Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
The
leadership of the Green Chamber is struggling to invite a People's
Democratic Party chieftain, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan over the Malabu
oil scam.
A major is brewing in the House of Representatives Adhoc Committee
investigating the alleged fraud in the award of Oil Prospecting License
(OPL) 245 to Malabu Oil and Gas, with lawmakers from the South-South,
poised to thwart moves to have ex-president Goodluck Jonathan appear
before it.
The Razak Atunwa-led committee had on July 5, written Jonathan to
explain his part in the deal, particularly as his name had been
mentioned a number of times in relation with the matter, which saw the
country fraudulently losing huge revenues.
But the former president is yet to respond to the letter even as the House of Representatives prepares to resume next week.
Signals that inviting Jonathan would divide the committee along
zonal and party lines came to fore months back as it took the committee
two days of extensive meetings before it could issue the July statement
on its decision to investigate the role played by the ex-president on
the award of OPL 245, which covers a large area of 1,958 square
kilometers including two deep water fields and is reckoned to hold an
estimated 9.2 billion barrels of crude oil.
Despite his silence on the invitation from the committee, Jonathan
has rejected claims of guilt on the Malabu deal through his media aide,
Ikechukwu Eze.
Daily Sun investigations showed that members of the committee,
especially those from the South-South, are unhappy that the committee
went ahead to write the former president, insisting that it was a great
embarrassment to them.
“Whenever we meet, the meeting is going to be contentious and
any attempt to indict the former president may be hotly contested,” a member of the committee who pleaded anonymity in a follow-up phone chat revealed.
“You could see a lot of political interests at play over the
issue. Many members will be asking if this was the same treatment given
to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, during the power sector probe by
this same House. They will want to know what has changed and why
Jonathan’s case is different,” a source in the committee told Daily Sun.
Regardless, Atunwa, in a phone interview with Daily Sun over the
weekend, said members of the committee will decide on the next line of
action with regard to the former president.
The lawmaker had explained before the annual vacation of the
National Assembly that there is a need to bring to a close the probe and
that the testimony of the former president was the only missing item in
the report.
“The committee is going to call for a meeting immediately the
House resumes. The opinions of members is going to shape the committee’s
decision on the matter,” he said.
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