The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has challenged the Federal Government to publicly name oil thieves and high-profile financiers of terrorism in the country.
Recall that the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPC, Mele Kyari, on Tuesday alleged that highly placed Nigerians, including religious, community leaders, and government officials, were fully involved in crude oil theft.
The former Anambra State Governor on Wednesday on his verified Twitter page (https://twitter.com/PeterObi/
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. The 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.”
The PUNCH had earlier reported in February that the FG, through the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, disclosed that the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit uncovered 96 financiers of terrorism.
However, Mohammed did not give the names of the sponsors and companies linked with terrorism.
He had said, “For its part, the analysis by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, in 2020-2021, revealed 96 financiers of terrorism in Nigeria, 424 associates/supporters of the financiers, involvement of about 123 companies and 33 Bureaux de Change, in addition to identifying 26 suspected bandits/kidnappers and seven co-conspirators. The analysis has resulted in the arrest of 45 suspects who will soon face prosecution and seizure of assets.”
