The Coalition of Civil Society Groups for Transparency and Accountability has reiterated the call for the immediate sack of the Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr. Mele Kyari, for failing to live up to his promises to fix the nation’s comatose refineries.
Led by Comrade Danesi Momoh, the coalition, at a press conference held in Abuja on Friday, argued that the retention of Kyari and his team is tantamount to repeating and recycling not only failure but will also have grave economic consequences for the country. 
The coalition contended that they can no longer stand the alleged lies and deceit by the NNPCL regarding the timeline given to fix the refineries, which have a direct bearing on the well-being of Nigerians.
“How else are we supposed to rate or view the scorecard of a man that vowed on assumption of office that the four national refineries would be operational latest in 2023; and at the end of 2024, not even one is working? What stories do they tell?” Momoh of the Empowerment for Unemployed Youth Initiative (EUYI) queried.
“NNPCL is not African Writers Series where the best of African fictions were produced. It is a company that should lead transformation and speedy development of the Nigerian oil and gas industry. But in place of any measurable success, what the country gets are ugly tales.
“When we campaigned for the removal of Kyari last year, we knew that he and his cartel were powerful enough to counter our patriotic stand. But we wanted to keep the records straight and be on the positive side of posterity. Today, that history is before us and posterity beckons.
“It is interesting that people are now rising up to ask questions. Both chambers of the National Assembly have at least recognised clearly that the NNPCL is off our compass of national development.
“That company stinks to high heavens and the institutions that are supposed to sanitise it, particularly the National Assembly and Mr. President, pretended not to perceive the stench. It is actually a shame.
“Nigerians are not foolish people. So we understand the meaning of the response: ‘We are not criminals. We are not thieves…’ Mr. Kyari simply went to the Senate to confirm what the world already knows. It is only a thief that will start his defence by denying being a thief when the question was not whether the person was a thief or not.
“The question was: ‘What is going on in your company?’ And the answer was, ‘We are not thieves…’ It could have been strange if Nigerians did not know. So it is no longer strange to us. But it is pathetic!
“Once again, we respectfully urge President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to let these people go; sack Mr. Mele Kyari and his team. The recent protests and riots should teach us some lessons as a country. If we continue repeating and recycling our failure, there will be further socio-economic dislocations and consequent unrest.
“May we remind the President that we carefully refused to participate in the August protests because we envisaged chaos due to its lack of clarity of purpose and the absence of persons and groups that could take responsibility for it.
“However, we can assure Mr. President that the next protests for National Redemption will start right at the NNPCL Towers. Enough of the barefaced strangulation of the national economy.”
