Buhari Approved N640 Billion Oil Contracts From His Sick Bed In London, NNPC Chief Baru Indicates
Buhari Approved N640 Billion
Oil Contracts From His Sick Bed In London, NNPC Chief Baru Indicates
President Muhammadu Buhari in one of his trips.
President
Muhammadu Buhari was granting approvals for oil deals to the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation during the time he was on his sick bed in London
– and when he had relinquished presidential powers to his Vice President – the
head, Maikanti Baru, has indicated.
Mr. Baru
said Mr. Buhari approved at least two separate oil contracts on July 10 and
July 31 worth $1 billion and $780 million, respectively.
The N640.8
billion contracts (at N360/$ exchange rate) were approved when Mr. Buhari was
receiving treatment for undisclosed ailments in London, and when he was not
supposed to be exercising presidential powers, having named Vice President Yemi
Osinbajo acting president in a formal correspondence to the National Assembly.
Mr. Buhari
was flown
to London on May 7, barely two months after he returned from his first 2017
medical vacation which saw him spend 50
days in the United Kingdom.
On May 9, a
letter Mr. Buhari wrote to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and
President of the Senate notifying
them that he had relinquished presidential authorities in accordance
with the Nigerian Constitution was read on the floor of both chambers.
Despite
rumours of his early return, Mr. Buhari ultimately spent 103 days receiving
treatment in London, returning
on August 19.
On August
21, the president notified the
National Assembly of his return in writing, saying he had “resumed”
his “functions as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with effect
from Monday, 21st August, 2017.”
THE
CONTRACTS
But on
Monday, Mr. Baru revealed that Mr. Buhari had been exercising presidential
powers by granting approvals for NNPC joint venture contracts when he was
supposedly on his sickbed and not exercising presidential powers.
Mr. Baru
gave details of the contracts as follows:
Search:
|
S/N
|
PROJECT
|
Amount
(US$mn)
|
APPROVALS
|
|
LOAN
EXECUTED BY
|
|
NTB
|
PRESIDENTIAL
|
||||
|
1.
|
NNPC/CNL
JV Project Cheetah
|
1200
|
16/04/15
|
01/09/15
|
Dr. E. I.
Kachikwu
|
|
2.
|
NNPC/CNL
JV Project Falcon
|
780
|
26/04/17
|
31/07/17
|
Dr. M. K.
Baru
|
|
3.
|
NNPC/SPDC
JV Project Santolina
|
1000
|
26/04/17
|
10/07/17
|
Dr. M. K.
Baru
|
|
TOTAL
|
2980
|
Showing 1 to
5 of 5 entries
(CNL refers to Chevron Nigeria Limited, SPDC to Shell Petroleum Development Company and JV to Joint Venture).
The disclosures
were made when the NNPC responded – on behalf of Mr. Baru – to the
allegations of contract fraud and insubordination raised by Ibe Kachikwu.
Mr.
Kachikwu, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, had in an
August 30 memo to Mr. Buhari said Mr. Baru unilaterally approved
contracts without recourse to him or the NNPC board, amongst other concerns.
The memo surfaced on social media on October 3, sending ripples through the
country’s polity.
On October
9, the NNPC responded to Mr. Kachikwu’s allegations by publishing the above
contract details, which it said was at the instance of Mr. Buhari, who
had kept
mum since the scandal broke.
But a look
at the dates of the three contracts shows that two of them received
presidential approval on dates Mr. Buhari was not in the country, July 31
for the second contract with Chevron Nigeria and July 10 for the contract with
Shell. Mr. Baru’s name was placed against the contracts as the person who
administered the contract in his capacity as the Group Managing Director of the
NNPC.
Only the
September 1, 2015, contract which Mr. Kachikwu oversaw during his tenure as the
GMD of NNPC received presidential approval on a date Mr. Buhari was in the
country and wielding presidential powers.
A compilation of
Mr. Buhari’s travels reveals that he was in the country from early August 2015
when he returned from Cotonou until September
7 when he visited Accra.
But while it
is clear that the presidential approval granted when Mr. Kachikwu was the head
of NNPC happened when Mr. Buhari was exercising presidential powers; it appeared
like Mr. Baru received his approval when Mr. Buhari was in London.
GETTING
OSINBAJO’S CONSENT
In his memo
to Mr. Buhari, Mr. Kachikwu stated that when Mr. Buhari was unwell in London
for several months between May and August, Mr. Baru tried to get direct
approval from Acting President Osinbajo for some personnel changes at the NNPC.
But Mr.
