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Tag: Dan Etete

  • Etete, unsung hero of local content in oil and gas

    Etete, unsung hero of local content in oil and gas

    By Aliyu Gaya

    By the twilight of 2024, Nigeria had achieved 56 percent local content participation in the oil and gas sector. Data from the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) tells the story. This represents a massive leap forward; but octogenarian Dan Etete, the hero of this turnaround in the nation’s oil and gas annals, has remained largely unsung. Instead, he has been vilified and made to appear as the villain in a critical sector where he dared to brave the odds stacked against indigenous participation.

    In January this year, Etete turned 80. The outpouring of encomiums for the ‘Ndagbudu Keme Keni of Izon-Ibe,’ a statesman and proud son of the Ijaw nation, clearly indexed his place not just among his people, but in the larger Nigerian society. It is to his credit and that of others of his era that Nigerians and Nigerian companies have planted their feet firmly and surefootedly in the oil and gas sector which in both pre- and post-Independence Nigeria had been the grazing ground of multinationals who literally siphoned the wealth of the nation to their respective countries.

    The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) once reeled out scary statistics that showed how the nation had been cheated by oil majors whose interest was chiefly to milk the nation, and with the same speed they ferret crude oil from Nigeria’s subsoil, cart the petro-dollars to their parent countries.

    Here are a few statistics: In the past, approximately 80 percent of Nigeria’s oil revenue was concentrated in the hands of one percent of the population; and 70 percent of Nigeria’s private wealth was held abroad. It was also recorded that out of every $100 made from oil and gas, only $5 was retained in Nigeria while $95 was stashed overseas. This is beyond capital flight. This is sheer robbery by the oil ‘super majors’ with, of course, connivance with a few unpatriotic Nigerians.

    This had been the trend and this was exactly what Etete set out to reverse when as Minister of Petroleum under the late Gen. Sani Abacha (1995-1998), he set the tone for the issuance of oil prospecting licences to indigenous companies.

    To actualise the vision of local content development and advancement in the sector, the Abacha government, with Etete as minister, on 29 April 1998, awarded a few oil blocks to indigenous companies. The reason was clear: to pave the path for local companies to participate in the exploration and production of crude oil. This will not only help to build local capacities, but also halt capital flight which has seen the nation earn so little while losing so much to foreigners.

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    That was how OPL 245 was awarded to a Nigerian company, Malabu Oil & Gas Limited, with a signature bonus of $20 million. The Federal Government also awarded other prospecting licences to other Nigerian companies with the same concessionary signature bonus of around $20 million: OPL 246 went to South Atlantic Petroleum, OPL 247 to Heritage Oil, and OPL 248 to Zebra Energy. Nigeria’s then Defence Minister, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, had interests in South Atlantic Petroleum. But he would later sell it to Total and other investors.

    Earlier in 1991, as part of the drive to encourage indigenous participation in the sector, the OPL 216 licence, which had been awarded to BP and Statoil (now Equinor), was claimed back by the Federal Government and awarded to Famfa Oil Ltd. These licences, including OPL 245, were awarded in accordance with the Indigenous Concession Programme (ICP), launched by the Nigerian government in 1991.

    This audacious milestone in 1998, patriotic as it was, also triggered the beginning of a series of flip-flops by successive Nigerian governments. Thus, what Etete intended – to make Nigerians own the precious petroleum resources that Providence generously gave them – became a tool for international conspiracy against Abacha, Etete and even some other Nigerians directly or remotely connected with the indigenous companies.

    The first trigger was pulled in January 2001 by President Olusegun Obasanjo who revoked the licence for OPL 245. By that presidential stroke of power, what could have been resolved amicably in the interest of the nation turned into a protracted legal battle spreading from Nigeria to France and Italy.

    All told, OPL 245 is a battle spawned by the ego of Nigerian leadership. From Abacha through Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan to Buhari and now Tinubu, the story of OPL 245 depicts the lack of continuity in Nigerian leadership; it mirrors self-interests, suspicion, treachery, and a clear lack of transparency in the nation’s presidency. While some presidents showed patriotism in their decisions concerning the oil block, others were simply driven by selfish interest. Etete is only a victim of the expansive presidential mind-game fuelled also by international interests.

    It bears restating that the crucifixion of Etete has obvious national security implications. Among the persons directly and indirectly involved in the various oil blocks issued by the Federal Government at that time, he is the only one from the oil-bearing Niger Delta region. We are aware that crude oil from the Niger Delta has been the economic life-wire of Nigeria. These past years, Nigeria has managed to sustain peace in this all-important region through amnesty and other human development gestures. President Tinubu, a man versed in oil and gas business, should use his position to preserve this peace by ensuring that what belongs to the Niger Delta is not taken away from them.

