From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has challenged the Federal Government to disclose the identity of the “highly placed” persons it claimed to be aiding and abetting oil theft in Niger Delta.
Obi, in a tweet said he was struck and intrigued by the news report linking “highly placed” Nigerians to oil theft, demanding that the identity of such people be disclosed so that Nigerians can know the people sabotaging and destroying national economy.
“Same has been the case with financing insurgency and Boko Haram. When will the Federal Government summon the political will to publicly name such persons? In the national Interest, there should be no sacred cows.”
Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mele Kyari, told State House Correspondents in Abuja, on Tuesday, that “highly placed” Nigerians, including religious, community leaders and government officials, were fully involved in crude oil theft.
He also alleged that stolen crude oil products were being stored in places of worship such as churches and mosques, even as he lamented that the phenomenon had become widespread, permeating several aspects of society.