Malabu oil deal: Apologise to Etete — Ijaw youths tell FG
The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide has asked the Federal Government to apologise to the former minister of Petroleum Resource, Dan Etete, following the court ruling in Milan, Italy, that absolved him from bribery or any fraud in the OML 245 oil deal.
Etete, an Ijaw son, had in the past three years faced trials in Italy and United Kingdom after it was alleged that he was involved in graft during the Malabu oil deal.
However, a court in Milan handling the matter dismissed the charges against the former minister as unfounded, maintaining that Etete had no case to answer.
But the IYC in a statement issued on Tuesday by its Spokesman, Ebilade Ekerefe, explained that with the Milan court ruling, Etete, Bayelsa State, where he hails from and the entire Ijaw nation had been vindicated.
The IYC spokesman added that apart from apologising to Etete, the Federal Government should as a matter of urgency return seized property belonging to Etete to him.
Maintaining that the Federal Government was always looking for any loophole to drag the names of prominent Ijaw persons with opportunities at the federal level to the mud. Ekerefe alleged that northerners involved in mega corruption deals had been protected.
He recalled that similar unfair treatments were meted out on a former Director-General, Department Security Services, Mr. Seiyefa Mathew; a former NIMASA Boss, Mr. Patrick Akpobolomemi and foremost Ijaw Leader, High Chief Government Ekpemukpolo also known as Tompolo.
“They were all falsely accused, put on forceful trials and exonerated from all trumped-up charges brought against them by the federal government. We commend the Milan Court and many others for their sound ruling on the matter involving Chief Etete.
“We wonder why others involved in oil business from other regions of the North are not questioned and prosecuted. We call on the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari to tender an unreserved apology to Chief Dan Etete for the physical, psychological and financial trauma the three years fictitious trial had taken on him and the people of the region.
“We are worried that the Federal Government is waging a selective war against businessmen and politicians of Ijaw extraction. The so-called war against corruption in the oil sector appears to be targetted at institutions and individuals from the Niger Delta region, particularly of Ijaw extraction,” Ekerefe said.
