Adams Oshiomhole, senator representing Edo North, has alleged that the daughter of Senate President Godswill Akpabio was appointed to a lucrative position in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) without following due process.
Oshiomhole made the claim during an interview on Mic On Podcast, hosted by Seun Okinbaloye, political correspondent with Channels Television.
The allegation comes days after the Senate declined to adopt Oshiomhole’s motion seeking a bench warrant against Mele Kyari, former group chief executive officer of the NNPCL, over an ongoing investigation into alleged financial irregularities running into trillions of naira.
Speaking on the controversy, Oshiomhole said a former chief financial officer of the NNPCL had suggested that lawmakers themselves were beneficiaries of the system they were investigating.
“The second is my response to the former chief financial controller of NNPC, whose tenure the investigation covers, who pointedly said to the committee that it is you people,” Oshiomhole said.
“And now I know that the senate president, they said his daughter was taken by Mele Kyari and put in what Nigerians would call a juicy position that she probably didn’t merit.”
The former Edo governor alleged that successive NNPCL leaders had turned the company into a family enterprise by facilitating employment opportunities for relatives and associates.
“They have turned NNPC into a traditional institution where the son inherits the throne of the father,” he said.
“Past leaders of NNPC have employed their children, their uncles, their cousins and their in-laws into various aspects of NNPC and put them in different positions.”
“If they carry out the payroll of NNPC, you will find that they have almost turned the top level into a family business.”
Oshiomhole, however, maintained that there was nothing wrong with children of senators or other public officials working for the national oil company provided they were qualified and recruited through transparent processes.
“Are the children of senators not Nigerians?” he asked.
“You can only make an issue if you give them a job they did not merit, they are not qualified for, and you didn’t follow the right procedure.”
He alleged that Akpabio’s daughter was not recruited through the standard process.
“Somebody told me that the senate president’s daughter was taken, not through a regular interview, not through the normal process,” he said.
WHY I MOVED FOR A BENCH WARRANT ON KYARI
The senator also defended his call for a bench warrant against Kyari, insisting that the Senate possesses constitutional powers to compel individuals to appear before its committees.
“This same senate president is on record reminding us that when a committee sits, it exercises the powers of the senate president,” he said.
“We have the right to issue a bench warrant.”
Oshiomhole argued that while the Senate president could choose not to exercise such powers, he could not dismiss provisions expressly contained in the constitution.
“You may decline to exercise your powers, but you cannot pronounce that what is in the constitution is irrelevant,” he said.
Asked whether he still believed a bench warrant should be issued against the former NNPCL boss, Oshiomhole replied: “Yes.”
