Illegal oil deals: Clear yourself of corruption allegations, Group tells Sahara Group

A pro-democracy and good governance group, Concerned Nigerians, has raised an alarm over what it termed corruption and duplicity involving activities of Sahara Group in awarding licenses to lift crude oil on behalf of the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation, NNPC.

In a statement signed by its Convener, Prince Deji Adeyanju and the secretary, Dr. John Danfulani, wherein it gave Sahara Group a seven day ultimatum to publicly absolve itself of the allegations, it also alleged that Sahara group equally bribed the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Alhaji Abba Kyari and others to get favour from them.

It also said that, on discovering that the petition was against their alleged corruption activities, Sahara Group hurriedly returned a copy of the petition sent to them by Concerned Nigerians after initially receiving it but failing to acknowledge so.

“We have since begun investigations into the processes of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) and its subsidiaries, including Duke Oil Limited. Our investigations relate to the processes for the award of licences to lift crude oil on behalf of NNPC, the remittance of the proceeds of the sale of crude oil to government coffers and the application of all relevant laws without fear or favour.

“In the course of these investigations, certain allegations have been mentioned against Sahara Oil at different times. These allegations include:

“*Allegations of bribery and corruption by Sahara Oil to several senior officials at NNPC to subvert due processes in the award of licences to lift crude oil.

“*Allegations of incomplete remittance of proceeds of the sale of crude oil to government coffers.

“*Allegations of bribing the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Alhaji Abba Kyari. In fact, these allegations infer that Sahara Oil maintains his rather expensive lifestyle to the tune of hundreds of millions of naira.

“*Allegations that Sahara Oil has compromised the investigative agencies in Nigeria to prevent the investigation and prosecution of its directors and employees for acts of corruption, corrupt enrichment and fraud and various other allegations of breach of relevant laws.

“To this end, we request that Sahara Oil responds to us dispelling these allegations within 7 days from the date of the receipt of this letter.

“In the event of your failure to do so, kindly be informed that we will take any or all of the following actions:

“a. Submit a report detailing the results of our investigations to the relevant Senate and House Committees, the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, the office of the Minister of State for Petroleum, the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission, the Nigerian Police Force and the Directorate of State Security.

“b. Picket and occupy Sahara Oil Head Offices as a means of highlighting the monumental corruption involved in this matter.

“c. Picket and occupy NNPC Head Offices as a means of highlighting the monumental corruption involved in this matter.”

 

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