President Muhammadu Buhari is under pressure from Nigerians, who are itching to know the names of the oil thieves.
Several Western countries comprising the United Kingdom and France are also said to have reached out to Buhari not to waste time in bringing the suspects’ names to the public knowledge.
It would be recalled that Nigerian leader, addressing Nigerians during his recently concluded trip to the USA, had announced that Washington gave him the list of the names.
Buhari said that some members of the ex-president Goodluck Jonathan Federal Executive Council stole as much as 250000 barrels of crude every day.
A group of prominent Nigerians say the president should make the names public immediately and defend against them.
Professor Itse Sagay, front line lawyer, told journalists that he shocked by the magnitude of the stealing.
He said: “Before this fresh revelation, one was very disturbed when Okonjo Iweala, raised the alarm that about 400, 000 barrels were being stolen every day. To hear that the quantity is as much as one million barrel per day is something else.
“It shows the country went into a total rot under the last regime of President Goodluck Jonathan. They would have looted the country to bankruptcy within a year if they were not removed from office. We should be grateful that a disciplined and upright man has taken over to clean the mess and save the country.
“The punishments are not farfetched. They are already enshrined in our law books.
“We may ultimately have to resort to special court with specific time frame to decide the cases. The situation is very grave and we need to deal with it in an exceptional way.”
Also shocked by the disclosure is Chief Ladi Williams (SAN) who said: “The President should make public everything about it because the oil they stole belongs to the good people of Nigeria. The people have the right to know what is happening.
“Some schools of thought have suggested that the Chinese option should be applied in dealing with the suspects. It is a common knowledge that corrupt public officers in China always end up being executed. But here in Nigeria, we have the criminal and penal code. The suspects should be tried.
“The National Assembly has the power to establish a tribunal to try the suspects because the courts have too many cases already. From the tribunal, the next step should be Supreme Court because many of us are not happy with the way the Appeal Court has discharged itself. The Supreme Court has discharged itself creditably well.
“The suspects should be made to produce the money they realised from the sales of the stolen products. Any of them that parts with a substantial part of the money should be leniently dealt with.”
Tanko Yakassai, elder statesman, who was also speaking on the development said: “The president should not only tell us about the crime, he should go a step further to list the names of those involved in the criminal act and the amount involved. He should get them arrested and prosecuted. The truth is that these atrocities didn’t start today. They started way back when Obasanjo was the head of state.
“Key figures during that regime became instant multi-millionaires. There is not going to be any solution to the atrocities except the perpetrators are brought to book. I want to appeal to President Muhhamadu Buhari not to limit the probe to the Jonathan administration. If he really wants to get to the root of the problem, he should go back to the days of Obasanjo as military head of state.”
Enechi Onyia, Second Republic politician, added that the suspects should be made to face the anger of the law.
“The government should not stop at that. They should also do everything possible to retrieve the full value of the money that the country ought to realize from the product from the suspects. The government should not be swayed by sentiments that people are likely to express about its position or action plan because in everything that happens in life, people would always express sentiments,” Onyia said.
Festus Keyamio, Lagos attorney, called for prosecution of everyone found guilty in the crime, saying: “The effort of the President in fighting corruption in the country is highly commendable. This is what Nigerians looked forward to when they voted for him and I am glad that he is living up to his electioneering promises. I want to do everything possible to make sure that the perpetrators do not escape justice.”
Abubakar Tsav, ex-commissioner of police in Lagos state, was surprised by the disclosure.
He said: “If the president’s statement is true, then, it is a serious matter. How can one person steal such quantity of crude oil? What are they using the money for when many people are hungry, homeless and sleeping under the bridge?
“ The crime is capable of collapsing an economy of a developing country. The perpetrators don’t mean well for the country and should be severely dealt with.
“I don’t support death penalty, but the offence is worth it. I will suggest that they should be sent to 25 years or life imprisonment. If the suspects are not fished out and dealt with, there would be a big challenge if Buhari is not re-elected after four years. If Buhari is not elected and another government that is worse than Jonathan’s come tom power, the country would be worse for it.
“If I were Jonathan, I would be ashamed of myself and refrain from making any comment. I think he should also be probed because it was before his very eyes that all this rots was taking place and he did nothing to stop it.”
Joe Igbokwe, the All Progressives Congress (APC) spokesman in Lagos state, said more sad insights of the activities of government officials in the Jonathan’s government are coming.
“What Nigerians are hearing and seeing now will be a child’s play when the full story of how Nigeria was pillaged and plundered under Jonathan is told,” he said.
“In the fullness of time Nigerians will get to find out that former President Jonathan’s tenure was a systematic regime of heists. I am believing God that President Buhari will have the energy, strength and power to go the whole hog in repositioning Nigeria in the comity of civilized nations. Nigeria is getting better and this, l believe because a good man is in charge.”