Osinbajo asked Mr. Baru to go back to Mr. Kachikwu and get his input and
approval first before making the changes. Mr. Baru refused to consult Mr.
Kachikwu on that.
For weeks,
the changes were not made, until Mr. Buhari returned on August 19. By August
29, Mr. Baru announced the changes.
This
prompted Mr. Kachikwu’s letter to the president on August 30, complaining that
he learnt of the development in the media.
Sources at
the presidency corroborated Mr. Kachikwu’s claim that Mr. Osinbajo rebuffed Mr.
Baru’s attempts to get presidential approval behind Mr. Kachikwu.
Neither the
vice president’s office nor Mr. Baru also denied that claim by Mr. Kachikwu.
It is not
immediately clear if Mr. Baru also attempted to get approval for the
multi-billion dollar contracts from Mr. Osinbajo. But presidency sources said
it was unlikely that Mr. Osinbajo, who did not allow Mr. Baru to make personnel
changes, would allow the NNPC GMD to circumvent Mr. Kachikwu with such
high-profile contracts.
Ndu
Ughamadu, spokesperson for the NNPC, would not confirm or deny if Mr. Baru got
the approval from Mr. Buhari in London.
“Presidential
approval is presidential approval,” Mr. Ughamadu said.
When PREMIUM
TIMES reminded him of potential legal implications of Mr. Buhari exercising
presidential powers even when he had relinquished same in accordance with the
constitution, Mr. Ughamadu dug his heels in.
“Presidential
approval is presidential approval,” the spokesperson insisted.
For several
hours on Tuesday, presidential spokespersons Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, did
not respond to PREMIUM TIMES’ requests seeking their comments about this and
other problematic parts of the NNPC revelations.
Sola Adebawo,
Director of Communications at Chevron, did not immediately respond to PREMIUM
TIMES’ requests for comments Tuesday evening. His counterpart at Shell Nigeria,
Bamidele Odugbesan, simply told PREMIUM TIMES to “direct enquiries to relevant
government authorities.”
Yet, the
N640.8 billion oil contracts might not be the only one Mr. Baru got Mr. Buhari
to approve while he was still unwell in London.
For
instance, the
NNPC announced on February 2 that it received 128 bids from local and
international firms willing to participate in its
2017-2018 Direct-Sale–Direct-Purchase crude programme, which was
adopted by the Buhari administration last year to replace the crude oil swap
initiative and the offshore processing arrangement.
Mr. Buhari
was not around in on February 2 when the announcement was made, having been
flown to London on January 19 for his first medical trip of the year. He didn’t
return to the country until March.
On May 19,
when NNPC sources told Daily Trust and a few other media houses that it had
finally entered into a
$6 billion deal with 10 companies for 2017-2018 edition of DSDP
contracts, Mr. Buhari was also not in the country.
The NNPC
spokesperson declined comments about DSDP contracts.
LEGAL
EXPERT WEIGHS IN
Mr. Kachikwu
previously doubled as the Minister of State for Petroleum and GMD of NNPC
until he
was relieved of the latter post by Mr. Buhari on June 4,
2016, same day Mr. Baru was named as a replacement.
When Mr. Buhari
named Mr. Baru the GMD, he made Mr. Kachikwu the chairman of the
NNPC board.
The NNPC Act
designates the board to oversee the affairs of the state-owned oil giant.
The Act
states that the Minister of Petroleum must be the chairman of the NNPC
board. Mr. Buhari is the substantive Minister of Petroleum. But he is
allowed by the NNPC law to delegate powers, including chairmanship of the
board.
However, the law also allows Mr. Buhari to act concurrently as the chairman of NNPC board even while the appointment of the person he delegated powers to is still valid.
However, the law also allows Mr. Buhari to act concurrently as the chairman of NNPC board even while the appointment of the person he delegated powers to is still valid.
Legal
analyst, Liborous Oshoma, said the president’s action may be “unprocedural” but
might not be entirely illegal.”
“This is
similar to what we have witnessed since the president was away yet he was still
issuing presidential statements and taking calls from President Donald Trump
and other presidents to discuss matters concerning Nigeria.
“All that
happened despite the fact that we had an acting president in place and
Nigerians raised concerns at the time,” Mr. Oshoma said.
He said Mr.
Buhari might not be in a good state of mind when the presidential approvals
were procured and their validity could be challenged in court.
“The
contracts could be challenged and possibly rendered invalid by the courts
because he didn’t have presidential powers at the time he was exercising
same,” Mr. Oshoma added.
“The acting
president ought to have approved those contracts because no one knew what state
of mind the president was at the time.”