ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, YENAGOA
An advocacy group, the Niger Delta Peace Dialogue Initiative, has described as “malicious, unfounded and unthinkable” the bribery allegations against the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, and the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Simbi Wabote.
The group described the alleged acceptance of $25m bribes from an Italian oil giant, Saipem, against Sylva to enable the company to participate in the Bonny NLNG Train 7 project and the claim that Wabote collected $2m from Kelvion, a German equipment manufacturing company as false, provocative and pathetic way of dragging Niger Delta’s finest brains in the murky waters of politics.
NDPDI, made up of members of civil society groups, ex-militant leaders and stakeholders from the region, argued after an emergency meeting on Tuesday presided over by the National Coordinator, Comrade Fiawei Pathfinder, that the claims against Sylva and Wabote were frivolous and without any foundation.
The group said, “The claims of bribe taking by Sylva and Wabote are unfounded, malicious, fabricated lies and concocted cheap blackmail against reputable sons of the region shining under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“The allegations are totally false and tissues of lies that should be discarded in the dustbin because they are mere gossips and backbiting.
“These blatant lies are handiwork of failed and frustrated politicians who are just being naive and malicious to portray the hard working minister in bad light because they are being sieved out of relevance and stopped from perpetrating their corrupt practices at the detriment of innocent Niger Deltans.
“We warn these devilish, inhuman and diabolic criminally-minded persons whom we have declared enemies of Nigeria and the Niger Delta region to desist immediately or we will go all out to fish them out because we know them and their sponsors.
“We are not going to tolerate any further malicious claims from them and their agents hired to do the dirty job that they cannot prove otherwise.”
On the allegation against Wabote, the group argued that the claims were worthless and frivolous, insisting that Wabote is indeed an outstanding and performing son of the Niger Delta and Nigeria as a whole whose wealth of experience had changed the narrative in the oil and gas sector.
It added: “Since Wabote’s appointment, his expertise in oil and gas matters has made him add glamour to the nation’s oil and gas industry that is currently recognized and respected globally. His administrative pattern and transparency mix have led to the successful completion and opening of the iconic Local Content Edifice in the heart of Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.
“With his patriotic approach of leadership and implementation of the local content Act, indigenous contractors have a sense of belonging in the nation’s oil and gas industry as they are executing major contracts which were rare.”