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From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, has been exonerated from oil bunkering and $170 million bribe scandals.
A group had accused Ogalla of crude oil theft, contract splitting, procurement fraud, and corruption practices.
But a Human Rights Lawyer, Osuagwu Ugochukwu, at a press briefing yesterday in Abuja, described the petition as “frivolous and uncharitable.”
Ugochukwu argued that it was not the responsibility of Nigerian Navy to award oil-related contract as bandied by the petitioner, clarifying that the onus was with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
According to him, the accuser failed to proof that the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) accepted over $170 million in bribes or related sums as well as alleged involvement in multi-billion-naira contract splitting fraud.
“We have painstakingly looked through the publication in line with extant best practices and existing laws. However, after investigation we found the petition/publication as lacking in merit for the below reasons:
“The Nigerian Navy does not award oil related contracts. These are within the vires and competence of the NNPCL or Ministry of Petroleum.
“There is no single proof that the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) accepted over $170 million in bribes or related sums as well as alleged involvement in multi-billion-naira contract splitting fraud.
“The claim that the Chief of Naval Staff awarded 30 contracts in November 2023 is bereft of facts. For instance, in the 2023 Appropriation Act only 26 Contracts/projects were budgeted for the Nigerian Navy. Nine were ongoing projects which preceded the Chief of Naval staff.
Only 17 are new projects/contracts budgeted for in 2023. A look at these contracts. projects/Contracts show that none of them are Oil related
“Further a look at the publication shows that no Bank account details were provided where these sums were allegedly paid into nor details of any company operated by or related to the CNS provided as having received these sums nor beneficiaries of the so called contracts.
“On the issue of Motor Tanker PRAISEL, on 2 August 2023, a Private Pipeline Surveillance Firm claiming to act on intelligence alleged that the vessel was laden with stolen crude oil and thereafter approached an element of Operation Delta State to board the vessel in order to verify the alleged stolen product.
“Accordingly, the NN directed the vessel to Forward Operating Base ESCRAVOS anchorage for further investigation of the product on board,” he said.
Also, he argued that the samples of the product on board MT PRAISEL were collected on Thursday 3 August 2023 by 5 agencies “including NNPCL, NMDPRA and the Private Surveillance Firm in line with laid procedures for laboratory test and verification of the claim.”
