Omokore opens up on oil swap deals

Ibrahim Magu

ABUJA— The Chairman of Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Nigeria Limited, Mr. Jide Omokore, has reportedly been cooperating with operatives, who are probing him over multi-billion oil swap deals between his firm and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

Omokore, an active player in the oil sector during the previous administration, was taken in by EFCC last week to assist them in unraveling how his firm won oil swap deals running into billions of dollars, and whether such money had been remitted to the coffers of the government. 

A source confided in Vanguard last night: “We are trying to extract from him the quantity of oil his company was awarded under the oil swap deal and how much he has so far remitted to the government. “So far, he has been cooperating with our operatives but we have not extracted the exact figure of what the deals were worth; we are certainly making progress.” Asked if he would be charged to court over the deals, the source said the investigation had not progressed to where charges could be pressed yet. Omokore’s company was among those accused of lifting crude oil, worth billions of dollars, but only remitting a fraction of its worth to the government. Jonathan’s former ADC A former aide-de-camp, ADC, to immediate past President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, Col. Ojogbane Adegbe, has claimed ignorance of the contents of the parcels, which he routinely passed from the then President to individuals and groups.

 Adegbe, who is being questioned by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over the N10 billion said to have been passed from former national Security Adviser, NSA, to him and one other aide of Jonathan to share to Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, delegates, reportedly told his interrogators that he never looked into the contents of parcels handed over to him by the then President in the course of his duties. He has, therefore, pleaded with EFCC not to hold him responsible for whatever happened in the course of his duties as the President’s ADC. 

A source close to the interrogation told Vanguard in confidence that the former ADC had admitted that he used to receive many parcels from the President and passed same to their owners without opening to look at their contents, as it was not part of his duties to look at the contents or question the President’s orders. A source said: “The ADC explained to our operatives that part of his schedule of work was to collect and handover documents and sealed parcels from his Commander-in-Chief to individuals.”

 Adegbe is said to have insisted that as a serving officer, he was bound by his oath of commission into the Armed Forces and would not divulge official secrets which he swore to keep. The operatives are said to so far met a brick wall in the interrogation of the former ADC but had decided to press him with the hope that he would open up on the N10 billion cash by naming the beneficiaries and why.