Senator Bukar Abba-Ibrahim, on Monday in Abuja, said the inherent injustice in the Petroleum Industry Bill as presented by the Executive had made it impossible for the document to enjoy national support.
While expressing optimism that the PIB would be one of the critical bills to be passed by the Senate in 2013, the former governor of Yobe State said it would not be passed in its current form.
The Senator also said he had no regrets for proposing dialogue as the best option in dealing with the Boko Haram insurgency.
Abba-Ibrahim said, “On the issue of the Petroleum Industry Bill, the powers of the Minister must be reduced.
“We don't want anybody to talk about additional funds for the so called oil producing communities. I think at this stage, it is unacceptable. Let the money go into the treasury so that every Nigeria benefits from it.
“In what ever form it is going to be passed, I hope it is going to tackle the corruption in the petroleum industry – the most corrupt industry in Nigeria and probably the most corrupt institution in the whole world as of today. We must stop this corruption, we can't just keep talking about it.”
He explained that the criminal neglect of the North East, which was largely responsible for the current state of insecurity, could be addressed through justice and fairness.
Abba-Ibrahim commended ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo for doing for the zone what no other leader right from Tafawa Balewa had done.
Abba-Ibrahim expressed surprise at attacks on his person by the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.
The Christian leader had described the legislator's comments on the Boko Haram insurgency as “reckless and irresponsible.”
Abba-Ibrahim said, “I am surprised that this man of God is opposed to us having a dialogue, he will prefer us killing one another.
“Maybe he has not been hit. I have been personally hit, my family members have been killed, my cars have been burnt, my wife's school has been burnt in Damaturu. I have been a direct victim of Boko Haram and the insurgency.
“Dialogue is not the only solution but it remains the best solution.”
On the way forward, he said, “Boko Haram are faceless agreed, but that does not mean there is no way because if there is a will, there will certainly be a way.”
Meanwhile, former Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin, on Monday advised that the Federal Government should not hesitate to dialogue with the Boko-Haram sect if the members come out in the open and make their demands known to Nigerians.
Folarin gave the advice while reacting to questions from journalists shortly after the eighth day Fidau of his late kinsman, Suleiman Emiola in Ibadan.
The former Senate Leader expressed concern over the menace of the terrorists group, adding that nobody could have thought of terrorism in Nigeria in the last 20 years.