    After a careful study of the trove of documents including court papers alongside the documented history of graft in the nation’s oil and gas sector, it has become clear that OPL 245 was not about corruption. It’s beyond that. Corruption has been a key part of Nigeria’s existence since Independence across sectors. The cases of Siemens, Halliburton, Willbros, among other multinationals whose transactions in Nigeria were tainted with graft but had been swept under the carpet by successive Nigerian governments just to protect certain interests, remind Nigerians that there was more to OPL 245 beyond Dan Etete whom as it now stands, was only a victim of powers and authorities higher than himself.

    Many questions beg for answers: What if Abacha had not died? Would OPL 245 have suffered this fate? Why did Obasanjo revoke the licence in 2001, thus setting the stage for international embarrassment and convoluted global litigations? Why was Malabu Oil and Gas suddenly denied ownership of the block despite clean bills from Nigerian institutions, including the House of Representatives which after investigations concluded that Malabu was the rightful owner of the block.  Why was the out-of-court settlement approved in 2006 by Obasanjo in response to the memo suggesting the same by Edmund Daukoru, minister of state for Petroleum, not carried through? Even when President Jonathan returned the block to Malabu in 2010 after documented findings which showed that Malabu was not fairly treated, why was the matter not brought to a closure?

    One thing stands sure: The manner successive Nigerian governments have handled the OPL 245 chronicle has put Nigeria in bad light. It has dimmed investors’ confidence and has underscored what the world thinks about Nigeria: A country of policy somersaults.

    President Tinubu has given hints that he wants to resolve the matter. In doing so, he must avoid the pitfall of self-interest which influenced some of the decisions of his predecessors. Nigeria cannot seek to build local content by taking away blocks already allotted to indigenous companies and handing such over to foreign concerns. This negates the idea of local content development.

    This matter can only be seen to have been resolved if the sacred principles of justice and fairness are upheld and the most pragmatic way to achieve this is to place the premium of ownership on Malabu Oil and Gas. Earlier court cases in Nigeria and institutional interventions, including intervention from the House of Representatives, favour this path. This is the path of honour not just for Nigeria’s image but for the sake of justice.

    •Gaya, a public policy analyst, writes from Kano

  • Between JD Vance and Dan Etete

    Between JD Vance and Dan Etete

    As I get older, I am beginning to get very interested in reading biographies of men who have impacted the world in significant ways. My interest in movies inspired by biographies has also increased.

    When Donald Trump picked JD Vance as his Vice President, I saw the movie adaptation of ‘Hillbilly Elegy’, his best-selling biography starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close and wrote about it on this column.

    Published when JD Vance was 33 years old, it tells the story of JD Vance’s rise from poverty in Middletown, Ohio in the heart of America’s Rust Belt to the Marine Corps (with stints in Iraq), the university of Ohio and then Yale, an Ivy League university.

    In the introduction, JD Vance writes that “the coolest thing I have done, at least on paper, is graduate from Yale Law school…I am not a senator, a governor or former cabinet secretary.”

    But what he didn’t realise and something his readers did not realise back then in 2016 was that he was practically speaking his future into existence because by 2023 he was already a senator representing Ohio and while his ambition seemed to have stopped at Cabinet secretary or minister as we say in Nigeria, he was picked by Donald Trump whom he had opposed in 2016, to be his Vice President as the 2024 elections got under way.

    Growing up in a poor and very dysfunctional family, he pulled himself up by the boot straps and made himself a success. The story reads in places like fiction because of the odds stacked against him all of which he overcame.

    At the beginning of the book, in order to raise money to enable him move to New Haven Connecticut, he worked in a tile warehouse. It was back breaking work, but with his eyes on the goal he persevered earning $13 an hour. The story and many others in the book speak of resilience, perseverance, focus and determination.

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    Being in the Marine Corps, he writes towards the end of the book, had imbued him with “the capacity to plan”. Today JD Vance is America’s Vice President at just 41 years of age, a long way up for someone “who failed out of high school, earning Ds and Fs in English 1.”

    Some days back, I came across the 80th birthday tributes to Dan Etete, former Petroleum Minister under General Sani Abacha, and I couldn’t resist comparing the lives of both men who qualify to be described as statesmen by the impact they have had in their respective countries.

    Dan Etete

    By 1984, when JD Vance was born, Dan Etete had worked in the Nigerian Customs Service, cut his teeth in business and become a Senator in the second republic.

    He would go on to become Petroleum minister and now at age 80, the world remembers him mostly for the controversial Malabu oil deal involving OPL 245 and some of the biggest oil companies in Europe from Shell to Eni.

