TheCable

The Civil Society Groups for Good Governance (CSGGG) says some “unpatriotic” people are peddling unsubstantiated allegations against the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, Dominic Ogakwu, the coalition’s president, said the allegations are a ploy to push Mele Kyari, NNPC’s group chief executive officer, out of office.

Ogakwu said the claim that pipeline surveillance contracts are being awarded to a “northern cabal” is false.

“Peddling gross misinformation and unsubstantiated allegations on oil pipeline rehabilitation as well as surveillance contracts has now been adopted as a weapon of choice in the hands of these unpatriotic elements,” he said.

“It is obvious to all well-meaning Nigerians that some wolves are expending a lot of negative energies to discredit the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Limited, Mallam Mele Kyari, in order to push him out of office and have unfettered access to seize and manipulate state resources to their personal advantage.

“The recent attempts are not new and amount to red herring when there is absolutely no need or iota of facts about the allegations.

“The claim of quietly awarding the control of Nigeria’s pipelines to a Northern oil cabal is not only fallacious, figment of the writers and their sponsors’ imagination but cowardly, and begs the question.”

He said there have been public notices since Kyari assumed office as the executive officer of NNPC.

“Each bidding company has been subjected to a competitive tender selection process as guided by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission and a transaction advisor,” Ogakwu said.

“These regulatory institutions had to also work with the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and the Ministry of Justice in the project development and evaluation exercise.

“So, it stands against reasoning that after such a rigorous process, anything untoward will be suggested by any rational mind.

“Pipeline surveillance is not a tea party as recent events have shown. Therefore, being an ex-militant is not enough qualification to be awarded such a critical task.

“The priority of NNPC Limited is to ensure a safe and secure oil infrastructure and functional pipeline corridor to sustainably deliver national production targets.”

The coalition’s president said those behind the allegations must stop and not undermine the efforts of the administration of President Bola Tinubu.