
The Nigerian presidency has ordered
a discreet investigation of former
president, Goodluck Jonathan, and his
wife, Patience, over the spate of
bombings of oil and gas facilities in
the Niger Delta, PREMIUM TIMES
has learnt.
A top government source, quoting
intelligence reports, told this
newspaper that it had now been
established that some of the oil
installations bombed in the Niger
Delta had actually been mined while
President Jonathan was in power,
just before the 2015 election, by
some of the militants and operatives
known to be very close to him.
"The mining was meant to be a
"Plan B should they be removed
from Aso Rock," said the official,
who requested not to be named
because of the sensitive nature of the
matter.
"The plan then was to cause
confusion if the 2015 presidential
election did not go as expected, in
favour of the then incumbent."
"However, when the former
president surprisingly conceded the
election to President Mohammadu
Buhari, according to the source, there
was both disappointment and
confusion in the camp of those who
had designed the plan, causing a
suspension of the whole agenda.
"But by February this year, it was
learnt, the plan was reopened as
several of the backers were getting
investigated on different corruption
cases.
"Mr. Jonathan himself himself was
concerned that himself and his wife
could be prosecuted, including on
money-laundering charges where
investigators said evidence against the
wife has already been amassed.
"It was at that point that the
bombing activities under the banner
of the Niger Delta Avengers started.
"Even the former President himself had been
reported while on a foreign trip as saying he knew
he was under probe. This was after the plan to start
the bombing had become fully operational
according to intelligence reports."
Last June, during a live interview on Bloomberg
Television, Mr. Jonathan said he was aware that
anti-graft agencies were investigating him.
"I am being investigated, yes, investigations are
going on," Mr. Jonathan had said after delivering a
speech on his five-year presidency in London.
Mr. Jonathan's comments came at the same time
the Niger Delta governors were reportedly
prevailing on President Buhari to drop corruption
charges against some highly placed persons from
the region.
"After the Plan B was restored, the 'militant
operatives' who mined the oil and gas installations
only had to arrange for how they would be
detonated at a distance at the wish and timing of
the NDA, their backers and sponsors said to include
the former president, his wife, Government
Tompolo, Mr. Kinglsey Kuku and Olisa Metuh
among others.
"The mining was done by some of the militants
that the previous government had trained under the
amnesty programme, and those who acquired the
needed expertise, besides their knowledge of the
Niger Delta creeks and terrain.
"Experts working with the federal government are
now said to be working to determine how to
discover if there are still many more oil and gas
installations that have been mined and explore the
best means of demining them."
In addition to the mined installations, intelligence
reports, according to the official, also stated that the
NDA and their backers and operatives also had the
capacity to dive in and out of water to damage and
bomb the installations, adding that the federal
government had drawn up the full list of all those
that were trained and equipped in those skills under
the Amnesty Programme.
Our source further disclosed that "the game plan
of Mr. Jonathan and his associates backing the NDA
was to cause enough economic damage in order to
force the Buhari administration to pursue a political
solution to the corruption cases on which
investigations were already advancing against them.
"This is to avoid prosecution and the attendant
unprecedented shame of having a former president
go to jail."
According to another presidency source, "one of
the reasons Mr. Jonathan visited Aso Rock earlier
this month was because he was afraid for himself,
but more readily for his wife against whom silent
investigations had already advanced significantly."
Some MEND members had recently alleged that
former President Jonathan came up with the name
Niger Delta Avengers himself, a claim he has since
denied.
But the intelligence reports, a presidency official
said, confirmed that it was the intervention of the
former president that actually stopped the militants
from the symbolic announcement to declare a
republic earlier this month.
Mr. Jonathan could not be reached on Thursday
morning to comment for this story. He did not
answer or return calls.
So also was Garba Shehu, the senior special
assistant to the President on media and publicity.
He did not answer or return the calls made to him
on Wednesday night.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and
Publicity, Femi Adesina, could not be reached.
However, another presidency spokesperson,
'Laolu Akande, said he was aware Nigerian
security agencies were "massively investigating
the Niger Delta bombings".
"But security or intelligence reports are usually
confidential. You can't expect me or anyone else
to disclose their contents."
Source: PremiumTimes