SPECIAL REPORT:

YA’ADUA: WHAT MANNER OF “ZERO TOLERANCE ON CORRUPTION”?

During President Yar’ Adua’s trip to the US in December, he was asked to speak at an event held at the US Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The event was hosted by the American Chambers of Commerce and attended by prominent US businessmen and public officials. Yar’Adua forcefully stated. “One of the areas we are going to clean now is the national oil company, NNPC’. He further commented “ In Nigeria, it has not been transparent, and it is one of the most difficult agencies of government to tackle because of the vested interest of very powerful people in the country. But we are determined, knowing that when you break that up, it will help bring other agencies and ministries in line. NNPC will operate like any other company in the private sector and source for funds for its joint venture operations from the capital market. With such funds, investors would protect their money and ensure transparency. We will then deploy what we have saved from that to social sectors like education and health,” the President said.

“So it is a long drawn process and a very hard battle. But the important thing is that when you fight such battles, you succeed when the majority of the citizens are with you. On this fight, we will succeed because Nigerians want corruption stamped out of their system,” the President stressed. While responding to questions from the audience, “Yar’Adua reaffirmed his administration’s zero tolerance for corruption, but stressed that its campaign against corruption goes hand in hand with the determination to ensure respect for the rule of law”.

“What I have done is to give the anti-corruption agencies like EFCC, ICPC and the Code of Conduct Bureau, the full support of government and total independence to act on any cases of corruption,” President Yar’ Adua further declared. “This is an extremely difficult challenge, but we are following it and we are making sure that the opportunities to be corrupt are checked. We are going to expand the horizon of the war against corruption beyond the activities of agencies like the EFCC and ICPC to the complete reformation of key institutions like the Nigerian Police Force”.

“When we reform the police, then we can get the judiciary to reform itself because I am insisting that the rule of law must be supreme, and that every judgment of the law court must be respected and obeyed “.

“The challenge is that where you have a corrupt system you find that even the judiciary is affected. It is not excluded. The serious challenge that we will have is to get a corruption-free judiciary because the rule of law can best be anchored on a corruption-free judiciary”, the president stated.

Yar’Adua told his audience “ the government had given the anti-corruption agencies a free hand to act and that they are being encouraged to appeal corrupt court judgments at higher courts in order to vacate the flawed ruling passed down by the lower court”

“By doing that,” he explained, “they would have set a precedence such that this kind of action can never happen in the lower court again, because if you say you don’t want to obey a court order because you believe it is corruptly procured, you are destroying a system and it doesn’t help your cause or are you accommodating the NNPC’s vested interest of the very powerful people in the country”?

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If these declarations by President Yar’ Adua are sincere, why have the EFCC and the ICPC failed to investigate the Gulf-Petro vs NNPC bribery of a panel of international arbitrators? PBN has published enough confirmed evidence that can easily convict all of the fraudsters, but has not been contacted by the EFCC or the ICPC. Is this because “In Nigeria, the NNPC has not been transparent, and it is one of the most difficult agencies of government to tackle, because of the “vested interest of very powerful people in the country“?

Is President Yar’ Adua under the influence of t hese “very powerful people in the country”? Are they the reason he failed to push this case to either be settled or prosecuted? Is President Yar’ Adua afraid that an investigation would confirm the guilt of these “very powerful people”? President Yar’ Adua knows the answer. Be advised that PBN will agree to publish any news confirming the investigation and prosecution of the Gulf-Petrec vs NNPC case and any other case that will confirm that your intentions are not just “lip action” but sincere in an effort to prove your “zero tolerance on corruption” is not just another false promise by a corrupt self-serving President of Nigeria. The Gulf-Petrec case evidences bribery by NNPC officials that have caused damages of several billion dollars more than the Willbros bribery fiasco. The Gulf-Petrec case is likely to exceed $ 5 billion dollars in penalizing damages against the NNPC if prosecuted in Texas.

Sources close to President Yar’ Adua have confirmed to PBN that the President is aware that the Gulf-Petrec vs Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) US Court case is presently being decided by the US 5 th Circuit Court of Appeals in the United States. These sources also confirm that he also aware that there are volumes of evidence alleging bribery and fraud against Chief Sena Anthony, the Group General Manager, Corporate Legal and Secretariat of the NNPC and Nigerian Statesman Prince Bola Ajibola and the NNPC and others..

