A former member of the House of Representatives, Israel Sunny-Goli, has dismissed allegations that he is planning a protest to compel the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to commence an investigation into investments made by the Nigerian Content development Monitoring Board, NCDMB, under Engr Simbi Kesiye Wabote.
A group, Niger Delta Justice Forum, NDJF, had recently said it had uncovered a plot being bankrolled by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Oil, Heineken Lokpobiri, using Sunny-Goli to rent a crowd to protest in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Yenagoa, against Wabote and former Minister of State (Petroleum), Chief Timipre Sylva.
Sunny-Goli who represented Nembe/ Brass Federal constituency in the 9th National Assembly, in a statement on Tuesday, accused NDJF of being bankrolled to publish falsehood in the attempt to divert the attention of the public from a petition which bordered on the misappropriation of public funds by the Wabote-led NCDMB.
While dismissing the allegations, Sunny-Goli maintained that his decision to submit a petition to the EFCC was borne out of personal conviction that public funds must be accounted for.
He said: “I wish to state emphatically, that I am not a coward who hides under fictitious characters to throw darts, which explains why I personally went down to the EFCC office in Abuja to submit a petition.
“I take full ownership of the petition I submitted in person to the EFCC, calling on them to investigate and bring to book anyone found culpable in the event of any financial misappropriation in some of the disbursements made by the Simbi Wabote-led NCDMB, particularly with respect to the $35 million invested in the Atlantic Refinery and another $20 million disbursed for the Brass Fertilizer & Petrochemical Company Ltd.
“I also stand by the claims contained therein in my petition and maintain that nothing tangible has been achieved in any of those projects despite the huge sums claimed to have been fully paid for them.”
He challenged NDJF to disprove all that were contained his petition to the EFCC and show proof of the completion of the Atlantic International Refinery & Petrochemical Ltd, the Brass Fertilizer & Petrochemical Company Ltd, and the Brass Petroleum Product Terminal Limited or any proof of appreciable milestone made in the projects under consideration after the huge sums purportedly invested in them.