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| Wogu |
A civil rights group, Anti-Corruption Network, on
Monday asked President Goodluck Jonathan to drop the Minister of Labour and
Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, as the Chairman of White Paper Committee on
Nuhu Ribadu-led Petroleum Revenue Task Force report.
The group hinged its call on findings that a
firm, Pinnacle Contractors Limited, in which the Minister allegedly has
interest benefited from N2.7bn subsidy payments in 2011 at a time his wife,
Oyababefe, and son, Enyinnaya, were directors of the firm.
The group also called for the immediate sacking
of Wogu as a minister for allegedly defrauding the government and people of
Nigeria.
The Federal Government had in the wake of public
protest against the removal of subsidy on petroleum products, set up a
task force headed by Ribadu, a former Chairman Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, to look into the transactions in the petroleum
industry.
However, the ACN Executive Secretary and former
member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dino Melaye, who spoke on the
alleged subsidy fraud, said investigations at the disposal of the group showed
that Oyababefe, and Enyinnaya were still the directors of Pinnacles
Nigeria Limited uptill July 19, 2012 during which the said N2.7bn was
paid as subsidy claim to the company.
Melaye maintained that based on the established
conflict of interest, it would not be in the interest of justice and fairplay
for the President to retain Wogu as the head of the White Paper committee on
the fraud uncovered by the Ribadu task force.
Meanwhile, the Minister has denied being
imvolved in any dealings with the firm over petroleum subsidy fraud.
In a statement by his Assistant Director of
Press, Samuel Olowookere, the minister said he duly resigned his appointment as
a member of the board of the company on March 9, 2010, following the sale of
the company to Masters Energy Oil and Gas and this action was duly registered
by the Corporate Affairs Commission on April 7, 2010.
Wogu explained that the only transaction he had
with the company was in August 2010, which was exactly five months after it had
been sold to Masters Energy Oil and Gas Limited.
He also urged Nigerians, who are expressing any
doubt over the issue, to go to the CAC office and verify the documents for
themselves.
“All documents relating to the sale and transfer
of Pinnacle Contractors Ltd to Masters Energy Oil and Gas Ltd are public
documents and are available to all Nigerians to see with the CAC,” the
statement read.
Punch
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