Mele Kyari Under Tension as Senate Threatens to Sack and Jail Him

Yesterday, the Senate threatened to remove and sentence the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, and other top executive officers of petroleum subsidiaries.

The Senate issued the sack of the executive officers whose agencies were involved in Nigerian refineries' Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) projects.

The Senate said that from 2010 till date, over N12 trillion has been spent on Turn Around Maintenance. The Senate also noted that it has records of over $592 million, €4.8 million, and £3.4 million spent between 2010 till date on TAM, yet none of the refineries are working, the NATION reports.

Senator Isah Jibrin, the Chairman of the Senate Ad-hoc Committee investigating the various Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) projects of Nigerian Refineries, issued the threats following the failure of Kyari and other executive officers of its subsidiaries to attend an interactive session organized by the panel.

Those who were invited but did not show up include the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and others.

Senator Jibrin said that the Senate wants to find solutions to all the leakages, as many of them exist. “We will ask for refund and dismissal of all the chief executives involved in the Turn Around Maintenance,” he said.

He added,

• We sent them an invitation more than two weeks ago requesting documents and the documents have not been released after two weeks. So, we want the chief executives to be present.

• More worrisome is between 2010 and 2020, the sum of N4.8 trillion was said to have been spent on operational expenses.

• How do you incure operational expenses that have to do with the purchase of raw materials and similar expenses on factories that are moribund? How do we come about operational expenses? We need to know.

• These are issues that Nigerians want to know; they want solutions to all these leakages. We know they are leakages. Whether you accept it or not they are leakages and they are all forms of compromise within your various establishments.

• We know and we will not hesitate to escalate it to the highest possible level, including the possibility of refund and outright dismissal of some of the heads of some of these agencies and possibly go to jail.

Also adding to Jibrin's statement, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi said that NNPCL and the management of other agencies represented should be sent back to tell their Chief Executives to appear in person rather than send representatives.

Senator Sumaila Kawu added, 

• We are not in the Senate for personal functions. We are representing the entire legislators. You in the civil service, we know how you are operating.

• We are in a very serious business. At the end, you will be at the receiving end. Nigerians are not satisfied with what you are doing and you will be at the receiving end.

• We are independent. We can go to any length to defend our people. It is the constitution that  established you. So, we must agree how to operate.

• We will suspend this interaction until when you are ready. We have 100 ways through which we can achieve our legislative work. We just wanted to give you fair hearing and you must respect the constitution.