Russian Crude Saga: CSOs denounce petition to US govt, claim impersonation
By Luminous Jannamike
ABUJA – A coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) has denounced a petition sent to the US Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), claiming impersonation and demanding its withdrawal.
The petition, titled ‘Persons of interest in the violation of the coalition-agreed price cap on Russian crude’, targeted the CEOs of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and Matrix Energy Group, accusing them of violating the price cap on Russian crude.
Addressing a press briefing in Abuja on Monday, Comrade Splendour Agbonkpolor spoke on behalf of the CSOs, which include the Social, Political, Economic, Educational, and Environmental Rights Initiative (SPEEERI), Initiative for Leadership and Economic Watch, Civil Society Group for Good Governance, and Restore Nigeria Initiative, saying the petition was sent by a non-registered NGO using their name and a fake address.
The CSOs claimed that the petitioners used a fake address, and phone numbers that do not exist, and impersonated them to make it look like they were involved in the petition.
The address listed on the petition was previously occupied by the CSOs but is currently unoccupied, having been sold by the owner last year.
The CSOs have disowned the petition, describing it as blackmail, and are taking steps to protect their reputation and distance themselves from the petition.
They have called on the US government to disregard the petition, stating that it was not authorized by them.
The CSOs also plan to submit a letter of disclaimer to the US Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) through its United States Embassy in Abuja.
Agbonkpolor said, “We have gathered you here to denounce the letter written to the US government and to state categorically clear that we were impersonated by those who wrote it. For the records, the NGO that wrote it in disguise ours is not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
“We, therefore, wonder who will use a non-registered NGO to write to a country like the USA from a non-existent address, to make it look like our work as former occupants of the place. As NGOs, we do not subscribe to the blackmail of the NNPCL GCEO, Mele Kyari and the CEO of Matrix Energy, Abdulkabir Adisa Aliu and will not sit back and watch people impersonate organizations we have built credibly for years to make us look like enemies of a well-meaning Nigeria state.
“The United States Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) should disregard the petition submitted by the impersonators as it was not authored by any of us who are former occupants of the address in the non-existing NGO. We find it distasteful to be used by any group of persons or companies fighting for their interests, and will be proceeding to submit a letter of withdrawal to the U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) through its United States, Embassy in Abuja on this issue that is almost eroding our integrity, credibility and reputation.”
