– The minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has replied Emir Sanusi regarding his role in the controversial leaked letter
– Militants have blown up Chevron oil facility
– The militant group has threatened to take their attacks to Lagos and Abuja
– Power supply crisis is feared following the militants attack in Delta state
– The EFCC is currently grilling ex-Jonathan’s ministers and a state PDP chairman
Rotimi Amae hi was accused of leaking a special letter sent to Goodluck Jonathan.
Nigeria’s major dailies for Friday, May 6, have their stories centred around the rift between Rotimi Amaechi and former CBN Governor (now Emir of Kano) Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. They also throw some light on the troubling re-emergence of attacks on oil installations in the country.
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Daily Sun reports that former governor of Rivers state and Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, yesterday, gave insight into his role in the controversial leaked letter, written by the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi to former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
Then CBN governor (now Emir of Kano) had in 2013 written to Jonathan over the non-remittance of $49.8 billion from oil sale to the federation account.
The letter was later referred to by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in one of his many open letters to Jonathan, a development which pitted Jonathan against then CBN governor. Sanusi said Jonathan told him to find who leaked the letter or resign.
Amaechi had been accused of leaking the letter, ostensibly to even political scores with Jonathan.
But a press statement issued by the minister’s media office, Abuja explained Amaechi’s role in the saga: “He was propelled by his patriotic zeal to put Nigeria first, do what is in the best interest of the nation and Nigerians, and stop the bleeding and sucking of our collective resources by a tiny few,” it said.
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The Minister claimed that a concerned Nigerian, who was worried about what was happening in the country, gave him a copy of Sanusi’s letter, in his capacity as the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF).
The statement said: “Our attention has been drawn to reports in the media that tends to infer and/ or suggest that immediate past governor of Rivers state and now Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi surreptitiously and clandestinely ‘leaked’ a letter written by former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor and now Emir of Kano, Sanusi Muhammad 11 to then President Goodluck Jonathan on the non-remittance of $49.8 billion from oil sale to the federation account.
“This is further from the truth and what exactly transpired as regards Amaechi’s involvement in that Sanusi letter. Like Amaechi, we should appreciate that concerned Nigerian’s patriotism.”
The statement said when Amaechi got the letter, he spoke with Sanusi who was still the CBN governor to confirm its authenticity.
According to The Guarddian, Militants in the Niger Delta yesterday blew up the Chevron Valve Platform located on the high sea near Escravos in Warri, Delta state in a renewed attack on oil installations in the country.
The attack is another setback to the nation’s oil and gas production sector, even as the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) is still working to restore the Forcados export terminals after a similar attack two months ago.
Nigerian Navy spokesperson, Chris Ezekobe, who confirmed the incident yesterday, said the attack occurred about 40 nautical miles from the Escravos terminal, around the city of Warri.
Ezekobe said he was yet to know which militant group was responsible and there were no immediate details of any casualties.
The development may further reduce the nation’s oil and gas output. But Chevron is yet to confirm if production has been halted at Escravos and how much of the process is affected.
A source at Chevron who confirmed the attack said that the company is working on a public statement, which was not ready as at press time.
It was learnt that the facility was completely destroyed with the use of a dynamite.
The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), a new militant group, has claimed responsibility for the attack, warning that the deployment of soldiers in the region would not deter them from carrying out further attacks.
NDA threatened not to relent until it cripples the nation’s economy.
A statement by the group’s spokesman, Madoch Agbinibo, noted: “The high command of the Niger Delta Avengers wants to use this medium to thank Strike Team 6 for successfully blowing up the Chevron Valve Platform. And we are ready to protect the Niger Delta people.
“This is what we promised the Nigerian government. Since they refused to listen to us we are going to zero the economy of the country.
“As for zeroing the Nigerian economy, the Niger Delta Avengers is done with the Niger Delta major oil installations. Now, we are taking the fight out of the creeks of the Niger Delta. We are taking it to Abuja and Lagos now,” he said.
In the same vein, fears that power supply may get worse were rife yesterday after Wednesday’s bombing of a Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) major valve platform around Escravos in Warri SouthWest Local Government Area of Delta state, reports The Nation.
Although the full import of the Escravos bombing has not been determined, Vice President Yemi Osibajo said after the damage of Shell’s Forcados export terminal pipeline and the vandalism of the Lagos Escravos pipeline in February that the sabotage resulted in the shortage of 3,132 megawatts (MW).
Speaking during the ninth international conference of Nigeria Association of Energy Economics/International Association of Energy Economists (NAEE/IAEE) in Abuja, he said: “the incident on the pipelines has cut gas supply to power plants in the Western Axis, such as Egbin, Omotosho 1, Olorinsogo 1, Ughelli, Omotosho NIPP and Olorunsogo NIPP leading to 3,132MW being constrained.”
Inadequate gas supply, blamed on vandalism of gas pipelines, has been the bane of the power sector. Power generation in the last one year has been so unstable, ranging from a high of 5,000Megawatts a few months ago to a low of about 1,455Megawatts.
Generation levels of 2400megawatts and about 4,1050 have been variously recorded, but were never sustained due to unstable gas supply to the power generating plants.
The Vice President travelled to Forcados to ginger up work on the platform. President Muhammadu Buhari declared that breaking of pipelines and oil platforms will henceforth be treated as economic sabotage.
Speaking to Nigerians resident in China during his state visit, the President said: “The government is still being dared, but those who are sensible should have learnt a lesson. Those who are mad, let them continue in their madness.
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“I am aware that in the last two weeks, the national grid collapsed a number of times. I hope this message will reach the vandals and saboteurs who are blowing up pipelines and installations. We will deal with them the way we dealt with Boko Haram.”
In another development, The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday and Thursday embarked on a mass arrest of individuals believed to have received part of the $115m (N23bn) disbursed by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, through Fidelity Bank PLC, The Punch reports.
The money, according to the EFCC, was meant to bribe officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission to manipulate the results of the 2015 presidential election.
Some of the people invited and grilled by the EFCC included Senator Chris Anyanwu and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Mike Ahamba (N700m); a former Minister of Foreign Affairs in the last dispensation, Amb. Aminu Wali (N950m); and a former Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Dr Nurudeen Muhammad (N500m).
Others included the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Cross River state, Mr Ntufam Okon (N500m), and INEC officials in Kano and Jigawa states.
An impeccable EFCC source alleged that Wali and Muhammad received money on behalf of their respective states.
In the same vein, Vanguard reports that the two PDP leaders were reportedly invited to the Enugu Office of the EFCC on Wednesday and questioned by the operatives on the said fund but granted administrative bail and asked to report back the following day for further investigation.
A top source in the commission said that the two politicians, who were working for the PDP, at the time, received the N700 million from the Ikenegbu Layout branch of Fidelity Bank, Owerri.
The EFCC had, last week, arrested the bank chief executive who is now relieved of his post, for not reporting the receipt of the huge cash of $115 million from four oil companies and Diezani, to the commission as required by law.
But the bank has denied the claim, saying that the amount was duly reported to the Nigerian Financial and Intelligence Unit, NFIU.
In sports, The Reds have cruised into the finals of the Europa League. Complete Sports reports that this was courtesy of their 3-1 aggregate victory over 10-man Villarreal at Anfied. The Reds will get to face Sevilla Fc in the finals at Basel in Switzerland come Saturday, May 21.
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