Probe: NLC, others urge Reps to resist pressure

The Nigeria Labour Congress, the Congress for Progressive and the Campaign for Democracy have urged the House of Representatives to resist pressures on the report of the probe into the management of the fuel subsidy.

The President of the NLC, Mr. Abdulwahed Omar, said in a statement on Tuesday that the report of the House of Representatives Committee led by Mr. Farouk Lawan would not be allowed to be swept under the carpet like the report of the power probe and others.

Omar said the NLC was aware that the House of Representatives was being pressurised by various interest groups affected by the outcome of the investigation to drop the report of the probe.

The President of the CD, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, said the lawmakers must not incur the wrath of Nigerians by killing the report.

She said, “They must not allow anybody to set them against the people. All eyes are on them as Nigerians want to know what happened to their N2tn.”

The CPC National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said House members must be patriotic and resist pressures to dump the report.

He stated, “They should in the interest of the nation not succumb to pressure on them. But they should release the report of their findings for the sake of posterith and good governance.

“The report shall allow Nigerians to have informed opinion on how to improve things. This must not be swept away.”

Advising the lawmakers, Omar, the NLC president mentioned oil marketers who might be indicted in the subsidy scandal, government officials, briefcase businessmen and speculators making cheap money from the petroleum subsidy as those mounting pressure on the House to abandon the report.

He maintained that the probe was a direct response to protests and demonstrations led by the organised labour to protest against the removal of the petroleum subsidy by the Jonathan Administration in January and must not be allowed to be swept under the carpet like those before it.

He said, “Since the probe carried out by the National Assembly, particularly, the House of Representatives, on the removal of oil subsidy, there have been insinuations that unprecedented pressures have been mounted on the legislature from various quarters to jettison the report.

“These interest groups have been identified as oil marketers that might face sanctions based on assessment of their submissions during the probe, speculators and briefcase businessmen who will lose out on cheap money, and government officials who have been feeding fat on contrived leakages in the oil industry and stand indicted.”