A group calling itself Grassroots Youth for Change in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on the Senate to ignore what it described as “malicious media reports” against former Group General Manager (GGM), Crude Oil Marketing Division (OMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and minister-nominee, Goddy Jeddy-Agba, saying he was a victim of unsubstantiated allegations.National Coordinator of the group, Orlu Henry Manuchimso said, in a statement in Abuja today, July 28, that the allegation that Jeddy-Agba aided Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke in shady deals, including the multi-billion dollar oil-for fuel swap deal, was a calculated campaign of calumny aimed at discounting Jeddy-Agba’s chances of scaling Senate’s screening and confirmation hearing.
“The allegations of corruption and the claim that Mr. Goddy Jeddy-Agba is not medically fit are idle narratives and unnecessary distractions for which the Senate should not fall. Whereas they are aimed at discounting his chances of scaling the screening and confirmation hearing by the Senate, the allegations represent unconscionable attempts to tar a solid reputation built over several years of committed service to the fatherland with a brush of malfeasance.
“The masterminds of the reports should have known that the Presidency and the security agencies must have taken the nomination of Mr. Goddy Jeddy-Agba through due diligence checks before forwarding his name as President Muhammadu Buhari’s minister-nominee to the Senate for screening and confirmation hearing. If anything untoward had been uncovered in the process, he would not have been nominated.
“Mr. Jeddy-Agba’s nomination is, thus, the clearest indication yet that no security reports and outcomes of any quiet investigations, whether now or in the past, have indicted him of being complicit in any shady deal while he worked for the NNPC.
“Besides, the media reports have created the erroneous impression that the anti-graft agencies were probably not up and doing in their job for purportedly failing to establish Mr. Jeddy-Agab’s links with their (media reports’) alleged large-scale corruption on Diezani’s watch as Minister of Petroleum.
“As a group that is committed to the promotion of equity and fairness within the APC, we are concerned that one of our illustrious party leaders in Cross River State, whose nomination enjoys the approbation and commendation of the entire State, including members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, is being unjustifiably and maliciously clobbered in the media by some vested interests whose objective is parochial and primordial.
“It is a matter of judicial records that in all the corruption cases filed by the Federal Government through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, there is none in which Mr. Goddy Jeddy-Agba has been listed as a party whether separately or jointly with her.
“To suggest or insinuate him into corrupt acts or shady deals in the manner in which some media reports have done because of his nomination for the position of minister and because he was privileged to work at the time he did for the NNPC, without substantiation beyond reasonable doubt before a court of competent jurisdiction, is malicious and ungodly.
“Nigerians, including the Senate, are interested in facts and not fictions. As long as the allegations remain unsubstantiated, we urge the Senate to discountenance them and proceed to screen and confirm Mr. Goddy Jeddy-Agba as a fit and proper person to step into the position of minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The APC youth group also described the reference to Jeddy-Agba’s health as an extreme malice, pointing out that while the issue of medical status of public officers in Nigeria enjoys the confidentiality of doctor-patient’s relationship, it is not appropriate, in that context, for anyone to make a magisterial declaration that borders on the fitness or otherwise of any potential or serving public officer.
“While we are not competent to pronounce on his health issues, as everybody has one health issue or another, we declare that Mr. Jeddy-Agba’s dispositions indicate he is medically and mentally fit.
“We hereby call on the Senate to observe very closely Mr. Jeddy-Agba’s gait, composure, response time and coherence of answers to questions during his screening as we believe this will assist it in confirming his mental alertness which will countervail claims of any health issues that have not, in fact, incapacitated him.”