    But surely, there must be more to the man and so I clicked and clicked on Google, trying to find out more about him and each try produced very slim pickings. A court case in France led to a guilty verdict in 2007 but the French government granted him a full pardon in March 7, 2014, via bulletin number 3 issued by the Ministry of Justice, Criminal, Cases and Pardon Division.

    But you have to scour the internet to discover the story of his pardon because what pops up as you search is mostly the story of his conviction.

    Dan Etete’s story is in many ways similar to the one told by JD Vance. Even though we cannot ascertain whether he came from a poor or dysfunctional family we can safely conclude that he did not come from a rich one seeing as it is that he started life in a school in Ajegunle.

    Ajegunle, a slum on the outskirts of Apapa, is not famous for producing ministers of Petroleum. Footballers, yes and musicians too but Ministers of Petroleum, not quite. But that was the soil on whichh the seed that produced Dan Etete was sown.

    He did not go to the Marine Corps like JD Vance or even NYSC but instead he joined the Nigerian Customs Service. He was, in that sense, as we say in Nigeria, a uniformed man and well qualified, if he was in a Danfo, to avoid paying his fare by shouting – Staff!

    It was while serving in the Customs that he empowered himself by acquiring certifications that would stand him in good stead when he went into business.

    An Ijaw man from the Niger Delta, he must have taken an interest in oil and gas and even though we are not told what business he engaged in after he left the Customs like many others before and after him, he must have had some interest in oil gas and with enough insight for him to be made Chairman of the oil and gas committee in the Senate.

    Dan Etete must have made an impression in the 2nd republic and probably established long lasting political alliances because by the time Abacha got into office, he was well positioned to be appointed Minister and that is where his larger than life image grew nationally.

    And here we are?

    This reflection is my way of saying that Nigerian politicians, statesmen and high achievers owe us a duty to document their lives, to tell us the story of how they defied the odds to achieve prominence because in a country of 200 million people it takes some doing to gain prominence in whatever sphere from music to football or business to politics.

    Dan Etete is taciturn and not given to press interviews but how are we to know that in spite of the legal battles he keeps fighting he has set up a foundation that empowers people in his native Izon land? Or as a magazine article notes that he remains a key player in the Nigerian oil and gas sector as a sought-after adviser?

    My final take: Without ‘Hillbilly Elegy’, would JD Vance be Vice president today? No one can say for sure but what is clear is that sometimes it is a lot cheaper and a lot less controversial to blow your own trumpet.

  • Malabu: Ijaw youths protest ‘persecution’ of Dan Etete

    …Threaten to stop oil production

     

    Ijaw youths Thursday trooped out to protest ongoing fresh investigations into alleged fraud in the Oil Production Licence (OPL) 245, an oil block belonging to Dan Etete, popularly known as Malabu oil deal.

    The youths, who took over the Ijaw House along Sani Abacha Expressway in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, said “the continuous harassment of Etete by the Federal Government” was an affront to the Ijaw people.

    The youths who were led by the Central Zone Chairman of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), Mr. Tare Pori, displayed placards with inscriptions such as, “Stop oppressing Ijaw son”, “Leave Dan Etete alone”, “Ijaws will not bow to intimidation”, “we feed Nigeria”, “oil blocks belong to Ijaw people”, “we own the oil wells”, among others.

    Pori, who was visibly angry, said it was unfair for the Federal Government to continue “persecuting Etete”, the only big Ijaw player in the oil and gas industry.

    He wondered why OPL 245 was singled out for a prolonged probe among other licenses awarded the same time to people of other ethnic groups.

    He said the government by its action was sending a wrong message that it was averse to the participation of the Ijaw and the Niger Delta region in bidding and owning oil blocks domiciled in their territories.

    Pori, whose speech was interrupted by solidarity chants, asked the government to discontinue the probe if it valued the existing peace in the Niger Delta region.

    He said the youths would no longer remain calm amidst the force of oppression and perceived injustices done to their kinsmen in the oil and gas industry.

    Pori maintained that if the government insisted on continuing with the probe, it should also in the spirits of fairness open investigations into deals involving other oil licenses awarded alongside Malabu.

    The IYC boss noted that the passed administration looked into the alleged fraud in the award of the license and found no merit in it adding that the current Attorney-General of the Federation gave the process a clean bill of health.

    He said it was unfortunate that the government was still investing its energy in the matter adding that the action of the government was targeted at tarnishing the image of an Ijaw man.

    According to him if the government failed to stop the probe, Ijaw youths would use the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of their hero, late Major Isaac Adaka Boro, on May 16thbto make a statement.

