Asari Dokubo tells Buhari To Pay Pipeline Contractors

The former Niger Delta militant leader, Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to pay contractors of the pipeline surveillance project, saying that they had duly completed the deal on June 15.

                                                          Asari Dokubo

 Speaking about the pipeline protection project which started in March, he told The Punch that the ex-petroleum minister Diezani Allison-Madueke did not sign for any payment for the contractors’ services before leaving office.

 He therefore told Buhari to fulfill the provisions of the contracts and pay the money owed.

 “Diezani did not sign payment for the contract before she left. All across the six states (Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa) where the contract was awarded none of us were paid; none of the companies were paid. The federal government should do what is needful by paying the money they owe. The same mandate that was given to Buhari to become president was the same mandate that was given to us in a legal and binding contract.

 “If Buhari is law-abiding and if his government respects the rule of law, the contractual obligations will be followed. The contract was awarded to corporate entities by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. We did not go in as individuals and the corporate entities are regarded as individuals under the law. No contract was awarded to any specific individual.

 “The same way they give contract to people to lift oil; the same way they give Julius Berger contracts to build roads; the same way they give people contracts to build houses; that is the same way pipeline surveillance contracts were given to us. But they (FG) are not paying for the work done. It is against the law of the land. Paying us our contract money is the right thing he (Buhari) ought to do and for any reasonable human being.”

 In a recent development the federal government appealed to the ex-militants of the Niger Delta not to resort to violence over the delay in the payment of the May allowances owed to beneficiaries. The authorities called on them for patience with the new administration which needs time to settle down to the serious business of government.