The House of Representatives fought back yesterday, accusing the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and 18 oil marketers of planning to rubbish its report on fuel subsidy.
The report, which indicted NNPC and the marketers for stealing the subsidy fund, is slated for debate on the floor of the House today.
The House committee on fuel subsidy fund management recommended that NNPC and the oil marketers should refund N1.07 trillion to the Federal Government.
In a statement issued yesterday by the Committee on Media and Public Affairs Chairman, Zakari Mohammed, the House said the marketers’ recourse to the court was an attempt to undermine the work of the probe panel.
He accused the NNPC of trying to undermine the report with the claim that it might have been doctored.
The statement reads: “Following the presentation of the report on subsidy regime, several individuals, marketers and corporate organisations not favoured by the report have sought to impugn its authenticity.
“Coming under various guise, including but not limited to buck-passing and alleged non-invitation to the investigative hearing, several of them are desperately seeking to undermine the outcome of the report consideration billed for tomorrow (today).
“Despite repeated appeals by the Farouk Lawan-led committee to all those who had anything to do with the country’s subsidy regime between 2009 and 2011 to come forward and make representations before it, some of these organisations conveniently chose to stay away- obviously because they have something to hide –only to turn around now and claim non-invitation.
“Regarding the group of 18 marketers who were deeply involved in the subsidy payouts, but declined to appear before the ad hoc committee, the purported recourse to legal action is, in our opinion, an orchestrated plot to scuttle the findings of the committee.”
Mohammed chided the NNPC over its allegation that the report might have been doctored.
He said: “For the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC), claims that the Ad hoc Committee report may have been altered to embarrass it(the NNPC), is only in tandem with the current reckoning of its spokesman as a ‘Chief Denial Officer’.
The corporation must have been in possession of another version of the report for it to assert that the one officially laid before the House of Representatives on Wednesday, April 18, 2012 was altered.”
TheNation