Obi noted many highly placed Nigerians have also been linked to financing insurgency and Boko Haram.
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party for the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi has challenged the Nigerian Government to publicly name highly placed leaders involved in crude oil theft in the country.
The former Anambra State Governor on Wednesday on his verified Twitter page said he was struck by the news report linking top Nigerians to oil theft.
Obi noted many highly placed Nigerians have also been linked to financing insurgency and Boko Haram, adding that he wonders when the government will summon the political will to publicly name such persons.
Obi, who said that in the national interest, there should be no sacred cow, wrote, "I am struck and intrigued by the news report linking ‘highly placed’ Nigerians to oil theft. Same has been the case with financing insurgency and Boko Haram. When will FGN summon the political will to publicly name such persons?
"In the National Interest, there should be no sacred cows."
Background
SaharaReporters exclusively reported in September 2021 that 300 suspects arrested by the government for funding Boko Haram terrorists had been released.
SaharaReporters earlier reported how over 400 persons were arrested by security agencies during a nationwide crackdown on the suspected financiers of terror in Nigeria.
The operation was said to have been approved by President Buhari in 2020.
Confirming the report a few days later, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) said the government embarked on “a wider and far-reaching investigation” into terrorism financing after the conviction of Boko Haram financiers in the United Arab Emirates.
But Malami later said his office had reviewed over 1,000 case files out of which 285 had been filed before the Federal High Court.
Malami was reacting to public criticism over the secrecy surrounding the identities of the alleged financiers of Boko Haram as Buhari’s government has shunned all calls to name the terror sponsors.
The United Arab Emirates had listed the names of 38 sponsors of terrorism, which include six Nigerians.
However, sources told SaharaReporters that while Nigerians were clamouring for the identities of the terror sponsors to be released to the public, Malami had already facilitated the release of many of them after collecting bribes from the most powerful ones among them.
SaharaReporters had also published a list of 45 names out of the 400 suspects said to have been sponsoring terrorists.
But according to a source, the 45 suspects were the “insignificant foot soldiers of terror financiers” being detained by an ex parte order while others had been released.
SaharaReporters exclusively obtained documents including an affidavit in support of a motion filed by the prosecution (Nigerian government) to seek the continued detention of the suspects at “Wu Bassey Barracks, Asokoro, Abuja for 90 days pending the conclusion of investigations by the headquarters of the Nigerian Army Intelligence Corps”.
The affidavit deposed to at the Federal High Court Registry by a litigation officer in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation said: “The suspects were arrested by troops of Operation Lafia Dole in Kaduna, Kano, Niger, Borno, Lagos and Zamfara states in relation to terrorism activities in the country.
“Ongoing investigation revealed that the suspects have links with the Boko Haram Terrorist Group. That the investigation is advancing and suspects have access to legal practitioners of their choice. That it is in the interest of justice that the suspects be remanded pending the conclusion of the investigation as there are chances that the investigation will be compromised if the suspects are released on bail. That the court has the power to grant the application.”
Those detained as earlier exclusively published by SaharaReporters include Saidu Ahmed, Ibrahim Sani Bello, Mustapha Musa Adamu, Abubakar Sadiq Garba, Hussein Adamu, Muhammed Sani Adam, Abdulrahman Ibrahim, Ghazali Yusuf, Yusuf Ali Yusuf, Abubakar Adamu Yellow, Zahuraddeen Bashir, Haruna Garba Garo, Ibrahim Aliyu Usman, Hassan Idris, Musa Emma, Alhashim Mohammed Almashim, Baba Samaila, Bulama Tahir, Abubakar Ali, Mohammed Ambare, Danlami Hassan Nadabo, Danladi Talle Inuwa, Bashir Ali, and Mansur Muhammad Usaman.
Others are Musa Tasiu Ya’u, Auwalu Ali Alhassan, Sadi Saidu Abdullahi, Suraj Adamu, Muhammed Auwalu, Ismaila Abdullaziz Mohammed, Munzali Ashiru Gambo, Yazid Muhammad Usman, Nabil Zakari, Gambo Auwalu, Muhammed Abba, Bashir Idris Shuaibu, Mohammed Yahaya, Auwalu Ibrahim, Abdullahi Umar Usman, Dahiru Umar Mohammed, Abdullahi Mohammed, Abubakar Yahaya, Hussaini Lawali Idrisu, Ladann Ibrahim, and Nurudeen Gani Aliyu.