    Porri said: “For the first time in 1998, the late Sani Abacha came up with the process of awarding oil licenses in this country and for the first time in the history of this country, an Ijaw man from Odi where the late Isaac Boro actually came from got the OPL 245. This is the popularly talked about the Malabu oil deal.

    “We are not happy that this only Ijaw man, Dan Etete, has been facing persecution since then. But we have resolved that moving forward if the Nigerian state thinks that Ijaw people are not good enough to own oil blocks, no human being in this world from any other parts of the country will be good enough to own oil blocks.

    “We demand the immediate stoppage of this persecution. Any further attempt to persecute the only Ijaw man in oil and gas business in Nigeria, Dan Etete, the country should be ready not to take oil from our environment.

    “The country should look elsewhere for resources to fund her budgets. We will not allow this to happen again. We only lost an election in 2015. We didn’t commit a crime. This persecution of Ijaw people must stop.

    “They have done the worst they want to do to us by blackmailing Ijaw people to believing that we are not good enough to occupy the Presidential office; if the country is saying that we are not also good to own our own properties, nobody is fit to own oil blocks.

    “They are doing all these because we are aware that the next few months they would commence the process of revoking oil licenses in the country. By 2019 they will commence the process of issuing out new licenses in the country. They are bent in ensuring that no Ijaw man gets the license”.

    Pori added: “If they decide to play politics with our modest demands, they know what we are capable of doing. Where are they expecting funds from to fund the 2018 budget and the election year budget? It is from the Niger Delta.

    “If they don’t allow Etete to continue to do business in the oil and gas industry, Ijaw people will have no choice than to tell the country that the oil and gas belong to us. They should stop the investigations of the Malabu oil deal. OPL 245 belongs to an Ijaw man”.

  • Osinbajo, PANDEF meet in Aso Rock 

    Osinbajo, PANDEF meet in Aso Rock 

    Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday night met behind closed doors with members of the Pan Niger Delta Elders Forum (PANDEF).

    The meeting started around 7p.m at the Vice President’s conference room.

    Some of those attending the meeting included Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani, elder statesman, Edwin Clarke and Alfred Diete-Spiff.

    Other are God knows Igali, Timi Alaibe, Obong Victor Atta, Graham Douglas, Dan Etete, Captain Idahosa Okunbo, Paul Ogbebor, and Senator Ndoma Egba.

    The meeting was still in progress at the time of filing this report.

    Details Later…

     

  • Team Nigeria athletes for Paris Olympics unveiled 

    Team Nigeria athletes for Paris Olympics unveiled 

    A team of 84 Nigerian athletes is set to represent the nation at the Paris Olympics, scheduled to kick off on July 26. These athletes will compete across 12 different sports in this global celebration of sportsmanship.

    Notably, the contingent is largely comprised of female athletes, with a significant presence from female soccer and basketball teams.

    The team will also be participating in events such as Athletics, badminton, boxing, Canoeing, cycling, taekwondo, table tennis, wrestling, weightlifting, and swimming.

    Tony Nezianya, the Press Officer of Team Nigeria, released the list of athletes, who have started moving into Games Village in Paris from their training base in Germany.

    This is with  exception of the National female soccer team, the Falcons, who have relocated to Bordeaux for their football event being held in cities outside Paris.

    Here is the list of the Team Nigeria contingent members ready to showcase their talent and represent their country on the global stage:

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    The teams are : Basketball Team: 12; Athletics: 35 female football, table tennis, 4; wrestling, 5; boxing, 2; swimming, 2; Taekwondo, 1 and  Badminton, 1, bring the entire  team contingent to 84 in total.

