PREMIUM Times has uncovered
one of the most fraudulent crude oil deals executed by the Goodluck Jonathan
administration, which saw a campaign official and some other suspected cronies
of the ex-president smiling to the banks with up to 50 per cent commission from
the proceeds of a foreign crude oil lifting contract, turning them into instant
billionaires.
In the middle of the shady
deal is a Nigerian oil and gas company, Sarb Energy, which acted as a dodgy
middleman in a non-transparent government-to-government crude oil sale between
the Nigerian and the Zambian governments.
Sarb Energy, incorporated on
September 19, 2008, was specifically established for the controversial deal.
This newspaper has
established that Sarb Energy has link with at least one political associate of
former President Jonathan, whose five-year reign as leader of Africa’s largest
oil producer was characterized by allegations of massive corruption, especially
in the oil and gas sector.
The company’s directors at
inception, according to records at the Corporate Affairs Commission, were Nimi
Barigha-Amange, a former Peoples Democratic Party’s senator from Bayelsa
(2007-2011), who also served as director of planning, research and strategy for
Mr. Jonathan’s re-election campaign in 2014; Sylva Ogbogu, a retired Brigadier
General; Akpan Ekpene, the managing director of the company, who executed the
deal; and Ogba Properties and Investment Company Limited, a company whose real
ownership remained unclear.
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