Sources confirm that the President is additionally aware of the allegation that $50 million dollars was allocated by Obasanjo to pay bribes to three international arbitrators, Andrew Berkeley, Ian Meakin of the UK and Professor Hans Van Houtte of Belgium, for them to corrupt the Gulf-Petrec vs NNPC arbitration and provide a final award in favor of the NNPC. PBN believes that an allegation of $50 million dollars being allocated to commit fraud is certainly consequential and should demand a thorough investigation by the EFCC, ICPC and/or the Code of Conduct Bureau.

For some unknown reason, President Yar’ Adua has avoided authorizing the EFCC, ICPC and/or the Code of Conduct Bureau to investigate this case as part of his “Zero Tolerance on Corruption”. Since President Yar’ Adua’s continues to break his promises to the people of Nigeria to investigate such allegations, PBN is focusing on his breach of promises. Again, is it possible that these individuals are just too powerful even for the President of Nigeria to prosecute? President Yar’ Adua owes the people of Nigeria an investigation where allegations are made that can be confirmed by hard evidence that will either confirm or dismiss the corruption and conspiracy allegations against anyone accused of such crimes. In this instance, an investigation would confirm or dismiss the allegations against the NNPC, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Sena Anthony and Prince Bola Ajibola as well as other Nigerian conspirators named in the court records. .

Historically, the nucleus of corruption in Nigeria, come from business dealings within the NNPC. Thus, in an effort to show good faith and worthy intentions, the NNPC should be “President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s primary focal point of his war against corruption” and zero tolerance. Corruption is deservedly synonymous with Nigeria and its appendage, the NNPC. Not a week passes that some newspaper is reporting another act of corruption connected to the NNPC and/ or one of its officials.

The world business community also views the NNPC as the nucleus of corruption in Nigeria. If NNPC officials are not receiving bribes for approving contracts, they are paying bribes in an effort to corrupt arbitrations evolving from disputes caused by the NNPC’s breaching of contracts. Many of these breaches are caused by parties to these contracts refusing to pay bribes to NNPC officials connected to their particular joint venture project.

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The majority of NNPC Joint Venture Agreements contain arbitration clauses for the settlement of disputes caused by a breach of the agreement by either party. Arbitration is the heart and soul of security for foreign investors and their only option for a fair resolution of a dispute. No competent resolution for a dispute means, no capital market for outside investment. NNPC must correct this image or Nigeria will continue to face dim prospects for securing outside financing from the world capital market, as proposed by President Yar’ Adua.

The Oil Industry in third world countries such as Nigeria is a dirty business because, unlimited oil resources mean unlimited income and unlimited opportunities for power brokers in these countries to direct the proceeds from the flow of oil into their own pockets for their own personal enrichment.

President Yar’ Adua is unrealistic to think that there is any likelihood that international investors will consider an investment opportunity in Nigeria until the corruption in the NNPC is cleaned up and the media can focus on the results of his idealistic proclamation of “cleaning up the corruption at the NNPC”. Furthermore, until court cases such as the Gulf-Petrec vs the NNNPC, laced with allegations of bribery and corruption of an international arbitration by the NNPC, is resolved, it is not likely that there will be any source of funds from the “capital market” for the NNPC’s joint venture operations. President Yar’ Adua must be made aware that Gulf-Petro Trading Company and Petrec International, known collectively as Gulf-Petrec, are both US companies based in President Bush’s home State of Texas.

The bribery of arbitrators destroys the confidence needed by investors to venture across their borders and do business with companies such as NNPC. President Yar’ Adua must face this fact and make an effort to remove the garbage left behind by the Obasanjo regime. The Gulf-Petrec vs NNPC case is a big part of this garbage and one of the many cases pending caused by the corruption fashioned by the NNPC and the old Obasanjo regime. If he chooses to ignore these outstanding obstacles, Nigeria must forget experienced outside investors.

The declarations by President Yar’ Adua, published in the recent newspaper articles, are convincing. Obviously, they come from a man that is charged with the power to perform these tasks as the President of Nigeria. Until he fulfills these duties, he will be just another Nigerian President that has made promises, but that has avoided expanding the horizon on the war on corruption. Lets hope Yar’ Adua is the exception and proves his “zero tolerance on corruption” is not just another false promise from a politician.

It will be interesting to observe if President Yar’Adua is avoiding investigating, prosecuting or settling the Gulf-Petrec case. Is failing to investigate the evidence of an alleged corruption by the NNPC worth losing $ 6 billion dollars of Nigeria’s money, even if it offends the vested interest of very powerful people in Nigeria?

Is the bribery of a panel of arbitrators in the Gulf-Petrec vs NNPC case an exception to President Yar’Adua declaration that a “flawed ruling”, corruptly procured, is destroying the system”?