How Babangida, Abacha, Others shared Nigeria’s oil blocks

By Obinna Akukwe
The process of sharing Nigeria’s oil block national cake is as fraudulent now as when Ibrahim Babangida started the process of discretionary allocation of oil blocks to indigenous firms. Discretionary allocation of oil blocks entails that a president can reward a mistress who performs wonderfully with an oil block with capacity for cumulative yield of over $20 billion dollars without recourse to any process outside of manhood attachments. Babangida, Abacha, Abdulsalami and Obasanjo awarded discretionary oil blocks to friends, associates, family members, party chieftains,
security chiefs and all categories of bootlickers, spokespersons and cult members without any laid down procedures.
The recipients of such oil blocks will get funds from ever willing offshore financiers and partners to graciously settle the benefactors, the awarders, facilitators and the Commander-in-Chief through fronts. These settlements mostly paid into foreign accounts runs into hundreds of millions of dollars according to the potential yield of the block. Sometimes, the awarder (sharer of national cake and direct intermediaries) demand additional stakes in the bidding company. The awarder sends fronts as part of the directorship and management of the bidding firms without leaving a link to them. That is how the oil block national cake is distributed to a few Nigerians.
Signature bonuses which are paid when an investor successfully bids, wins and signs agreement with the petroleum ministry, running into tens of millions and sometimes hundreds of millions of naira ,is often waived off. There is actually no waiver; rather a diversion of what would have been paid to government t coffers is paid into private purse as appreciation gifts. That is why those in the Petroleum Ministry dread retirement as though it signifies going to hell fire. No matter how little your influence, something substantial must enter your hands especially in hard
currency. The nation loses billions of dollars in diverted revenue whenever any round of auction occurs.
OML 110 with high yield OBE oil fields was given Cavendish Petroleum owned by Alhaji Mai Daribe, the Borno Patriarch in 1996 by Sanni Abacha. OBE oil field has estimated over 500 million barrels of oil. In layman’s language and using average benchmark of $100 dollars per barrel, translates to $50 billion dollars worth of oil reserve. When you remove the taxes, royalties and sundry duties worth about 60% of the reserve payable over time you get about $20billion dollars worth of oil in the hands of a family.
OPL 246 was awarded to SAPETRO, a company owned by General Theophilus Danjuma, by Sanni Abacha in 1998. Akpo condensate exports about 300,000 barrels of crude daily.
OML 112 and OML 117 were awarded to AMNI International Petroleum Development Company owned by Colonel Sanni Bello in 1999. Sanni Bello is an inlaw to Abdulsalami Abubakar, former Head of State of Nigeria. OML 115, OLDWOK Field and EBOK field was awarded to Alhaji Mohammed Indimi from Niger State. Indimi is an inlaw to former Military President Ibrahim Babangida.
OML 215 is operated by Nor East Petroleum Limited owned by Alhaji Saleh Mohammed Gambo.
OML 108 is operated by Express Petroleum Company Limited is owned by Alhaji Aminu Dantata.
OML II3 allocated to Yinka Folawiyo Pet Ltd is owned by Alhaji W.I. folawiyo ASUOKPU/UMUTU marginal oil fields is operated by Seplat Petroleum. Seplat is owned by Prince Nasiru Ado Bayero, cousin to the Central Bank Governor Lamido
Sanusi. This oil field has the capacity of 300,000 barrels of oil daily. This translates to $30million dollars daily at average benchmark of $100 dollars per barrel. Deducting all sundry taxes, royalties etc , this field can yield $12billion dollars daily for the owners.
Intel owned by Atiku, Yarádua and Ado Bayero has substantial stakes in Nigeria’s oil exploration industry both in Nigeria and Principe and Sao Tome. AMNI owns two oil blocks OML 112 and OML 117 which it runs Afren plc and Vitol
has substantial stakes in oil blocks. Afren plc is operating EBOK oil fields in OML 67. Vitol lifts 300,000 barrels of Nigerian oil daily. Rilwanu Lukman, former OPEC Chairman has stakes in all these named three companies.
OPL 245 was awarded to Malabu Oil& Gas Company by Sanni Abacha. Dan Etete, Abacha’s oil minister owns Malabu Oil. In 2000, Vice President Atiku Abubakar convinced Obasanjo to revoke OPL 245 given to Malabu Oil. Etete had earlier
rejected Atiku’s demand for substantial stakes in the high yield OPL 245 and it attracted the venom of Ota Majesty who revoked the licence. However, in 2006, Obasanjo had mercy on Dan Etete and gave him back his oil block worth over $20
billion dollars.
OPL 289 and OPL 233 was awarded during Obasanjo era to Peter Odili fronts, Cleanwater Consortium, consisting of Clenwater Refinery and RivGas Petroleum and Gas Company. Odili’s brother in law, Okey Ezenwa manages the consortium as
Vice Chairman.
OPL 286 is managed by Focus Energy in partnership with BG Group, a British oil concern. Andy Uba has stakes in Focus Energy and his modus operandi is such that you can never see his name in any listings yet he controls OPL and OML
