The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP, says the decision of the Federal House of Representatives to launch an investigation into the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP, contract scam is a welcomed development.
MOSOP also declared that the manner in which President Buhari’s administration handles the Ogoni Cleanup contract scam will determine how seriously the government’s anti-corruption war will be taken by the world at large.
MOSOP’s President, Fegalo Nsuke made this known on Friday at a MOSOP general meeting in Gokana, Rivers State.
He explained that HYPREP’s scandal is a test for the government of president Muhammadu Buhari and its claims to fighting corruption in the country.
He commended the federal lawmakers for ordering a restriction on the accounts of HYPREP and urged the legislators to match words with action by following up on the order and ensuring that the Ogoni cleanup thieves are brought to account.
Referring to last week’s detailed report by Premium Times which spelt out how HYPREP awarded contracts to companies that were not registered even at the time of pre-qualification assessment and the award of contracts worth billions of Naira to companies that have no experience at all in cleanup activity, the MOSOP President said HYPREP was a shame on President Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade and should not be protected.
Nsuke called for the dissolution of the Governing Council of HYPREP which took the decisions and demanded a probe into the activities of HYPREP noting that the public will be shocked at the level of financial mismanagement that has taken place in HYPREP.
The MOSOP President said that though MOSOP was not completely surprised at the scandal given that at the time the contracts were awarded, one of the members of the HYPREP governing council was battling with an integrity problem following corruption investigations with the EFCC for bribery and financial mismanagement of MOSOP funds and has not been able to defend himself even though external pressures appear to have compelled the EFCC to halt investigations.
The MOSOP president said a thorough investigation into the corruption in HYPREP is therefore inevitable not just to save the Ogoni cleanup program but to rescue the dwindling image of the president Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade.