    TEAM NIGERIA FINAL LIST OF ATHLETES

    ATHLETICS – Men

    1. Adeyemi Sikiru Adewale – 4 x 400m Relay Mixed

    2. Ajayi Kayinsola – 100m, 4 x 100m Relay

    3. Akintola Alaba Olakunle – 4 x 100m Relay

    4. Amene Dubem – 4 x 100m Relay

    5. Ashe Favour Oghene – Mens 100m

    6. Enekwechi Chukwuebuka – Mens Shotput

    7. Ibadin Edose – Mens 800m

    8. Itsekiri Usheoritse – 4 x 100m Relay

    9. Nathaniel Ezekiel – Mens 400m Hurdles

    10. .Nnamdi Chinecherem – Mens Javelin Throw

    11. Nwachukwu Dubem – 4 x 400m Relay Mixed

    12. Ogazi Samuel – Mens 400m, 4 x 400m Relay

    13. Oghenebrume Godson – Mens 100m, 4 x 100m Relay

    14. Ojeli Ifeanyi Emmanuel – Mens 4 x 400m Relay

    15. Okezie Chidi – Mens 400m, 4 x 400m Relay

    16. Onwuzurike Udodi Chudi – Mens 200m

    17. Sunday Israel Okon – 4 x 400m, 4 x 400m Relay Mixed

    ATHLETICS – Women

    1. Adeshina Temitope Simbiat – Womens High Jump

    2. Amaechi Obiageri Pamela – Women’s Discus Throw

    3. Amusan Oluwatobilola – Women’s 100m

    4. Anumba Ashley – Women’s Discus Throw

    5. Brume Ese – Women’s Long Jump

    6. Chukwuma Rosemary – Women’s 100m

    7. Eyakpobeyan Justina Tiana – Women’s 4 x 100m Relay

    8. George Patience Okon – 4 x 400m Relay (Mixed)

    9. Godbless Tima Seikeseye – Women’s 100m, 4 x 100m Relay

    10. Joseph Esther Elo – Women’s 400m, 4 x 400m Relay

    11. Oghonogor Prestina Oluchi – Women’s Long Jump

    12. Ofili Favour – Women’s 200m

    13. Oginmakinju Omolara – Women’s 4 x 400m Relay (Mixed)

    14. Olajide Olayinka – Women’s 4 x 100m Relay

    15. Olatoye Oyesade – Women’s Hammer Throw

    16. Onojuvwevwo Ella – Women’s 400m

    17. Onyekwere Chioma – Women’s Discus Throw

    18. Usoro Ruth – Women’s Long Jump.

    BADMINTON

    1. Opeyori Anuoluwapo

    WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

    1. Adeyeye Adebola

    2. Amukamara Promise

    3. Balogun Elizabeth

    4. Ebo Lauren

    5. Ejiofor Blessing

    6. Enabosi Nicole

    7. Igbokwe Rita

    8. Kalu Ezinne

    9. Kunaiyi-Akpanah Pallas

    10. Musa Murjanatu

    11. Okonkwo Amy

    12. Okoro Ifunanya

    13. Taiwo Olaoluwatomi

    BOXING

    1. Olaore Olaitan – Men’s Heavyweight 92kg

    2. Ogunsemilore Cynthia – Women’s Lightweight 60kg

    CANOEING

    1. Bello Ayomide – Women’s Sprint C2, 500m

    2. Otuedo Beauty – Women’s Sprint C2, 500m

    CYCLING

    1.Ese Lovina Ukpeseraye

    WOMEN’S FOOTBALL

    1. Abiodun Deborah

    2. Ajibade Rasheedat

    3. Alozie Michelle

    4. Demehin Blessing

    5. Echegini Jennifer

    6. Ihezue Chinwendu

    7. Kanu Uchenna

    8. Macleans Chinonyerem

    9. Nnadozie Chiamaka

    10. Ohale Osinachi

    11. Okeke Chidinma

    12. Okoronkwo Esther

    13. Oluehi Tochukwu

    14. Onumonu Ifeoma

    15. Oshoala Asisat

    16. Payne Nicole

    17. Payne Toni

    18. Ucheibe Christy

    19. Ademola Morufa

    20. Alani Jumoke

    21. Monday Gift

    22. Otu Regina

    SWIMMING

    1. Sijuade Oluwatobiloba

    2. Nwandu Adaku

    TAEKWONDO

    1. Anyanacho Elizabeth – Women’s -67kg

    TABLE TENNIS

    1. Aruna Quadri – Men’s Singles

    2. Omotayo Olajide – Men’s Singles

    3. Effiong Edem – Women’s Singles

    4. Fatima Bello – Women’s Singles

    WEIGHLIFTING

    1. Lawal Rafiatu – Women’s -59kg

    2. Eze Joy Ogbonne – Women’s -71kg

    WRESTLING

    1. Mutuwa Ashtoib – Men’s Freestyle – 125kg

    2. Ogunsanya Christiana – Women’s Freestyle -53kg

    3. Adekuoroye Odunayo – Women’s Freestyle -53kg

    4. Kolawole Esther – Women’s Freestyle -62kg

    5. Oborodudu Blessing – Women’s Freestyle -68kg

    6. Reuben Hannah – Women’s Freestyle -76kg

  • Court sets aside forfeiture orders on OPL 245

    Court sets aside forfeiture orders on OPL 245

    ..Malabu Oil sues FG, Shell, Agip EFCC, Etete

    A Federal High Court in Abuja has set aside its orders made on January 26, 2017 for a temporary forfeiture of Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 245 to the Federal Government pending the conclusion of investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    The OPL 245 is in relation to the oil well, which is the subject of the controversial Malabu Oil deal, in respect of which the EFCC has filed three separate charges against former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mohammed Adoke, former Petroleum Minster, Dan Etete and others.

