The Nigerian presidency has ordered a discreet investigation of
former president, Goodluck Jonathan, and his wife, Patience, over the
spate of bombings of oil and gas facilities in the Niger Delta, PREMIUM
TIMES has learnt.
A top government source, quoting intelligence reports, told this
newspaper that it had now been established that some of the oil
installations bombed in the Niger Delta had actually been mined while
President Jonathan was in power, just before the 2015 election, by some
of the militants and operatives known to be very close to him.
“The mining was meant to be a “Plan B should they be
removed from Aso
Rock,” said the official, who requested not to be named because of the
sensitive nature of the matter.
“The plan then was to cause confusion if the 2015 presidential
election did not go as expected, in favour of the then incumbent.”
“However, when the former president surprisingly conceded the
election to President Mohammadu Buhari, according to the source, there
was both disappointment and confusion in the camp of those who had
designed the plan, causing a suspension of the whole agenda.
“But by February this year, it was learnt, the plan was reopened as several of the backers were getting investigated on different corruption cases.
“Mr. Jonathan himself himself was concerned that himself and his wife
could be prosecuted, including on money-laundering charges where
investigators said evidence against the wife has already been amassed.
“It was at that point that the bombing activities under the banner of the Niger Delta Avengers started.
Even the former President himself had been reported while on a
foreign trip as saying he knew he was under probe. This was after the
plan to start the bombing had become fully operational according to
intelligence reports.”
Last June, during a live interview on Bloomberg Television, Mr.
Jonathan said he was aware that anti-graft agencies were investigating
him.
“I am being investigated, yes, investigations are going on,” Mr.
Jonathan had said after delivering a speech on his five-year presidency
in London.
Mr. Jonathan’s comments came at the same time the Niger Delta
governors were reportedly prevailing on President Buhari to drop
corruption charges against some highly placed persons from the region.
“After the Plan B was restored, the ‘militant operatives’ who mined
the oil and gas installations only had to arrange for how they would be
detonated at a distance at the wish and timing of the NDA, their backers
and sponsors said to include the former president, his wife, Government
Tompolo, Mr. Kinglsey Kuku and Olisa Metuh among others.
“The mining was done by some of the militants that the previous
government had trained under the amnesty programme, and those who
acquired the needed expertise, besides their knowledge of the Niger
Delta creeks and terrain.
“Experts working with the federal government are now said to be
working to determine how to discover if there are still many more oil
and gas installations that have been mined and explore the republic earlier this month.
Mr. Jonathan could not be reached on Thursday morning to comment for this story. He did not answer or return calls.
So also was Garba Shehu, the senior special assistant to the
President on media and publicity. He did not answer or return the calls
made to him on Wednesday night.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, could not be reached.
However, another presidency spokesperson, ‘Laolu Akande, said he was
aware Nigerian security agencies were “massively investigating the Niger
Delta bombings”.
“But security or intelligence reports are usually confidential. You can’t expect me or anyone else to disclose their contents.”
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