September 12, (THEWILL) – A Chief and also the Permanent Secretary of Azagbene Federated Communities in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Chief Gbakumo Simeon, has humbly appealed to the miracle governor, Senator Douye Diri, to use his good office to kindly visit President Muhammed Buhari, to draw his attention to the ongoing dispute, regarding the award of Atala OML 46 to Halkin Exploration and Production Company Limited.
Chief Gbakumo, in a statement made available to newsmen in Yenagoa, said the appeal became imperative because of the huge socio-economic benefits the state is losing because of a doubtful award of the all important Atala OML 46 to a Company against directives, for a possible re-award to the original operators, Bayelsa Oil Company, owned by the Bayelsa State Government.
He asserted that there are ample evidences pointing to the fact that the so called award of Atala OML 46 was full of manipulations, adding that the President was misinformed by some persons who do not have Bayelsa State at heart for good.
According to Chief Gbakumo, the President in his wisdom, on the 24th of November, 2020, directed that priority be given to previous owners of ten out of the thirteen revoked fields for the re-award, noting that Bayelsa State is amongst the ten owners of such fields and wondered why Atala was re-awarded to HALKIN without the knowledge of Bayelsa State Government and even members of the BOCL Board.
The Azagbene Federated Communities Permanent Secretary, Chief Gbakumo, further stated that the award of the Atala oil field to Halkin, has no doubt denied Bayelsa State of expected revenues that would have accrued to the state coffers on the account of the field that have been fully developed by BOCL and its JV partners and also impart the life of the people of Azagbene Federated Communities, who are 75 percent landlords of the Atala oil field OML 46 positively to avert youth restiveness.
Chief Gbakumo also used the medium to call on the miracle Governor, Senator Douye Diri, as a matter of urgency, to draw the attention of relevant authorities such as the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) former Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), about this heist, stressing that if put to rest, the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the state will surely increase in such a way that the state may not always rely on monthly FAAC from the Federal Government to pay Civil Servants salaries and sundry expenses.
Chief Gbakumo says he is not unaware that some highly placed persons of Bayelsa State were on the 25th of July, 2022, served with Investigation Activities, letter of invitation to appear before the EFCC on an alleged case of criminal conspiracy, abuse of office,
fraudulent misrepresentation and obtaining under false pretence.
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