BY TheCable
A purchase request initiated, approved and swiftly funded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in 2011 has become a subject of investigation by the security agencies, TheCable understands.
The memo was initiated on October 17, 2011 by Gordon Obua (pictured), the former chief security officer (CSO) to former President Goodluck Jonathan, requesting the president to give approval for the purchase of 40-foot three mobile stages valued at $6.9m.
Same day, Jonathan minuted on the memo to Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum resources, who also got another memo on October 18, 2011 requesting “action”.
In November, an NNPC payment voucher with number 3840336 showed that the money was released without recourse to any known public procurement laws.
NNPC directed that the money should be taken from one of its accounts at Citibank, New York, with sort code CITIUS33 and routing number 021000089.
The fund was first routed from the US bank to an NNPC account in Zenith Bank account number 5000026593, Maitama branch in Abuja.
From there, it was sent to a private account at Sterling Bank with the sum of $6.9 million credited to J. Marine Logistics Limited, Abuja.
Investigators said the company was registered and owned by Obua, and there is no evidence that any mobile stage was bought or delivered at all.
A security source said: “In his memo to the president, Obua said ‘This is regarding my earlier discussion with Your Excellency on the security implication of your public appearances and your subsequent directive on the need to procure a secured presidential platform’.
“President Jonathan approved the request to buy the three stages to Alison-Madueke. In his minute, the president wrote: ‘We have discussed this, please deal’.
“The senior special assistant to the president on administrative matters, Matt Aikhionbere, did another letter on the strength of the president’s approval requesting the Alison-Madueke to take action on the request to purchase the stages for $6.9 million.”
This deal was typical of several transactions in which secret NNPC accounts were used to fund many questionable projects, the source said.
“It was a very common occurrence from our investigations so far,” he said.
“Apart from the fact that the cost for the mobile stages was insanely inflated, according to those who know about mobile stages, there is even no evidence that any stage was bought at all.
“The process of procurement was neither known to extant Nigerian laws and due process regulations, nor were the offices of the auditor-general and the accountant-general in the know.”
The minister of finance and the director-general of the budget office were also unaware of the deal, one of the investigators said.
Meanwhile, Obua, who was recently interrogated by his employers, the Department of State Services (DSS), has not been able to answer questions on the deal, the source added.
Initiating the memo without the knowledge of DSS violated service rules, one of the investigators said.
“It is not the duty or responsibility of the CSO to make the determination on that purchase. He was meant to have informed the service, which will then review the situation and act accordingly,” he said.
Accusations of running secret accounts have been levelled against the NNPC for several years.
Recently, the National Economic Council said whereas the NNPC claimed to have earned about N8.1 trillion in the last two years, it only remitted N4.3 trillion into the federation account during that period, keeping the balance in its several secret accounts around the world.
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