through proxies.
OPL 291 was awarded to Starcrest Energy Nigeria Limited, owned by Emeka Offor by Obasanjo . Immediately after the award, Starcrest sold the oil block to Addax Petroleum Development Company Limited (ADDAX) Addax paid Sir Emeka Offor a farming fee of $35million dollars and still paid the signature bonus to the government. Emeka Offor still retains stake in ADDAX operations in Nigeria. Mike Adenuga’s Conoil is the oldest indigenous oil exploration industry in Nigeria. Conoil has six oil blocks and exports above 200,000 barrels of crude daily.
The oil block national cake sharing fiesta could take twists according to the mood of the Commander-in –Chief at the particular time. In 2006, Obasanjo revoked OPL 246 which Abacha gave to Danjuma because he refused to support the tenure elongation bid of the Ota Majesty. In 2000, Obasanjo had earlier revoked OPL 241 given to Dan Etete under the advice Atiku. However, when the Obasanjo-Atiku faceoff started, the Ota Majesty made a u-turn and handed back the oil block to Etete.
During the time of Late President Yarádua , a panel headed by Olusegun Ogunjana was set up to investigate the level of transparency in the award of oil blocks. The panel recommended that 25 oil blocks awarded by the Obasanjo be
revoked because the manner they were obtained failed to meet the best practices in the industry. Sadiq Mahmood, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum endorsed the report to then president with all its recommendations. As a result of the report Yarádua revoked eleven oil blocks.
In April 2011 Mike Adenuga attempted to buy Shell’s OML 30 for $1.2 billion dollars. The Minister for Petroleum and Nigeria’s most powerful woman refused the sale of the OML30 to Adenuga citing national interest. This block was later sold to Heritage Oil for $800 million dollars eleven months later.
This oil block business is so lucrative that Danjuma’s Sapetro divested of its investment in Akpo condensate for $1billion dollars. This business is second to none in Nigeria. That is why any attempt to investigate the activities in this sector will always be futile. The money is so much that they give bribes in millions of dollars. A birthday gift or child naming gift from an oil block owner to a government official could be as paltry as $2million dollars, and if the official’s father died, the condolence gift could reach mere $3 million dollars. When they want to bribe
legislators, it is in millions of dollars and any ongoing investigation ends within weeks. They are so confident that with excess money they can buy up Nigeria and they are succeeding.
In the name of competitive bidding, which Obasanjo introduced in 2005, Officials bring companies overnight and through processes best described as secretive and voodooist they award blocks to party faithful, fronts and phoney companies. They collect gratifications running into hundreds of millions of dollars which is paid into offshore account and the nation loses billions of dollars of revenue to private pockets. During the third term agenda, Obasanjo was deceived that the allocation of oil block to party faithfuls is to fund the third term agenda. With the failure of the third term, the beneficiaries went home with their fortunes and thanked God or Allah for buttering their bread. Senator Andy Uba co ordinate the award of the last rounds of oil block by Obasanjo in 2005 and 2007. The then minister of petroleum, Edwin Daukoru was a mere errand boy who took instructions from the presidential aide.
The regime of President Goodluck is not showing any signs of changing the status quo. Controversies have trailed the activities of the Minister of Petroleum and many players in the Industry accuse her of demanding stakes from every oil deal. It is hoped that President Goodluck Jonathan will remember his transformational promise to Nigerians and endeavour to face the hawks in the oil industry. The angst in the air is so much that if this monster of illegal allocation of oil block is not addressed, the much touted revolution could begin all of a sudden and all who
condoned this illegality at the expense of hungry Nigerians may have nowhere to hide.
The religious leaders should tell these oil block beneficiaries, awarders, fronts, brokers and all involved in short changing the Nigerian people to find means or returning all these back to the Nigerian people, through massive development projects. They should curtail their constant visits to Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem for prayers and attend to the poverty they spread in the land. They should build affordable secondary schools, universities, specialist hospitals, roads, silos, etc for the Nigerian people. They should fund talent development programmes and sponsor
activities capable of alleviating poverty. The voice of impoverished Nigerians is crying daily and if care is not taken the God who delivered Nigeria from Abacha dark days will visit them with calamities untold.
With the rot in this oil block awarding system and other loot all over the Nigerian nation, something worse than revolution may happen.
LibertyReport

