A major is brewing in the
House of Representatives Adhoc Committee investigating the alleged
fraud in the award of Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 245 to Malabu Oil
and Gas, with lawmakers from the South-South, poised to thwart moves to
have ex-president Goodluck Jonathan appear before it.
The Razak
Atunwa-led committee had on July 5, written Jonathan to explain his part
in the deal, particularly as his name had been mentioned a number of
times in relation with the matter, which saw the country fraudulently
losing huge revenues.
But the former president is yet to respond to the letter even as the House of Representatives prepares to resume next week.
Signals
that inviting Jonathan would divide the committee along zonal and party
lines came to fore months back as it took the committee two days of
extensive meetings before it could issue the July statement on its
decision to investigate the role played by the ex-president on the award
of OPL 245, which covers a large area of 1,958 square kilometers
including two deep water fields and is reckoned to hold an estimated 9.2
billion barrels of crude oil.
Despite his silence on the
invitation from the committee, Jonathan has rejected claims of guilt on
the Malabu deal through his media aide, Ikechukwu Eze.
Daily Sun
investigations showed that members of the committee, especially those
from the South-South, are unhappy that the committee went ahead to write
the former president, insisting that it was a great embarrassment to
them.
“Whenever we meet, the meeting is going to be contentious
and any attempt to indict the former president may be hotly contested,” a
member of the committee who pleaded anonymity in a follow-up phone chat
revealed.
“You could see a lot of political interests at play
over the issue. Many members will be asking if this was the same
treatment given to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, during the power
sector probe by this same House. They will want to know what has changed
and why Jonathan’s case is different,” a source in the committee told
Daily Sun.
Regardless, Atunwa, in a phone interview with Daily
Sun over the weekend, said members of the committee will decide on the
next line of action with regard to the former president. The lawmaker
had explained before the annual vacation of the National Assembly that
there is a need to bring to a close the probe and that the testimony of
the former president was the only missing item in the report.
“The
committee is going to call for a meeting immediately the House resumes.
The opinions of members is going to shape the committee’s decision on
the matter,” he said.
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