By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Nigeria’s House of Representatives has fingered the country’s chief law officer, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, of meddling into the probe process of stolen crude oil in the country from 2014 till date.
The House Ad hoc Committee on Oil Theft headed by Hon. Mark Gbillah also accused the International Police (INTERPOL) of interference, wondering why Interpol, following the request of the Ministry of Justice invited a whistleblower assisting the committee with its probe shortly after the committee commenced its assignment.
The committee said any such request should pass through the local police not the Attorney General.
The whistleblower alleged illegal sale of 48 million barrels of Nigeria’s bonny light crude in China in 2015, which value stands at 2.4 billion dollars, an allegation the House committee is probing.
“There is a group called Advocacy for Good Governance and Free Nigeria. That is the so-called Civil Society Organisation that wrote to the Attorney General claiming there was this international gang of blackmailers trying to blackmail senior officials of the government. How come the Attorney General responded to allegations by a faceless body? That means the Attorney General himself did not ascertain the veracity of any organisation”, the Committee Chairman Hon. Mark Gbillah stated.
Concerned about the safety of the whistleblower, the Committee urged the Ministry of Justice not be make direct requests to Interpol, but instead, go through Nigeria police.
Interpol by law is only expected to respond to requests by local law enforcement agencies, the committee noted.
In response, the Head of the National Central Bureau of Interpol Nigeria, Garba Umar, exonerated himself from the interference allegation, stating that the Bureau only acted on the request of the AGF.
