Presidency Backs Off $9bn Judgment Debt Probe

On Monday, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said it has launched a probe in to the $9bn judgment debt suffered by the federal government to Messrs P & ID, an Irish United Kingdom based oil and gas servicing company.

Abubakar Malami, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation also said no one involved in the contract-gone-awry will go unpunished.

Malami, spoke while unveiling his agenda as he returned to the Ministry of Justice after his inauguration on Wednesday by President Muhammadu Buhari, questioned the sincerity of those behind the contract awarded in 2010.

The chairman of the Commission, Ibrahim Magu, said the anti-graft agency will get to the bottom of the contract with the aim of unraveling some government officials involved in the contract that has now left a big liability for the government.

But despite the effort of the EFCC to unmask individuals instrumental to the liability, critic of the Commission and the government said it’s not likely to make a headway considering the caliber of persons involved in the matter.

Besides, the critics say the President Muhamadu Buhari led federal government is likely to take much of the blame at the end of the whole saga.

The suggestion came on the crest of a statement issued on Monday by Reno Omokiri, spokesman of former President Goodluck Jonathan that his principal has nothing do with the controversial contract.

“Now, Nigerians should stop there and ponder. This transaction occurred in January of 2010. Former President Jonathan was not President in January 2010.

During that time, he was completely shut out of power by an unelected cabal that ran Nigeria during the period of the ill health of the late President Yar’adua, before the National Assembly courageously intervened on February 9, 2010,” Omokiri said in the statement.

Since the former presidential aide issued the rebuttal, the magazine learned that the mood in Aso Rock, Nigeria’s seat of power has changed suddenly on the initial belief that Nigerians will blame the former president for the multi-billion dollars liability.

Sources in the presidency told the magazine that close presidential aides are currently in dilemma on how to respond to the issues raised by Omokiri.

For instance, Omokiri had blamed Buhari for allowing the matter to drag for years without finding amicable settlement with the other party.

‘So, if the Buhari administration is looking for someone to blame for this judgment against Nigeria, it should look at its own cabal,” he said.

Therefore, analysts say any investigation into the matter by the EFCC will end up embarrassing the presidency.

Adebisi Okunola, a public analyst in Lagos said “The former President Jonathan has done his part by reaching an $800m out of court settlement with the Messrs P & ID but could not implement because he was already leaving power at the time in 2015.

“He has left the matter in the handing over note for President Buhari. But the present government decided to handle the matter in its own way. Do you then blame the former president for a liability incurred as a result of decisions made by this government?”

He explained that whatever the EFCC is doing on the matter will “end up in the government shelf” because every fact points to the fact “the decision by the administration on the Messrs P & ID issue was not well thought out, raising questions that the president must have been ill-advised by some presidential aides.”

On the EFCC investigation, a presidency source said “Magu must watch the body language of the presidency before carrying out any investigations. The way things are, it doesn’t seem the administration will favour any probe that is likely to indict the president.”