President Bola Tinubu has been called upon to set up an independent Judicial Panel of Enquiry, comprising eminent personalities, to probe the allegations of high-level corruption in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd, (NNPC) and the World Bank operations in Nigeria.

A group, under the aegis of Journalists for Democratic Rights JODER, made the call in a statement signed by Comrade Akniwale Kasali, copy of which was made available to newsmen on Thursday, disclosing that the demand was contained in a letter sent to President Tinubu on Wednesday.

The group demanded that the president should immediately set up the panel of enquiry, listing membership to include Mr Femi Falana (SAN), Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim, Olisa Agbakoba, (SAN) and other credible Nigerians.

It would be recalled that the Minister for Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye had alleged in a trending video that Nigerian officials of World Bank take 40percent from all loans obtained by Nigeria, and further alleged that some members of the National Assembly do demand and receive bribe from loans collected on behalf of 200million Nigerians while Minister(s) were entitled to 5percent of the loan.

Also, on the scandal rocking the oil and gas sector, the Chairman, Dangote Refinery, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, alleged that some NNPC officials had set up refineries in Malta with a plot that would automatically stifle the prospect of oil and gas production and destroy indigenous growth of the industry at the homefront.

The pro-democracy group established in 1996, while making the call, described the two revelations on the World Bank and the NNPC as the “biggest scam in African recent history,” saying that Nigerians needed not just a panel of enquiry, but the one that would command public respect.

It sadly noted sadly that corruption is at the heart of Nigeria’s underdevelopment and the root cause of violence and extremism that had taken foothold in many parts of the country, urging President Tinubu to appreciate the weight of the illicit practices linked to the NNPC and the World Bank operations in Nigeria which it said further dipped Nigeria’s image into the soak-away of global disrepute under his watch.

The group strongly urged the president to give hope to local and international observers of the ugly trend by setting up the probe panel that would investigate the series of criminal practices associated with the World Bank officials and the NNPC, noting that the bank officials were both Nigerians and their European rogue cartels whose main motive was to keep the country as a satellite state that would never develop, while hiding under the pretences of false assistance and development partnership.

“The first action we expect from President Tinubu is to suspend NNPC officials whose names have been associated with the scam. The NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, and the Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, should be suspended immediately.

“The Federal Government should also demand the immediate suspension of the World Bank representative in Nigeria pending the outcome of the investigation,” JODER demanded.

Speaking further, JODER said the revelations by the Women Affairs Minister and Alhaji Dangote had brutally shaken the faith of Nigerians beyond measure, raising the fear that redemption was impossible.

“The president needs to give hope to a despairing population that seems to have resigned to hopelessness and frustration.

“These two issues of high level corruption must never be swept under the carpet. A probe is what is necessary for Nigeria to regain a bit of her totally lost reputation on the global map.

“With these revelations, it show clearly that World Bank loan is a big scam, a conscious plot to stunt Nigeria’s search for economic freedom.

“It shows the loans largely go into private pockets. Little wonder Nigerian Government Officials are desperate to seek loans all the time, which the National Assembly is always anxious to approve, but not for development but to largely oil the pockets of private individuals. The development is a human tragedy of unprecedented proportion,” the pro-democracy group lamented. (Nigerian Tribune)

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