    Justice John Tsoho, in a ruling Friday, upheld the applications by Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited (NAE) and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Ltd (SNEPCO), challenging the validity of the orders.

    Justice Tsoho held that the orders for forfeiture were irregularly made because the application ex-parte filed by the EFCC Chairman, and on which basis the orders were made, was irregularly filed.

    The order was wrongly made,as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, in whose name the ex parte application was filed failed to meet the pre-condition required before filing it.

    Justice Tsoho ruled, “Therefore by the case of Onagoruwa Vs IGP, I hold respectively that the chairman of EFCC filed to meet the pre-condition for making an application for interim attachment of property. The application is therefore irregular and the order granted ought to be discharged.

    “Accordingly this court granted ex parte on January 26, 2017 on the application of the Chairman of EFCC is hereby discharged or set aside.

    “At this juncture, it is important to advise that with the setting aside of the ex parte order proceedings in this matter have finally closed,” Justice Tsoho said.

    Shell’s lawyer, Konyinsola Ajayi had argued that by virtue of sections 28 and 29 of EFCC Act, the Chairman of EFCC, in whose name the ex parte application filed by the anti-graft agency was initiated, was not the proper person to institute the action.

    He insisted that sections 28 and 29 of the EFCC Act envisage that the ex parte application for interim forfeiture is filed in the name of the EFCC and not its chairman.

    The judge also dismissed an application filed by Malabu Oil and Gas Limited seeking to, among others, stay the earlier reserved ruling on the applications by Agip and Shell.

    Malabu had sought to stay the delivery of the ruling to enable it be made a party in the case, because it would be affected by the court’s decision in the applications Agip and Shell.

    The judge said the application by Malabu was misdirected, constituted an abuse of court’s process and intended to waste the court’s time.

    Justice Tsoho advised parties, who have issues with the Malabu deal – OPL 245, to file fresh cases to ventilate their grievances and seek remedies.

    In line with the judge’s advice, major stakeholders in Malabu Oil and Gas Limited, including Mohammed Abacha and businessman, Otunba Oyewole Fasawe promptly filed a fresh suit yesterday before the Federal High Court, Abuja, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/20/2017, praying for among others, an order restoring to it, it’ “rights to exclusive possession of OPL 245”.

    In the suit filed in the name of Malabu Oil and Gas, the plaintiff wants the court to restrain the EFCC as continuing to treat the OPL 245 as proceed of crime, and also stop the anti-graft agency from interfering with its (Malabu’s) “right to explore and prospect for petroleum in the area of OPL 245”.

    In the writ of summons, the plaintiff claimed that it was registered in 1998, and its (Malabu’s subscribers/first directors “are Sani Mohammed, a son of the late military Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, Amafagh Kweku and Hindu Hassan, with 10million, six million nd four millions shares respectively making up the 20million share capital of the company.

    The plaintiff, in its statement of claim, said it was granted OPL 245 by the Minister of Petroleum Resource on April 29, 1998 and the n paid N50, 000 as application fees, $10,000 as bid processing fees and part payment of or deposit of $2,040,000 as signature bonus.

    It claimed that the OPL 245 was revoked from it on July 2, 2001, but through a settlement agreement the licence was re-allocated by the Federal Government to it on July 2, 2010.

    The plaintiff added that, while its right in OPL 245 was subsisting, the Federal Government (first defendant), Shell Nigeria Ultra-Deep Limited (third defendant), SNEPCO (fourth defendant) and Agip (fifth defendant) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation “surreptitiously entered into what they called “Block 245 Resolution Agreement dated April 29, 2011” allocating OPL 245 to SNEPCO and Agip.

    It wants the court to order that it was not a party to the “Block 245 Resolution Agreement dated April 29, 2011” and so it “is not bound by the terms of the said agreement as it relates to or concerns OPL 245”.

    The plaintiff equally seeks, “an order compelling the defendants by themselves, their servants or agents or departments to forthwith restore to the plaintiff (Malabu) the plaintiff’s rights to the exclusive possession of OPL 245.

    “An order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants and in particular the sixth defendant (EFCC) by themselves, their servants or agents or howsoever otherwise from treating and or dealing with OPL 245 as a proceed of an offence and from interfering in any manner whatsoever and howsoever with the plaintiff’s exclusive right to explore and prospect for petroleum in the area of OPL 245.

