An EFCC witness, Mohammed Ibrahim, on Tuesday told an FCT High Court that he never saw the controversial Gas Supply Processing Agreement (GSPA) before or after it was signed.
The GSPA , which was signed between Process and Industrial Development (P&ID) and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, led to a 9.6billion dollars liability judgment against Nigeria.
Ibrahim, who was a former member of the oil and gas sector reform implementation committee set up by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, made this while testifying in a case filed against a retired Director, Legal, Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Grace Taiga.
Taiga is being prosecuted by the EFCC on eight-count charge bordering on bribery, among others.
Giving his evidence-in-chief before the court, Ibrahim, who is the third prosecution witness (PW3), said that about the GSPA in the media.
Ibrahim, who described himself as a petroleum expert and consultant, said:”I was summoned by EFCC and interrogated on the extent of my participation and my relationship with the late Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr Rilwanu Lukman.
“I told the EFCC that I never saw the GSPA before and after it was signed.
“The committee was headed by Dr Lukman, who was then Special Adviser on Petroleum Resources to the President.
“I was made the vice chairman of the committee in 2003 when Dr Edmund Dakoro replaced Lukman as Special Adviser on Petroleum Resources.
“I opted out of the committee when I discovered that the oil and gas reforms were not being implemented.
“Essentially, My business there was to push for reforms in the oil and gas sector.
After his testimony, Justice Olukayode Adeniyi, adjourned further hearing untill April 17 at the instance of the EFCC counsel, Abba Mohammed.
The EFCC alleged that Taiga received bribe through her offshore bank account in signing the controversial GPSA.
The EFCC further alleged that Taiga violated various laws by entering into the controversial GSPA without a prior approval by FEC and a certificate of no-objection to the contract from the Bureau of Public Enterprise (PBE).
The EFCC also alleged that she signed as Nigeria’s witness to the GSPA while the then Minister of Petroleum, late Lukman, signed as Nigeria’s representative.
She, however, pleaded not guilty.
