The die is cast. Pressure is mounting on President Muhammadu Buhari to kick start his clampdown on oil thieves following his recent admission that he now has in his possession a list of such thieves.
Several Western countries including the United Kingdom and France are said to have reached out to him to waste no further time in bringing the big thieves empowered during Goodluck Jonathan government to book.
And many Nigerians are also itching to know the identities of the oil thieves.
A cross section of prominent Nigerians say President Buhri should make the names public forthwith and begin the process of prosecuting them.
Frontline lawyer, Itse Sagay (SAN) told The Nation that he is shocked by the magnitude of the stealing.
“Before this fresh revelation, one was very disturbed when Okonjo Iweala, raised the alarm that about 400, 000 barrels were being stolen every day. To hear that the quantity is as much as one million barrel per day is something else,” he said.
“It shows the country went into a total rot under the last regime of President Goodluck Jonathan. They would have looted the country to bankruptcy within a year if they were not removed from office. We should be grateful that a disciplined and upright man has taken over to clean the mess and save the country.
“The punishments are not farfetched. They are already enshrined in our law books. We may ultimately have to resort to special court with specific time frame to decide the cases. The situation is very grave and we need to deal with it in an exceptional way.”
Several Western countries including the United Kingdom and France are said to have reached out to him to waste no further time in bringing the big thieves empowered during Goodluck Jonathan government to book.
And many Nigerians are also itching to know the identities of the oil thieves.
A cross section of prominent Nigerians say President Buhri should make the names public forthwith and begin the process of prosecuting them.
Frontline lawyer, Itse Sagay (SAN) told The Nation that he is shocked by the magnitude of the stealing.
“Before this fresh revelation, one was very disturbed when Okonjo Iweala, raised the alarm that about 400, 000 barrels were being stolen every day. To hear that the quantity is as much as one million barrel per day is something else,” he said.
“It shows the country went into a total rot under the last regime of President Goodluck Jonathan. They would have looted the country to bankruptcy within a year if they were not removed from office. We should be grateful that a disciplined and upright man has taken over to clean the mess and save the country.
“The punishments are not farfetched. They are already enshrined in our law books. We may ultimately have to resort to special court with specific time frame to decide the cases. The situation is very grave and we need to deal with it in an exceptional way.”