    “An order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants by themselves, their servants or agents howsoever, otherwise from carrying out any exploration or prospecting activities in connection with or in relation to the area covered by OPL 245.”

    Defendants to the suit are, the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Shell Nigeria Ultra-Deep Limited, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited, Nigerian Agip Exploration Company Limited, EFCC and then Minister of Petroleum under the late Gen. Sani Abacha’s regime, Chief Dan Etete.

    The OPL 245, according to documents filed in court by the EFCC, was originally issued by the Federal Government to Malabu Oil and Gas Limited under shady circumstances before subsequent chain of transfers that saw the OPL handed to a consortium floated by Shell and Agip via transactions which the EFCC described as fraudulent.

     

     

  • Malabu: Court grants oil block’s forfeiture

    Malabu: Court grants oil block’s forfeiture

    A Federal High Court in  Abuja has granted an order of interim forfeiture of an oil well  being managed by Shell petroleum Development Company (SPDC) pending the conclusion of its investigation and prosecution of all identified culprits by the The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    The order was granted following EFCC’s  claim that it has conducted a painstaking investigation into the case both in Nigeria and offshore which revealed that Malabu Oil and Gas Limited and Shell allegedly secured OPL245 through fraudulent scheme involving high scale bribery and corruption by top management of the company.

    EFCC) on Thursday explained how some highly placed Nigerians, including ex-ministers and multinational oil companies allegedly defrauded the country of billions of dollars through the now notorious Malabu oil deal.

    The commission also revealed how the former Attorney- General of the Federation (AGF), Mohammed Adoke, allegedly aided the payment of $1.2b bribe to ex- Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dan Etete, using his position in the President Goodluck Jonathan’s government.

    It said further findings revealed that the federal government was defrauded by and Malabu Oil and Gas Limited by under- paying $210m as signature bonus on the OPL 245.

    The commission also shed light into how the former Head of State, late Gen Sani Abacha, Etete (who was Petroleum Minister under Abacha) and Hassan Adamu (Nigerian Ambassador to the United States under Abacha) allegedly used their positions to influence the unlawful allocation of OPL 245 to Malabu Oil.

    After listening to EFCC’s lawyer, Jonson Ojogbane, moved the motion, Justice John Tosho granted the two interim orders of forfeiture sought by the commission.

  • ‘Crazy’ Paris Olympics opening ceremony on  serene Seine 

    ‘Crazy’ Paris Olympics opening ceremony on  serene Seine 

     When early proponents of hosting an unprecedented Olympics opening ceremony along the river Seine first pitched the idea to the then-head of Paris police, he was dead-set against it.

    “It’s madness,” Didier Lallement said in 2021, according to two sources, citing the vast logistical and security challenges of throwing such an ambitious event in a city still marked by a series of 2015 Islamist attacks that killed 130 people.

    With the spectacular floating parade due to set off along the Seine on Friday evening, President Emmanuel Macron will hope Lallement’s doubts prove ill-founded.

    “At the beginning, it seemed to be a crazy and not very serious idea,” Macron told foreign reporters at the Elysee palace on Monday. “But we decided it was the right moment to deliver this crazy idea and make it real.”

    France has rolled out its biggest ever security operation to safeguard the Games and its blockbuster opening ceremony. Officials say there is no direct threat to the Games, but say they have so far foiled two suspected attacks.

    Up to three billion people are expected to tune in for the opening ceremony, in which athletes will sail 3 1/2 miles down the Seine against one of the world’s most stunning backdrops.

    Organisers have largely kept their plans for the ceremony under wraps, but Thomas Jolly, the artistic director for the event, spoke this week of “a large fresco” celebrating “the relationship that Paris and France maintains with the world.”

    Lallement’s office, the General Secretariat for the Sea where he now works, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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    Whether France pulls it off remains to be seen. But just getting everyone on board with the idea pitched by Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet to Macron in 2019 was a major battle.

    The seed of the idea came to Estanguet, a three-time Olympics canoeing champion, after he witnessed the opening ceremony of the 2018 Youth Olympics, which was held in the streets of Buenos Aires and attended by more than 200,000 people, his advisers said.

    Estanguet wanted to throw “away the rule book” for Paris 2024, they said. So he tasked Paris 2024 Executive Director Thierry Reboul, a former Air France advertising chief now in charge of the Olympic ceremony, with finding an original idea.

    Inspiration struck in 2019, when Reboul was strolling along the Seine – the opening ceremony would take place on the river.

    Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo told Reuters she was keen from the get-go. But not everyone agreed. Aside from Lallement, police unions were also against the high-risk river ceremony, union officials said.

    However, Macron was immediately seduced by the idea, and pushed sceptical police and intelligence officials to make it happen, sources close to the president said.

