From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
House of Representatives, on Tuesday, grilled major oil marketer, MRS and a consortium of 4 companies,  including Emadeb, Hyde, Jay Maikifi and Brittania-U over the toxic fuel that circulated in the country, recently.
The companies were summoned by by the  House Committee on Petroleum Downstream, over allegations that they were culpable in the importation of the adulterated fuel.
However, the oil marketers, in their different testimonies before the committee, denied having a hand in the importation of the toxic fuel.
Mr  Adebowale Olujimi, who  testified before the panel, on behalf of  Emadeb, Hyde and Jay Maikifi, said the companies had no hand in the importation of the toxic fuel, noting that there are documentary evidence to prove their innocence.
According to him,  “on June 16, 2021, the Consortium members executed a consortium agreement which defined the rotational responsibilities of members, sequential alternate crude lifting/petroleum product delivery and indemnification of other members against liabilities, claims, etc., that may arise during a member’s underperformance or failure to perform under the DSDP contract.
“The Consortium was awarded the DSDP contract on June 22, 2021 by NNPC. The delivery of the Petroleum, product and crude lifting have been done strictly on a rotational basis by the respective consortium members.
“Some of the Consortium members – Emadeb/Hyde and AY Maikifi immediately engaged a reputable international company for delivery of all PMS cargoes and prompt loading of crude oil; while Brittania-U chose to engage a different entity for her own supplies.”
 He added “the other Consortium members — Emadeb/Hyde and AY Maikifi were not privy to the arrangements for the delivery of the aforementioned PMS and documentary evidence relating to the PMS.”
However, the  CEO, Brittania U, Uju Ifejirika, told the lawmakers that  the PMS, the company imported met the specification of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
According to her  “our product came in 4th of January and there is no state that 77 million liters will not finish it in one week. The normal legal position is that when you bring in a cargo and it moves from mother vessel to daughter vessel, custody transfers and at that point, we do not have any legal control over the product. And we have all our certificates.”