EXCLUSIVE: Buhari Family’s Interest In Akasa, Beyelsa Oil Block Raises Tension In Niger Delta

There are strong speculations that members of the first family are looking towards Akasa, an oil rich swamp land in Brass, Bayelsa, for oil block allocations even as the fate of the family patriarch and president of the country, Mohammadu Buhari, remains unknown after more than 67 days in a London hospital.

Aisha Buhari and one of the daughters of the president are said to have been making overtures to powerful individuals from the state with the view to calming nerves in the volatile area. Details of this got leaked after some Niger Delta agitators felt sidelined on the matter and directly reported to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo recently, after they were invited as part of moves to further deepen peace in the region.

As part of the plan to acquire the very lucrative oil block, XCLUSIVE MAGAZINE has been gathered that embattled former minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison Madueke and state governor of Bayelsa, Siriake Dickson are currently being wooed by this interest group to help smoothen talks with local community leaders and agitators in the area.

As part of peace initiative in the zone, the acting president is said to be backing Global Foundation for Peace, GFP, a group that was started by moderate agitators in the Niger Delta. Osinbajo recently made a cash donation of N10 million to the group to help facilitate a visit by them to the Presidency for modalities of expanding the foundation to include Nigerians from all works of life.

It was at one of their meetings in Abuja, XCLUSIVE MAGAZINE can authoritatively report, that the matter of oil block acquisition in Akasa came up. The members of the group were said to have raised the matter before the acting president stating that such plan by any member of the first family at this time could be counterproductive to their peace initiatives.

Another XCLUSIVE MAGAZINE source who confirmed the development added that the First lady has been especially chummy with the state governor over the matter.

Though the governor cannot award oil block by law, but his influence as leader in Ijaw land could help calm tempers in the region believed to have been ill disposed to Buhari’s administration after it initially attempted a scotched earth policy in handling region’s agitations.

To this end, Odigie Oyegun, chairman, All Progressives Congress, APC, and a close friend of the Buhari family is said to have offered Dickson the party machinery in Bayelsa.

Diezani was also said to have been consulted perhaps by Dickson on the matter.

Having been a former minister of Petroleum, the Diezani is said to have a big influence in not only Bayelsa but also the region on account of the local content law she aggressively pursued which helped Nigerians get lucrative oil deals in the oil and gas sector.

The report also said that another one of Buhari’s daughter has been in the state too on the matter. The daughter, according to reports, has been in publicity recently, floating charity initiatives. She was once reported to have been at Peace Corps to obtain over 250, 000 forms at N40, 000 each.

That singular contribution is believed to have shot up the Peace Corps entry form to N40, 000 for any prospective candidate.

“The report that the first lady and the daughter has been in Bayelsa over oil deals has been unsettling,” explained an ex-agitator who is a part of federal government amnesty program.

According to him, the information is creating no small unrest. “While some see it as part of the old agenda that allows one section of the country access to the oil block to the detriment of the people from the region, others see the moves as act of desperation in the absence of Buhari,” said the source.

As yet, it is unclear if the acting president would act on the matter.

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