CEM REPORT, ENVIRONMENT | The Ministry of Environment has been petitioned against contracts awarded for the execution of the Ogoni land cleanup.
The petition which called for an immediate termination of all Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) contracts also alleged massive looting of funds meant for the execution of the cleanup to the tune of $1 billion.
The petition by the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People in the United States of America (MOSOP-USA) addressed to the Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi also alleged that the management of HYPREP intends to award phantom projects just a few months before the winding down of the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government.
The group, in a petition signed by the President, Public Relations Officer and Secretary, Augustine Kpuinen, Samuel Nweemee, and Keesiiop Kpooni, respectively, noted that there must be an immediate termination of the “phantom contracts” and no bills or payments be made to that effect.
“Less than three months to the expiration of the current administration, credible sources reveal to us that the current aHYPREP board, with the active connivance of some political gladiators and gullible Ogoni stakeholders, is in a frenzy busy awarding phantom contracts running into billions of naira to themselves, cronies, hangers-on, and political associates, by either bypassing due process or fast-tracking the awards through the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP).”
“It has come to the attention of MOSOP-USA that your deed on the awards of phantom contracts in connivance with the HYPREP board to some few individuals from within and outside Ogoni, which they intend to embezzle due to their selfish and self-centred interest and their cronies. MOSOP-USA is truly in possession of some very credible evidence, including court injunctions confirming that the present HYPREP Board has perfected strategies to loot and empty the account of the agency before the expiration of the tenure of the present administration on 29th May 2023.”
According to Guardian, the group warned that it would institute a legal suit against the minister and HYPREP Board at the international court if nothing is done to stop the alleged move to further loot the treasury of the interventionist agency.
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“If further action other than what we have requested occurs, then there will be a court suit against you in the Nigeria Court of Justice, including the International Court of Justice. ”
“This is not a threat, but a promise and an action that has already been established awaiting your reaction to the effect. There is no time to further play on any Ogoni properties.”
