Former Niger Delta
militant leader, Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, has called on the government of
President Muhammadu Buhari to pay contractors of the oil pipeline surveillance
project in the country.
Asari-Dokubo, who is
one of the former Niger Delta agitators awarded pipeline surveillance contract
by the Federal Government, told Punch that the three-month
deal elapsed on June 15.
He said that the
ex-minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke, did not sign for
the payment of the pipeline surveillance contract before she left office.
The pipeline protection
project, which cut across Lagos, Ogun, Bayelsa, Ondo, Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta
States, was executed from March 15, 2015 to June 15.
Asari-Dokubo urged
President Buhari to pay the contractors their money if he was truly committed
to the rule of law.
“Diezani
(Allison-Madueke) did not sign payment for the contract before she left. All
across the six states (Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa) where the
contract was awarded none of us were paid; none of the companies were paid. The
Federal Government should do what is needful by paying the money they owe. The
same mandate that was given to Buhari to become President was the same mandate
that was given to us in a legal and binding contract.
“If Buhari is
law-abiding and if his government respects the rule of law, the contractual
obligations will be followed. The contract was awarded to corporate entities by
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. We did not go in as individuals
and the corporate entities are regarded as individuals under the law. No
contract was awarded to any specific individual,” he said.
The former militant
added that he and other contractors would follow due process to get their money
from the Federal Government.
He appealed to the
President not to set a bad precedent where government will fail to pay
contractors who had executed their contracts.
“The same way they give
contract to people to lift oil; the same way they give Julius Berger contracts
to build roads; the same way they give people contracts to build houses; that
is the same way pipeline surveillance contracts were given to us. But they (FG)
are not paying for the work done. It is against the law of the land. Paying us
our contract money is the right thing he (Buhari) ought to do and for any
reasonable human being,” Asari-Dokubo said.
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