector.

According to him, the bill PIB gives sweeping powers to the Minister of Petroleum Resources who, is also the chairman of the Board of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), as well as imposes more taxes on foreign companies, which would lead them to pull their investment from the country.

“The PIB will make foreign companies investment in oil business in Nigeria difficult,”David-West said in an interview with The Punch.

“The bill is meant to correct the oil industry but there are lots of taxes in it. It will not encourage what we call joint venture partnership.

“The taxes will chase investors away. They may not tell us the truth but the reality is that many oil companies are divesting from Nigeria secretly.

“They are taking their assets out of Nigeria without making a noise about it.

Before now, many oil companies objected to a lot of clauses in it (the Pib). They inject a lot of money into the industry, they pay royalty, they pay taxes and now you want to add more burden on them.

“The PIB has clauses that are burdensome. If you consider the politically unfavourable atmosphere in Nigeria, the electric car issue, alternative source of energy and so on, the future of oil business in Nigeria is in jeopardy.

“We will suffer more because we depend on oil. Nigeria depends only on oil. We only talk about diversification without acting on it.”

David-West expressed surprise at the numerous acts of corruption that was alleged to be carried out by Alison-Madueke during her time as oil minister, adding that with the PIB in place, it could have been worse.

“I know Dieziani very well. She was in Shell before; so I was surprised that she did what she did. How could she enrich herself so much?” he wondered.

“The PIB that was proposed was personalised. It gave the minister more power in the sector and she made sure it was so while she was there.

“If without the PIB, she made billions, with it, she would have stolen trillions.”

As at August this year, the EFCC said that a total of N47.2 Billion and $487.5 Million in cash and properties have been traced to Allison Madueke.

IPOB must be designated a terrorist organisation, Lai Mohammed urges Int’l community

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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IPOB must be designated a terrorist organisation, Lai Mohammed urges Int’l community

Lai Mohammed, Minister for Information and Culture, says the world must designate and treat the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist organisation.

This was contained in an article he authoured which was publish by the Washington Times, a top US newspaper.

In the article, Mohammed listed a number of quoted that were allegedly made by Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the IPOB, arguing that the comments, added to the fact that the group receives huge funding from all over the world, are enough proof to butress his facts.

Some of the alleged comments by Kanu include: “If they fail to give us Biafra, Somalia will look like a paradise compared to what will happen to that ‘zoo’ (Nigeria).

Others are: “I don’t want peaceful actualization (of Biafra)”; “We need guns and we need bullets”; “If they don’t (give us Biafra), they will die.”

Mohammed noted that “public announcement like these puts IPOB’s designation beyond doubt in most jurisdictions”.

“They are a terrorist organization, as ETA was in Spain, the Tamil Tigers was in Sri Lanka, and the PKK is in Turkey (all of whom are proscribed by the U.S. State Department).

“Whilst there is no internationally agreed definition of terrorism, many nations’ characterizations closely correlate. Basic to all of them is this: the calculated threat or use of violence to further a political, religious or ideological cause.”

“Currently, streams of cash come from across the globe to swell the organization’s stockpile of weapons. Yet funding of terrorism is illegal in international law.

“Only with the group’s correct categorization will our international partners be able to halt the financing — and with it, IPOB’s future.”

Mohammed however agrees that “the threat posed by the organization may be low” as the group only commands “little grass-root support in the South East (the region it calls Biafra).”

He noted that all the governors in the region, as well as traditinal and religious leaders, have collectively condemned IPOB’s calls for secession and restated their commitment to the “absolute integrity of Nigeria”.

“Violence, much less terrorism, never solves grievance,” Mohammed wrote further.

“And for that reason, the overwhelming majority of residents in the South-East reject IPOB. They know the ballot box offers the best mechanism for redress.”

The IPOB was first designated terrorists in September 15 by the Nigerian Defence Headquarters, albeit contrary to the terrorism Act.

President Muhammadu Buhari then signed an executive order proscribing the group before leaving for the 72nd United Nations General Assembly in the UK.

This was followed by a court order obtained from the Federal High Court, Abuja, following an exparte motion filed by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.

The order held that the IPOB is now an unlawful organisation in Nigeria and participating in the group’s activities or funding it could attract a 20-year prison sentence.

The order was officially gazetted, fulfilling all the requirements of the law with regards to proscription of an organisation, all in less than one month.

Nevertheless, Russell Brooks, spokesman of the United States embassy in Nigeria, told the media that the US does not recognise the IPOB as a terrorist group, adding, however, that “the United States Government is strongly committed to Nigeria’s unity.”

Kachikwu: My memo to Buhari was misunderstood, Baru and I are working together

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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Kachikwu: My memo to Buhari was misunderstood, Baru and I are working together

Ibe Kachikwu, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, says his memo to President Muhammadu Buhari against Maikanti Baru, Group Managing Director of the NNPC, was largely misunderstood by the press.

Kachikwu explained that the issued he raised in the memo did not border on fraud or corruption but on issues of governance. He stressed that himself and Baru were working together.

Speaking in Owerri, the Imo State capital, at the end of a three-day Nigerian Content Workshop organised by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Kachikwu said Buhari has directed them to move forward and find amicable solutions to the little rift.

“The conversation has been largely misunderstood to bother on fraud. It was not on fraud, but on governance and suggestions on ways to go about it. I think a lot of people got it wrong,” Kachikwu said.

“People dwell much on issues of sensationalism and leave the main substance. The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru, and I are working together as Mr. President had directed to move forward.

“Mr. President has urged the two of us to find ways of working together to remove doubt and rift.

“Mr. President is a decent man and what he wants to achieve in this country is to live a legacy for posterity. He is a sincere leader, so nobody should accuse him of engaging in fraud.”

Kachikwu’s memo to Buhari, in which he alleged acts of insubordination among others against Baru has generated heated controversy.

In the memo, Kachikwu claimed that Baru unilaterally made key appointments into important different departments of the NNPC without recourse to the Board of which he (Kachikwu) is the chairman.

Baru was also accused of approving contract awards without first running them through the board or the minister of State.

But the NNPC issued a counter statement denying all the allegations and insisting that Baru had complied with all laid down rules and regulations in all his dealings as the NNPC boss.

The statement explained that the NNPC act provides that only the approval of the minister, not the minister of state, should be obtained before award of contracts or any other important activity of the corporation.

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