A security source also told SaharaReporters that Malami ordered the release of the “big fish” or prominent and powerful ones among the 400 suspects initially arrested after collecting bribes from them.
The source added that those being detained were “insignificant foot soldiers”.
“We arrested about 400 of them but he collected bribes from the most powerful ones and they have since been released. Yesterday (Wednesday), he claimed there were 275 of them left, in an interview he had in New York. Most of the 275 he mentioned have also been freed.
“Some powerful Northern Emirs intervened on their behalf. Only an ex parte order to detain was filed against these 45 persons before Justice Anwulika Chikere of the Federal High Court, Abuja. Unfortunately, she was a vacation judge and has now travelled.
“She is retiring in about three months’ time. Only about 45 names were submitted to her instead of 275 the Minister claimed yesterday. These are all the strategies being used by Malami who has already left the big terror financiers off the hook.
“The 45 persons are insignificant foot soldiers of terror financiers. And if you check the documents very well, most of them have already filed fundamental rights challenges against the government and are billed to be granted bail anytime soon.
“That Honorable Justice Anwulika Chikere handling the case was born on 28th December 1956, so she is bound to take a bow on December 28, 2021, which is just three months from now.”
And going by documents exclusively obtained by SaharaReporters, most of the suspects currently being detained had already filed Fundamental Rights challenges and were billed to be granted bail.
Though the documents also contained a list of the names of 45 suspected sponsors of terrorism, there was nothing to show that any charges had been filed against them since their arrest.
Confirming that even the suspects currently being held would also regain their freedom, another source said, “Don’t forget that no one has been charged according to the documents; the ex parte filed contained zero evidence they carried out anything. They are billed to be granted bail.”
Similarly, SaharaReporters on August 17 reported that a very large crude carrier (VLCC) had been detained by the navy in Equatorial Guinea after it got into a dispute with Nigerian authorities.
The 300,000 dead weight tonnage (dwt) carrier got into a dispute with Nigerian authorities last week and was chased down and detained by the navy in neighbouring Equitorial Guinea.
It was subsequently detained by Equatorial Guinea.
According to Maritime Executive, reports from the countries say Equatorial Guinea arrested the vessel contending that it illegally entered its water without permission as it sought to evade the Nigerian forces.
The VLCC, which was built in 2020, is named Heroic Idun. According to the AIS signal, she remains anchored at the port of Luba, which is used mostly as a logging port on the island Bioko in the Gulf of Guinea.
She has a crew of 26 aboard, comprising 16 Indians, eight Sri Lankans, one Pole, and one Filipino, and is being held while the matter is being investigated.
Teodoro Nguema, Vice President of Equatorial Guinea confirmed on his Twitter account that the country's authorities detained the large crude carrier named Heroic Idun.
“Equatorial Guinea is still investigating the tanker detained last week in Annobon following a tip-off from Nigeria. So far, the tanker has incurred two serious offences; first, entering our waters without prior authorization and second, navigating without an identifying flag," Nguema wrote.
The local media is reporting that Heroic Idun, registered in the Marshall Islands, was seen near the AKPO oil field, off the Nigerian coast, on August 7.
The Nigerian Navy’s Maritime Domain Awareness facility was the first to detect the vessel and it reported the vessel for suspicious activity, saying that they did not believe the vessel had permits from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), nor other valid documents to be at the offshore field. Despite that, they believed the vessel was loading oil.
After the tanker departed the terminal, the Nigerian Navy ship Gongola tried to establish communication with the tanker. They were attempting to question the vessel on its activity and inspect its papers.
Timipre Sylva, Nigeria's Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, recently estimated that every day, over 400,000 barrels of crude are stolen in Nigeria.
According to him, oil theft is already a national emergency.
Sylva noted that massive crude oil theft is affecting Nigeria's ability to meet OPEC's daily quota.
Sylva is the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources while President Muhammadu Buhari is the senior petroleum resources minister.
The country's export allocation fell from 1.8 million barrels to 1.4 million barrels, a loss the minister said could cripple Nigeria’s economy.
"This is because the thefts are occurring in communities that host the oil pipelines," Sylva recently told Imo governor, Hope Uzodinma. "As a result, it has become necessary to engage stakeholders, particularly host communities."