• Intrigues as House of Reps investigate the oil barons
Cowards die many times before their deaths; some could pass as brave for their characteristic bluster, if you would pardon their timely headache, occasional cancer and like coincidental hilarious case of Kingsley Kuku, ‘knee injury’, at the moment when they have to keep a date with comeuppance.
But not Ben Peters, the head honcho of Aiteo Group. He was just too ‘busy’ to honour the invitation extended to him by House of Reps some days ago. The House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on Crude Oil Swap summoned Ontario Oil and Gas boss, Walter Wagbatsoma and Ben Peters for their participation in lifting the country’s crude oil in exchange for refined products.
The committee, which is chaired by an All Progressives Congress lawmaker from Kwara State, Zakari Mohammed, has been investigating the controversial exchange agreements between 2011 and 2015. The PPMC had informed the committee that while Walter’s Ontario Oil and Gas still had $98m worth of refined products to deliver to the country, Ben Peters’ Aiteo was owing Nigeria $37m worth of products. Mohammed stated that a bench warrant for their arrest had also been signed by the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, for execution by the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, should they fail to appear last Tuesday.
Interestingly, however, as the price of oil plummets all over the world, hard times descend on Nigeria’s billionaire oil magnates like an eclipse of dark realities, snuffing the shine out of their sunny skies. You couldn’t have forgotten so soon when Ben, the oil magnate with an enviable taste for the good things of life, bought Shell OML29 for $2.7 billion dollars when the oil price was a little bit over $100 dollars per barrel. Today, the price has plummeted to $30 dollars per barrel, to the consternation of Peters and fellow oil barons.
Like Peters, Walter is trapped in a maze of depressive economy. But while Peters’ travails stems from plummeting oil price, Walter’s hard luck could be attributed to deceptive commerce and ethical misadventure, according to pundits in the Nigerian oil sector. While it may be too early to aver that Walter is mired in the darkness of his own shadow, the reality of his predicament offers interesting truths about him and his business exploits.