Several Western countries comprising the United Kingdom and France are also said to have reached out to Buhari not to waste time in bringing the suspects’ names to the public knowledge.
It would be recalled that Nigerian leader, addressing Nigerians during his recently concluded trip to the USA, had announced that Washington gave him the list of the names.
Buhari said that some members of the ex-president Goodluck Jonathan Federal Executive Council stole as much as 250000 barrels of crude every day.
A group of prominent Nigerians say the president should make the names public immediately and defend against them.
Professor Itse Sagay, front line lawyer, told journalists that he shocked by the magnitude of the stealing.
He said: “Before this fresh revelation, one was very disturbed when Okonjo Iweala, raised the alarm that about 400, 000 barrels were being stolen every day. To hear that the quantity is as much as one million barrel per day is something else.
“It shows the country went into a total rot under the last regime of President Goodluck Jonathan. They would have looted the country to bankruptcy within a year if they were not removed from office. We should be grateful that a disciplined and upright man has taken over to clean the mess and save the country.
“The punishments are not farfetched. They are already enshrined in our law books.
“We may ultimately have to resort to special court with specific time frame to decide the cases. The situation is very grave and we need to deal with it in an exceptional way.”
Also shocked by the disclosure is Chief Ladi Williams (SAN) who said: “The President should make public everything about it because the oil they stole belongs to the good people of Nigeria. The people have the right to know what is happening.
“Some schools of thought have suggested that the Chinese option should be applied in dealing with the suspects. It is a common knowledge that corrupt public officers in China always end up being executed. But here in Nigeria, we have the criminal and penal code. The suspects should be tried.
“The National Assembly has the power to establish a tribunal to try the suspects because the courts have too many cases already. From the tribunal, the next step should be Supreme Court because many of us are not happy with the way the Appeal Court has discharged itself. The Supreme Court has discharged itself creditably well.
“The suspects should be made to produce the money they realised from the sales of the stolen products. Any of them that parts with a substantial part of the money should be leniently dealt with.”
Tanko Yakassai, elder statesman, who was also speaking on the development said: “The president should not only tell us about the crime, he should go a step further to list the names of those involved in the criminal act and the amount involved. He should get them arrested and prosecuted. The truth is that these atrocities didn’t start today. They started way back when Obasanjo was the head of state.
“Key figures during that regime became instant multi-millionaires. There is not going to be any solution to the atrocities except the perpetrators are brought to book. I want to appeal to President Muhhamadu Buhari not to limit the probe to the Jonathan administration. If he really wants to get to the root of the problem, he should go back to the days of Obasanjo as military head of state.”
Enechi Onyia, Second Republic politician, added that the suspects should be made to face the anger of the law.
“The government should not stop at that. They should also do everything possible to retrieve the full value of the money that the country ought to realize from the product from the suspects. The government should not be swayed by sentiments that people are likely to express about its position or action plan because in everything that happens in life, people would always express sentiments,” Onyia said.
Festus Keyamio, Lagos attorney, called for prosecution of everyone found guilty in the crime, saying: “The effort of the President in fighting corruption in the country is highly commendable. This is what Nigerians looked forward to when they voted for him and I am glad that he is living up to his electioneering promises. I want to do everything possible to make sure that the perpetrators do not escape justice.”
Abubakar Tsav, ex-commissioner of police in Lagos state, was surprised by the disclosure.
He said: “If the president’s statement is true, then, it is a serious matter. How can one person steal such quantity of crude oil? What are they using the money for when many people are hungry, homeless and sleeping under the bridge?
“ The crime is capable of collapsing an economy of a developing country. The perpetrators don’t mean well for the country and should be severely dealt with.
“I don’t support death penalty, but the offence is worth it. I will suggest that they should be sent to 25 years or life imprisonment. If the suspects are not fished out and dealt with, there would be a big challenge if Buhari is not re-elected after four years. If Buhari is not elected and another government that is worse than Jonathan’s come tom power, the country would be worse for it.
“If I were Jonathan, I would be ashamed of myself and refrain from making any comment. I think he should also be probed because it was before his very eyes that all this rots was taking place and he did nothing to stop it.”
Joe Igbokwe, the All Progressives Congress (APC) spokesman in Lagos state, said more sad insights of the activities of government officials in the Jonathan’s government are coming.
“What Nigerians are hearing and seeing now will be a child’s play when the full story of how Nigeria was pillaged and plundered under Jonathan is told,” he said.
“In the fullness of time Nigerians will get to find out that former President Jonathan’s tenure was a systematic regime of heists. I am believing God that President Buhari will have the energy, strength and power to go the whole hog in repositioning Nigeria in the comity of civilized nations. Nigeria is getting better and this, l believe because a good man is in charge.”
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