    “I don’t want to know what you think, I want to know how we can do it’,” a source close to Macron recalled him saying.

    Macron pledged to give police more headcount to secure the event. He also commissioned a confidential “feasibility report” which in 2021 concluded the Seine ceremony was possible under certain conditions, with fewer spectators and more police.

    Macron made the announcement public in late 2021 to ensure there would be no going back, the source close to him said, but has said there are back-up plans if the event can’t proceed.

    Many foreign delegations expressed scepticism, and at one point some even threatened to cancel their attendance, another French source with knowledge of the matter said.

    “They were told no stone would be left unturned,” the source said, adding that French authorities decided to be “overzealous” by deploying 45,000 police to secure the event, more than triple what is used for a regular Bastille Day celebration in the whole Paris region.

    “It’s huge, but it’s the little exaggeration that was needed so we’re secure and confident, and we have clearly reassured the 200 delegations that gave their green light,” the source said.

    In the end, thousands of manholes were wielded shut on the route, cellars and Airbnb rentals along the river were searched, and even the catacombs were checked, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said this week.

    Macron threw one final curve ball with his decision to dissolve parliament less than two months before the opening ceremony. The resulting election has yielded a caretaker government, but officials say planning is unchanged.

    Mayor Hidalgo, a Socialist who rarely has a kind word for Macron’s pro-business government, had to work hand in hand with Darmanin, a conservative, to make the ceremony happen.

    “I told him: ‘We succeed together, or we fail together,” she told Reuters.

  • Etete to First Lady: Leave Dickson alone

    A former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Chief Dan Etete, came down hard on the First Lady, Patience Jonathan and warned her to steer clear of the Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson.

    Etete, who fumed over the alleged meddlesomeness of Mrs. Jonathan in the affairs of the state cautioned her against involving herself in the internal politics of the state.

    The First Lady has been accused of erecting structures through the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) to deny Dickson re-election in 2016.

    Her activities had reportedly polarized the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into two antagonizing groups ahead of the February general election.

    She was said to have further demonstrated her enmity with the governor recently by refusing to have handshakes with Dickson during the burial ceremony of President Goodluck Jonathan’s younger sister, Nancy Jonathan-Olei in Otuoke, Ogbia.

    Disturbed by the development, Etete who spoke at the weekend in Yenagoa at an event to mark his 70th birthday, accused the First Lady of being “jealous” of the “exceptional performance” of Governor Dickson.

    The former minister promised to lead the fight to stop Mrs. Jonathan from further sabotaging the governor.

    Etete wondered why the First Lady was preoccupied with her Dickson-must-go project instead of clearing the path for her husband’s re-election.

    He further queried the status of the First Lady wondering who appointed her the “lord over Bayelsa to determine who becomes governor and who doesn’t.”

    “I am using this opportunity to warn the First Lady not to make the mistake of trying to dislodge Governor Dickson.

    “It is a known fact that Dickson has performed beyond the expectation of most Bayelsans, and that out of nothing but sheer jealousy the First Lady and her cheerleaders want him out to pave way for their selfish interests,” he said.

    The event had in attendance Governor Dickson and prominent Ijaw leaders such as Chief Edwin Clark, among others.

    Etete stated that his 15-year absence from Bayelsa had not affected his understanding of political events in the state.

     

  • UK probes Shell, ENI Nigerian oil block deal

    UK probes Shell, ENI Nigerian oil block deal

    British police is investigating a money-laundering allegation related to a big oil field bought by Shell and ENI spa from Nigeria for $1.3 billion, after most of the cash they paid ended up in a company linked to a former Nigerian petroleum minister.

    The probe concerns offshore block OPL 245, which industry sources say contains up to 9.23 billion barrels of crude – more than enough to keep China running for two and a half years – the ownership of which had been in dispute for more than a decade.

    “The proceeds of crime unit is investigating a money-laundering allegation in the United Kingdom in connection with OPL 245. The investigation is at an early stage,” a UK spokesman told Reuters.

    Transparency campaigners, who asked the UK to look into the matter, assert that Shell and ENI used the Nigerian government as a go-between to obscure the fact that they were dealing with former oil minister Dan Etete, who also has a 2007 money-laundering conviction in France related to bribes he was alleged to have taken when in government.

    In his capacity as petroleum minister, Etete awarded block OPL 245 in 1998 for a payment of just $2 million to Malabu Oil and Gas, a company in which he played a prominent role.

    The critics claim that Shell and ENI, which haven’t been accused of any legal wrongdoing, wanted to distance themselves from Etete given his reputation and his involvement in the original award of the oil block to Malabu.