The Federal House of Representatives in the Nigerian National Assembly has summoned the Managing Director of TotalEnergies EP Nig.Ltd over alleged unlawful termination of staff employment, massive corruption and crude oil theft.
According to a statement signed by Comrade, Igbini Odafe Emmanuel, the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petition issued the summon based on a petition he filed.
Comrade Igbini is an Engineer and a Labour Leader from 1991 to 1999, whose Employment with the Company was wrongfully terminated on August 9, 2000 as well as violently assaulted and thrown out of his Office in Port Harcourt by some armed policemen invited and sponsored by the French-led Expatriate Staff who were uncomfortable with his unrelenting fight for improvement of Staff Welfare and their Staff Job Security at a time that racism and discrimination against Nigerian Employees in the Company was at a disturbing level.
The Petitioner also alleged that the French-led Management of the Company was involved in massive fraud, corruption and crude oil theft against the overriding interest of Nigeria.
He said his resistance to the vices angered the French Management and led to his dehumanized treatment by the oil giant.
Comrade Igbini in his Petition further drew the attention of the House of Representatives to the fact that after he was thrown out of his job, some of the top French Management Staff were arrested in France, tried and found guilty of massive fraud and looting by a French Court and were sentenced to years in imprisonment
The Hearing of this Petition is fixed for May 7, 2024, at the Committee’s Hearing Room.
“We are reliably informed that failure of the Managing Director of TotalEnergies EP Nig. Ltd to appear before the House Committee as scheduled will result in the National Assembly issuing a Warrant of Arrest for his Arrest,” he said.
Comrade Igbini, who is also the National President of Vanguard for Transparent Leadership and Democracy (VATLAD), a leading NGO in promotion of Good Governance, Peace and Democracy, has been fighting for his reinstatement to his job through the Petition he initially filed at the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) now Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) but alleged that some staff of NUPRC have been compromised by these corrupt French Management of TotalEnergies to frustrate the release of the Report of the outcome of the Investigation carried out by DPR in November 2000 which declared the termination of his employment as wrongful, null and void and ordered his reinstatement.
In a letter recently sent to Comrade Igbini from the Office of Engr Gbenga Komolafe, the Chief Executive Officer of NUPRC, he was told that his case File with DPR suddenly got missing and can’t be accessed for further action allegedly because both Elf Petroleum Nig. Ltd and DPR no longer exist.
This claim he said is ridiculous because both Elf Petroleum Nig. Ltd and DPR are today, TotalEnergies EP Nig Ltd and NUPRC that are still existing, functioning and their records of decades still intact.
It will be interesting watching how the House Committee on Public Petition handles this case and ensure Justice is done