JFK – Lagos Arik International Flight Passengers’ Bags Looted En-mass

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Dec. 2nd, 2012
Story and photos by Ahaoma Kanu; Sahara

There was pandemonium last Friday at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) when passengers of Arik Airline from New York, United States, discovered that some of their luggage had been tampered with and valuables removed.
Passengers at the E-gate exit were so furious that they almost caused a scene at the airport but for the timely intervention of some custom officials.
After being cancelled on November 20 without compensation to any of the affected passengers, Arik Airline’s Flight W3108 departed John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York at about 7:30pm on November 22, and landed at MMIA at about 4:30am on Friday.
With the air conditioning systems not working, the conveyor belt started moving about 45 minutes later in the baggage claim section, rolling out the bags.
The area is currently undergoing renovation.
The conveyor belt operated fitfully, stopping for a short time on two occasions, and the bags arrived slowly.  It was when one of the passengers raised the alarm that his bag had been tampered with that some others went berserk.
One of the victims of the theft, Mr. Sylvester Mogole, described what happened as a shame.
“They took most of the things in my bag: cell phones, laptops and so on. I don’t really know all that is stolen yet but these ones have been stolen,” he said showing the reporter the torn packet of the Ipad and cell phones.
Another passenger, John Tobo, said he had two bags and discovered one had been tampered with.
“This has been tampered with but my concern is the other bag where I put more valuables, I am yet to get it. This is not fair at all,” he said.
Some of the affected pieces of luggage seemed to have been cut with a razor, going by the sharp cut patterns left on the bags.   Others had their padlocks broken.
As the passengers raised their voices and vented their annoyance, an unidentified member of the Arik staff to whom they complained tried to calm the passengers down before leaving, but it took the intervention of the Custom officials to achieve that.
When contacted on the issue, the Public Relations Officer of Arik, Ola Adebanji, said that he was not aware of the incident but would follow up on the issue.
“Normally when this happens, you report to the office and fill a form and we take it from there. I have not heard about this and will surely look into it. You know that we have a company that handles ground operations for us. Every airline has a handling agent so that when flights come they get the luggage out and put them on the conveyor belt for it to go.  It is a complicated thing because some of these things are not handled directly by the airline. But it is always the airline passengers will come to; they don’t know NAHCO or SAHCOL. It has been a long time I heard this kind of [this kind of] development and we will look into it,” he said.

NewsRescue

VP Sambo Loses Local Government To CPC in Kaduna

By SaharaReporters, New York

Vice President Namadi Sambo yesterday lost his Kaduna North local government area to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the local government elections.
Despite a strong financial base and the political support of the Vice-President’s associates, his candidate, Bala Gogo, lost to an unknown young man in his early 30s, Samaila Suleiman of the CPC.
It would be recalled that in the 2011 general elections, Sambo also lost to the CPC in all the elections, including the presidential contest in which he was the running mate to President Goodluck Jonathan.
Sources in Kaduna who actively participated in the elections said the election confirms that Sambo has no grip of the political terrain of Kaduna and only operates at a level which has no bearing on the ground.
The political balance in Kaduna now means that all State Assembly members, House of Representatives and Senators from Sambo’s local government are of CPC extraction.
The Vice President did not turn up for the elections, as he was said to have been away in London, returning to Abuja just this morning.
The Kaduna State Independent National Electoral Commission is billed to address the press later with comprehensive results and details of yesterday’s elections.

