FG must pay ex-militants, says Asari-Dokubo over oil pipeline surveillance project

Firstclass newsline gathered that former Niger Delta militant leader,
Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, has called on the government of President
Muhammadu Buhari to pay contractors of the oil pipeline surveillance
project in the country.
Asari-Dokubo, who is one of the former Niger Delta agitators awarded
pipeline surveillance contract by the Federal Government, told
firstclass newsline that the three-month deal elapsed on June 15.
He said that the ex-minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani
Allison-Madueke, did not sign for the payment of the pipeline
surveillance contract before she left office.
The pipeline protection project, which cut across Lagos, Ogun,
Bayelsa, Ondo, Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta States, was executed from
March 15, 2015 to June 15.
Asari-Dokubo urged President Buhari to pay the contractors their money
if he was truly committed to the rule of law.
"Diezani (Allison-Madueke) 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," he said.
The former militant added that he and other contractors would follow
due process to get their money from the Federal Government.
He appealed to the President not to set a bad precedent where
government will fail to pay contractors who had executed their
contracts.
"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," Asari-Dokubo said.
Firstclassnewsline.net