Revelations have emerged how former Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike,\u00a0 cornered a whopping $300million which was an out of court settlement over the oil spillage from the operation of Oil Mining Lease 11 (OML11) which ravaged the Ejama Ebubu community located in Ogoni Island.<\/p>\n
The former governor had secured the out of court settlement with NNPC\/Nigeria Petroleum Development Company, after former president Muhammadu Buhari directed the NNPC\u00a0 to take over operation of OML11 from\u00a0 Shell Development Company (SPDC) in 2019.<\/p>\n
But findings reveal that the Ogoni people, who the compensation is meant for, have not received any share of the\u00a0 money since the compensation was paid.<\/p>\n
It was gathered that Wike had provided an account into which the $300million compensation was paid before it was split into several private accounts.<\/p>\n
Wike\u2019s successor and political son,\u00a0 Governor Siminalayi Fubara, who served as Rivers State accountant general, knew about the compensation money and how it was handle, a source said.<\/p>\n
The source further revealed that in order to cover their\u00a0 tracks and quell a possible inquest into the whereabouts of the money, Fubara retained\u00a0 commissioner for Finance, Attorney General and commissioner for works who served during Wike\u2019s tenure.<\/p>\n
OML 11 comprises 33 oil and gas fields as well as the contiguous Kidney Island which serves as operations and logistics support base for OML 11. The prolific OML 11 is estimated to produce 250,000 bpd at full capacity.<\/p>\n
While a legal dispute between the community and the Shell Development Company (SPDC) that started in the 1970\u2019s over oil spillage lasted, Rivers State government under Wike acquired SDPC\u2019s\u00a0 45 per cent stake in OML 11.<\/p>\n
Following the Supreme Court\u2019s judgement in favor of the community, former President Muhammadu Buhari asked the NNPC to take over operation of OML11 with whom Rivers State entered a settlements deal of $300million for the oil spill in the community.<\/p>\n
However a source conversant with the outcome of the matter, said \u201cAfter Rivers State government under former governor Nyesom Wike entered into an agreement with NNPC for an out of court settlement for compensation to the OML11 to the tune of $300million the funds cannot be traced to any of the state government accounts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe $300million was transferred to a private account nominated by Wike from where it may have ended up in several private accounts. The $300million compensation was meant for the Ogoni communities that suffered environmental disasters when OML11 was being operated by Royal Dutch Shell only Wike and Governor Siminalayi Fubara know the whereabouts of the $300million.\u201d<\/p>\n
The source noted that the current governor was made to retained same commissioner for Finance, AG and commissioner for works in order to cover up the scandal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can confirm to you that Ogoni people have not seen a dime or any development from that compensation,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n
Revelations have emerged how former Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike,\u00a0 cornered a whopping $300million which was an out of court settlement over the oil spillage from the operation of Oil…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":105164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n