PRESS RELEASE. NASARAWA PDP-LED HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY AND ITS NOXIOUS IMPEACHMENT PLOT.

The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) took notice of the impeachment threat issued to the Nasarawa Governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, by the State House of Assembly on account of the violent crisis in Agyaragu area of the state. This appears to be a well-rehearsed plot, orchestrated by the PDP high command, in furtherance of the political gerrymandering and destabilization agenda of the ruling Party.

Indeed, the Governor showed his determination to tackle the problem when he announced at a state-wide broadcast that: it is, indeed, sad that our state is being made to assume the status of a theatre of a communal violence, this is regrettable and unacceptable. But the State Legislators, urged on by their National Leaders, are committed to bringing the state into unimaginable instability with their legislative impropriety.

As a Party, we are forced to react, through this statement, to the admonition of well-meaning individuals and institutions on the very precipitous path the state Legislators have chosen to tread. The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) queried why the CPC governor was unfairly burdened with a problem that pre-dated his tenure and was not resolved by previous PDP-led Administrations. Truly, on 14^th April, 2000 (under a PDP-led administration), Nasarawa state was thrown into a communal crisis in the Agyragu area because of the location of the local Government Headquarters. Furthermore, under the same PDP-led administration, on 18^th January, 2002, the clash between two communities in the Awe Local Government saw a few fatalities.

What is curious is that there was never any impeachment threat on the previous PDP governors that were helmsmen during the previous dispensations of crisis in the State. What is more, has Nigeria ever been enveloped under the cloud of insecurity as severe as with this PDP-led Federal Government? Yet the President has never been threatened with impeachment because of the intractable insecurity within the Nation-space. But because of the massive majority of the PDP in the Nasarawa House of Assembly, the Legislators have chosen to thread the path of reckless partisanship and legislative indiscretion to resolve a problem of the State. Indeed, this smacks of abuse of legislative priviledge and authority!

As a Party, we strongly believe that a noxious impeachment plot on the state Chief Executive in a time of crisis is fore-boding and disingenuous. On the contrary, this should be the time for greater collaborative efforts between the Executive and the Legislature for the greater good of the people of Nasarawa State. We therefore call on the Legislators to tread with caution.

God bless Nigeria.

Rotimi Fashakin (Engr.)

National Publicity Secretary, CPC.

(Sunday, 02 December, 2012).

 NigerianWorldForum

Shocker: Obasanjo Calls For a Revolution

During a recent conference on youth employment in Dakar, Senegal, former President Olusegun Obasanjo shocked his audience by openly calling for a revolution in Nigeria.

