Halliburton: North kicks over selective trials

By Kingsley Omonobi
THERE was tension in the North, Thursday, following a directive by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation to the Federal Government’s inter_agency panel to drop the names of five of the indicted persons in the $180million Halliburton bribery scandal and prosecute only three of the indicted persons due to “pressure from above.”

Vanguard can report authoritatively that those whose names were ordered dropped by the investigations panel include Chief Jackson Gaius Obaseki, former Group Managing Director of NNPC, Chief Dan Etete, former Petroleum Minister, Mallam Lawal Batagarawa, former Minister of State, Defence, and Alhaji Abdukadir Abacha, brother of former head of state, General Sani Abacha.

The three persons the panel was ordered to prosecute were Alhaji Ibrahim Aliyu, cousin of Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State and General Abdulsalam Abubakar; Bodunde Adeyanju, former SSA, Domestic Affairs to Chief Obasanjo and AVM Dominic Bello, former Chief of Air Staff.

Vanguard also gathered that Northern elders who had been following the Halliburton investigations and were aware of those indicted, had vowed to take on President Goodluck Jonathan headlong if he bowed to pressure and removed the names of the primary suspects in the bribery scam.

A source close to the investigation team who expressed misgivings over attempts to circumvent the team’s findings retorted: “How can we leave out the others and narrow it to three when we have recorded evidence and transcription of confessions of their involvement. Even some former heads of state who are threatening fire and brimstone; we have recorded statements about their involvement.

“The most painful aspect of the whole saga is that these indicted persons all agreed to a plea bargaining arrangement and promised to return or pay back these monies from their foreign accounts before a former head of state blocked that move because it would give him out easily. We have all these records. So how can we exonerate them? It is impossible.”

US, Britain kick against selective trial

Meanwhile, it was gathered that the United States and Britain had got wind of the plan by government to charge only three of the indicted persons to court and were kicking against the action, insisting that all the indicted persons and those they represented, must face trial before Jonathan could obtain their support to contest the 2011 elections.