Reps begin probe of ‘illegal $2.4bn sale’ of 48m barrels of oil

The house of representatives has commenced an investigation into the whistleblower’s claims that 48 million barrels of Bonny Light crude were illegally sold in China in 2015.

Last week, the lower legislative chamber passed a resolution to probe the alleged illegal sale of the crude oil as well as the insurance status of the cargo, following the adoption of a motion sponsored by Ibrahim Isiaka, lawmaker representing Ifo/Ewekoro federal constituency of Ogun state.

Speaking at the inauguration of the investigative hearing on Thursday, Mark Gbillah, chairman of the ad hoc committee, said the lawmakers will uncover the facts behind allegations which led to the loss of $2.4 billion to the country.

Gbillah said members of the committee will also travel to countries where the whistleblowers reside to get facts on the matter.

“Now the committee takes very seriously issues that have to do with allegations. We owe Nigerians the benefit of the doubt in line with our constitution. We owe them a duty of care to ensure that we unravel the facts of the matter before we start to make any assertions,” he said.

“It is going to be important for us to arrive at the conclusion and provide a substantive report that would be in the records and would determine whether or not these issues transpired and in carrying out our functions, one of the things we are going to need to do would be to interview those  [that] made those allegations.

“Some of them have reached out to the committee alleging threat to their lives. They were intimidated at gunpoint allegedly. So, we will have to travel out of the country — to the United States, Mexico, and China. I believe considering the amount of borrowing our country is subjected to now $2.4 billion is money this country very seriously needs.

“So, it is not something that this house is taking lightly. The leadership of the house is in support of this committee arriving at the truth and the facts of this matter and it shows the seriousness of this house in addressing issues that have to do with the commonwealth of Nigerians.

“Even though these allegations were made about two years ago, you can see that this responsible house of the Nigerian people has still deemed it necessary to look into this matter even as we go about our electioneering campaigns. So, I mentioned the fact that we would have to because of the fears expressed by these individuals, there are other individuals who are in hiding but are reaching out to the committee.”

WHISTLEBLOWERS WILL BE PROTECTED

Gbillah said the identity of those who will provide the committee with information, documents and facts on the matter will be protected.

He asked countries linked to the illegal sale of the crude to volunteer information to help the committee in the investigation.

“We want to assure all the whistleblowers who have revelations to provide to this honourable committee that their information would be treated in the strictest level of confidence as it is done all over the world in other climes. We can receive evidence behind closed doors before we make them public because we too are concerned about spurious and false allegations,” the lawmaker said.

“So, we too want to determine and see the facts behind any such allegations before we bring them to public knowledge because we are a public body saddled with the representation of the Nigerian people, so we have to also do things responsibly.

“We would be appealing to other international partners of Nigeria — the US, Mexican government, and Chinese government to give this committee the cooperation required because we would also necessarily need to also visit some of these countries to obtain the facts behind the matter where these crude oil sales allegedly took place.

According to Gbillah, those who were involved, who claimed they were entitled to some percentage of the amount when these sales took place; are helping the committee by providing the names of some of the individuals who allegedly participated in the matter.

However, he said for the sake of confidentiality and seriousness of the issue, “we might not be able to divulge that information until we obtain the facts”.

“They have told us they have video recordings, photographs of the meetings, documentation to show email trail and discussions and even bank account statements of very highly placed people where these transactions took place. We hope that Nigerians and the media would be very objective in this issue and provide us with the support that is required to carry out this very onerous assignment,” Gbillah said.