Also, it will be recalled that the former President called Nigerians to come out en masse for a Nigerian type “Arab spring (revolution)” during a workshop on economic diversification and revenue generation in December 2011 at the June 12 Cultural Centre in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Obasanjo’s call was hinged on the prevailing high rate of youth unemployment, which he estimated to be about 72 per cent. If the audience in Dakar was shocked, then the residents of Warri in Delta State were utterly astonished when he commented on President Goodluck Jonathan’s handling of the crisis in the North.
Most Nigerians are unable to understand why and how a former President could incite the people to the path of revolution as a measure to check unemployment.
They become jittery when such comments come from a retired Army general of the calibre and stature of Obasanjo. His insistence on a revolution has become an unpalatable cliché that Nigerians must decipher.
Obasanjo’s statements are more unsettling because he has unrestrained access to Aso Rock to advise and even brief Jonathan on such issues relating to national security.
Also, he has the opportunity to meet Jonathan one-on-one during their monthly National Council of State meetings in Aso Rock. And so why does the former President rage and attempt to pull down what he has helped in building?
Like all human beings, the former President has his own shortcomings. The most prominent of these is his pay-back mentality for any request scorned or denied.
He believes so much in the myth that he is a superhero. As Nigeria’s patron saint, he believes that he is the best President this country ever had.
Today, Obasanjo’s call for a Nigerian type Arab Spring has revealed his short-sightedness.
The Arab Spring or Arab Uprising started in Tunisia on December 18, 2010 when a Tunisian unemployed graduate Mohamed Bouazizi set himself ablaze to protest police corruption and brutality.
The ensuing protest spread throughout Tunisia with increased violence. The result was that the then Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia on January 14, 2011.
The protests spread through North Africa and the Gulf States engulfing Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria. Echoes of the Arab Spring resounded in Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Djibouti, et cetera.
Today the dregs of the Arab Spring are yet to settle. President Hosni Mubarak was forced to flee on February 11, 2011. And till date, Egypt does not have a stable government as Tahrir Square has become a symbol of the peoples’ solidarity.
Even with the democratic election of President Mohammed Morsy of the Moslem Brotherhood, Egypt is as unstable as an ancient blackboard standing on three legs, with the hind leg broken off.
Obasanjo’s call for a revolution because of youth unemployment is misplaced. People like him should not pray for a revolution, not even for their children because revolutions are cataclysmic, destructive and unpredictable. The no-nonsense former President needs some tutorial on revolutions.
In his recent role as the moderator for Bishop Ayo Oritsejafor’s 40th anniversary on the pulpit, he lambasted President Goodluck Jonathan’s weak response to the Boko Haram crisis.
Obasanjo flaunted his genocidal and criminal demolition of Odi in Bayelsa State, where unidentified militants killed 19 soldiers. Some day, he will appear at the War Crime Tribunal at the Hague to answer for heinous crimes against the residents of Odi.
The former President speaks of unemployment, but he has forgotten that he laid a solid foundation for this by wasting $16bn on electricity generation without any impact on Nigeria’s electricity generation and distribution.
At the time he handed over to the late Umaru Yar’Adua, Nigeria’s electricity megawatts was a paltry 2000 for a population of 140 million people while South Africa boasts 50,0000 megawatts for its 45million people.
Industries started folding up and relocating to Ghana during Obasanjo’s government with hundreds of thousands of workers thrown into the unemployment market. He built a personal library in Abeokuta worth N7bn and coerced Nigeria’s richest businessmen, some of who are his business partners, to bank-roll the project which he cunningly named the Presidential Library Project.
What more can we mention now? Is it the pauperisation of Nigerians due to the increase in the price of commodity items like rice, sugar, cement, flour and noodles, which were licensed to only one man to import, or the quarterly increase in the price of petroleum products?
God save Nigeria.
InformationNigeria.org

Traders close down Nnewi market over increase in kidnapping

Traders at the popular Nkwo Nnewi market noted for the sale of motorcycle and parts yesterday closed own the market to protest the menace of kidnapping in the area.
The closure of the market was the final activity marking three days of fasting by the over 15, 000 traders during which they sought God’s intervention over incessant kidnappings in the industrial city.
The prayer was also aimed at making authorities to have a change of heart over the rumoured plan to ban Okada business in Anambra.
Chairman of New Auto Spare Parts Association, NASPA, Mr. Christopher Oboh, who addressed the traders said the recent kidnap of their chairman, Mr. Dozie Akudolu, who had been in captivity for over one month, was giving them serious concern, adding that there were other victims yet to be released by the kidnappers.
According to him, the activities of the hoodlums had instilled fears in the minds of big time businessmen in the market, most of whom, he said. had gone into hiding.
He explained that the issue was having negative effect on their businesses, adding that their customers from far and near had become afraid to come to do business in Nnewi.
 DailyPost

Arsenal chairman suffers heart attack

Arsenal chairman, Peter Hill-Wood, is in hospital recovering, after he suffered a heart attack on Friday.
Hill-Wood, 76, had suffered pneumonia and was taken to hospital, after complaining he was feeling unwell.
“Everyone at Arsenal Football Club sends their support and best wishes to Chairman Peter Hill-Wood who is recovering after suffering a heart attack, following a bout of pneumonia,” an official club statement read.
“Peter was taken ill at home on Friday and is currently being treated in hospital. He is making a good recovery.
“The Club wishes Peter a full and speedy return to health and our thoughts are with him and his family at this time.’
Hill-Wood has been chairman of the club since 1982, and is a former vice-chairman of the Hambros Bank.
 DailyPost