The Presidency on Thursday rubbished the Mallam Nuhu Ribadu-led Report on Petroleum Special Task Force. It said the report was incomplete and incapable of indicting anyone.
At a press conference in Abuja, President Goodluck Jonathan’s Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, based his criticism of the report on one of its paragraphs.
Okupe said the paragraph “is an obvious DISCLAIMER (emphasis his) issued
by the committee on the entire report, makes it impossible under our
laws to indict or punish anyone except, and until, the Federal
Government fully verifies and reconciles the facts as recommended by the
committee in its submission to the government.”
According to Okupe, the offending paragraph in the report says, “Due to the time frame of the assignment, some of the data used could not be independently verified and the task force recommends that the government should conduct such necessary verification and reconciliations.”
Okupe lambasted Ribadu for the politicisation of the report. He alleged that there was a major public disinformation campaign which, he said, was calculated to overheat the polity and incite Nigerians against the President because of the report.
Okupe said, “For instance on his Facebook page a while ago, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu remarked that he resisted overtures to make him compromise the report and rather than compromising the report, he stayed on the side of the Nigerian people.
“His claim of an overture to him to compromise the report is perfidious and false. We respectfully enjoin Mallam Nuhu Ribadu to be patriotic enough to name the proponents of this compromise.
“If Ribadu claims that to be serving on the committee he is on the side of the Nigeria people, on whose side is President Jonathan whose idea it was in the first place to set up the task Force and approved the appointment of Mallam Ribadu as chairman of the committee?”
When contacted, Ribadu said he was out of Abuja and would react appropriately when he returns.
According to Okupe, the offending paragraph in the report says, “Due to the time frame of the assignment, some of the data used could not be independently verified and the task force recommends that the government should conduct such necessary verification and reconciliations.”
Okupe lambasted Ribadu for the politicisation of the report. He alleged that there was a major public disinformation campaign which, he said, was calculated to overheat the polity and incite Nigerians against the President because of the report.
Okupe said, “For instance on his Facebook page a while ago, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu remarked that he resisted overtures to make him compromise the report and rather than compromising the report, he stayed on the side of the Nigerian people.
“His claim of an overture to him to compromise the report is perfidious and false. We respectfully enjoin Mallam Nuhu Ribadu to be patriotic enough to name the proponents of this compromise.
“If Ribadu claims that to be serving on the committee he is on the side of the Nigeria people, on whose side is President Jonathan whose idea it was in the first place to set up the task Force and approved the appointment of Mallam Ribadu as chairman of the committee?”
When contacted, Ribadu said he was out of Abuja and would react appropriately when he returns.
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