With the events that preceded the 2011 general election, the intrigues, the dirty power plays, the "hit and run" political clime that beclouded the nations only alludes to the despotic and crude way our national affairs were being handled then by the custodians who swore to protect it.
Oil Subsidy: What
Jonathan Knew About
The N1.76trillion
Payment? Information
recently made available
to 247ureports.com
through sources
within the power
corridors of the federal
capital of Nigeria,
Abuja, indicates that
there appear jolting
intricacies laden within
the sudden quantum-
like spike in oil subsidy
payments to select oil
marketers/importers
during the period
immediately
preceeding the
presidential elections
of
April 2011 [February to
April 2011] and the
period immediately
following the said
elections
[April to August 2011]
– which coincided wit
the arrival of Ngozi
Okonjo Iweala as the
Finance Minister for th
Ministry of Finance in
August 17, 2011. A
principal and
knowledgeable source
within the Jonathan
administration
indicates that the
sudden "quantum-
leap" in the payment o
oil subsidy payments
was not a mistake.
"The
President knew about
it" said the source wh
explained that fake
submissions for oil
subsidy payments
were approved and
disbursements were
made – and the monie
were
used towards
financing the
President's election of
2011. On the afternoo
of January 11, 2011,
two days to the
Peoples Democratic
Party [PDP]
presidential primaries
at the Eagles Square in
Abuja, the source,
pointed to the huge
["staggering"] amount
withdrawn from the
Central Bank of Nigeria
[CBN] for "classified"
expenditure. The sum
withdrawn, according
to the source, was in
excess of N150billion.
The money was
withdrawn for use
against the threat
posed by the PDP
opponent
[Abubakar Atiku] to
President Jonathan.
Atiku was said to be in
a critical race against
the
president for
delegates. The
Jonathan campaign
had received
intelligence the Atiku
campaign reached out
to 3000 delegates and
had disbursed the sum
of $3000 to each
delegate in exchange
for their votes [3000
delegates would give
Atiku the victory over
Jonathan]. In reaction,
the Presidency had to
raise immediate 'cash'
to avert what would
appear an
embarrassing loss.
Within 24hours, the
President's campaign
team raised the
booty on Atiku – by
offering each of the
3000 delegates $7000
in exchange for their
votes
– an equivalent total of
$21million
[N3.381billion]. The
$7,000 was paid in
foreign currency
and an additional
amount of N250,000 i
local currency was
handed to each of the
3000
delegates for "hotel
and transport" costs –
equivalent to a total of
N750million. On the
night
of January 13, 2011, o
the day of the PDP
presidential primaries,
the sum of N4.13billion
[N750million +
N3.381billion] was
disbursed by the
Jonathan campaign.
And so victory was
secured. Following the
victory at the Eagles
Square, the President's
campaign re-focused
its attention
to consultations
[taming] with political
groups within the
North who were
unhappy with
Jonathan's candidacy
and believed that
President Jonathan
should have stepped
down for a
northern candidate –
in line with the zoning
agreement previously
reached by the party.
For this, the president'
men made extensive
consultations with
each of the Emirs in
Northern Nigeria and
with other leaders of
thought in the north.
Confidential
information available
to 247ureports.com
reveals that the
consultation exercises,
by the end of January
2011, cost the
President's campaign
an excess of
N500million. The
Jonathan campaign
took an interesting
turn as it entered
February 2011. A fleet
of
private Jets was leased
from four major
carriers -King Airlines,
Wings Aviation, Top
Brazz
and Overland – for use
towards the national
campaign. The normal
charge for per hour of
each aircraft was
$6000 per hour – and
the Jets operated at 70
hours per week. The
Jonathan campaign
paid the rate of
$10,000 per hour - for
the period of 10weeks
–
equating to an amount
of N100million daily –
totaling to an
equivalent of
N10.5billion for the
said period. Then came
the February 14, 2011
billionaires meeting
where the 28-member
Presidential
Campaign Council [PCC]
was set up at the Eko
Hotel in Lagos. The
billionaires consisted
of
Aliko Dangote, Otedola,
Adenuga, Elumelu,
Jimoh Ibrahim, Emeka
Offor, Kasim Bukar,
Sayyu
Dantata, Jim Ovia and
others. And as the PCC
which was primarily
tasked with raising
funds
for the campaign
began work in
February of 2011, the
oil subsidy requests fo
payment
also began to
experience a quantum
leap from the
budgeted N245billion
to N1.7trillion.
Interestingly, the
Petroleum Resources
Minister, Mrs Allison
Madueke and the
Finance
Minister, Mrs Okonjo
Iweala while testifying
before the House of
Representative
Committee
investigating the Oil
Subsidy funds
management indicated
that the amount
disbursed as at
February 2011 was
N245billion – and that
begining from March
2011 the amounts
submitted for approval
suddenly surged.
Explaining the surge,
the source pointed to
the personalities
within the 28-member
billionaire PCC as
directly responsible for
the surge from
N245billion to
N1.7trillion.
According to the
source, shortly
following the
formation of the PCC,
Sayyu Dantata, a
member, through his
company, MRS Oil
submitted a
N225billion oil subsidy
request for
payment, Femi Otedola,
through his company,
AP, submitted a
N105billion oil subsidy
request for payment, a
'mysterious'
construction company
by the name Pinnacle
Construction also
submitted a claim for
N300billion – during
the same period. It wa
during the same
period that Stella Odua
Ogiemwonyi who was
one of the leaders in
the Jonathan campaig
organization filed a
claim that she had
spent her own
personal
money to the tuned of
N5billion – for the
maintenance of the
campaign secretariat.
Stella
Odua Ogiemwonyi is
the Chief Executive
Officer of Sea
Petroleum and Gas.
Interestingly, her
company submitted
claims for oil subsidy
payments in excess of
N5billion. Her claim
was
approved and paid.
Cursory inquiry
confirms that a
significant percentage
of the claims submitte
by the
members of the PCC
were fraudulent. The
fraudulent oil subsidy
claims freed the
President's
ability to spend in a
manner deemed
unprecedented by
informed experts. On
March 16, 2011, the
campaign released
N55million to a media
company [name
withheld]
for a single
advertisement slot. By
March 31, 2011, the
campaign paid
N7.3billion in
advertisements. On
March 28, 2011, it
donated one car and
one bus to each of the
36
chapters around the
country and the FCT –
along with a cash
donation of N14million
to each
chapter [totaling
N518million]. In
monetary terms, its
equates to a little over
N1billion.
Between April 12 and
April 15, 2011, the
campaign disbursed
N107billion. When
approached regarding
the sourceof the
exobitant spending,
the Director of the
Neighbor to Neighbor
Initiative [the main
NGO funding and
managing the
Jonathan
campaign], Mr. Mike
Omeri stated the
donations came from
online contributors.
Comparing the yearly
trendings of the oil
subsidy claims
submitted from 2006
to 2011,
highlights the anomaly
in the oil subsidy
claims between March
2011 and August
2011. In
2006, subsidy claims
was submitted for
26.9million liters of
petrol for the amount
N200billion, in 2008,
subsidy claims was
submitted for
33.4million liters of
petrol for the
amount N630billion,
and for 2010, subsidy
claims was submitted
for less than 33million
liters of petrol for a
little over N600billion.
And so it begs the
question, What the
President knew about
the N1.76trillion
subsidy
payment.
No comments:
Post a Comment