Pirigbo Igonikan
Recently there has been. a coordinated but failed campaign of calumny to discredit the Executive Vice President Upstream of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, Mrs. Oritesemeyiwa Eyesan.
Some of the allegations against her are not just absurd but desperately spurious. They also exposed the campaigners’ lack of understanding of the internal workings in the company and basic corporate governance principles.
Her traducers who would not respect decorum accused her and the revered monarch, Olu of Warri of bias in the award of the pipeline contract, a very simplistic display of helpless ignorance.
Needless to say that the Olu of Warri, His Majesty, Ogiame Atuwatse III was not a member of the Board of Directors of Pipeline Infrastructure and neither is he one of the Trustees. He is also not on the board of NNPC Ltd and was therefore not in a position to influence the decision of the organisation. How then could those accusing them justify their allegation if not just to tarnish the image of innocent and hardworking people?
The NNPC Ltd is now a well-structured organisation, deploying the best global practices in running its affairs and needless to say that Eyesan cannot single-handedly determine or choose who got which contract. The fallacy in the allegation against her which stood reason on its head is obvious for discerning minds to see as tissue of lies concocted to bring an innocent person to public odium through this brazen attack on her personality.
The question many are asking is why trying to discredit a woman who has risen to where she is today through dint of hard work, brilliance, and unparalleled professional conduct that has spanned over 30 years in both the private and public sectors by these Geobellian advocates whose stock in trade is to feed innocent readers with the tars of their inner dark minds which they know to be lies.
While waiting for those who want her out of her job to come and explain why, it is obvious that people with vested interests who are not in tune with the new reality in the NNPC limited are finding it hard to cope and will not surrender without a fight as the new ways of running things there have taken their illicit bread off the table.
In Nigeria, those trying to do the right things are always targeted for campaigns of calumny, vilified and unjustly pulled down. Should we allow them to keep destroying our best just to satisfy their wicked schemes? The answer is a resounding no. Tackling the behemoth of corruption and its backlash as have been seen in the attacks on this innocent woman is why many in public offices today are too scared to make decisions that would benefit the nation.
It is like the case of the removal of the petroleum subsidy; successive administrators knew that it was a bitter pill that they had to swallow but were afraid to take on people with vested interests who wanted the subsidies regime which feeds their ostentatious lifestyle to remain at the expense of the populace and development.
Those benefitting from a rotten system would do everything to ensure that the status quo remains even if they have to cut down a generation of those who mean well for the country. Anyone who tries to change it for the betterment of the larger society will incur their wrath which at present, their target is Eyesan.
By insisting on due process, one can become a subject of attacks. Others have been transferred out of their office to obscure positions where they would not have a say. It is obvious that Eyesan is being attacked for insisting on due process. She therefore needs protection from the management of the NNPC Limited and the general public in whose interests she has come under the Cannon fodder of these undesirables.
At different times, she was Deputy Manager, Economics & Decision Support
NNPC, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS); Manager, Joint Venture NNPC, NAPIMS; Planning,
General Manager NNPC, NAPIMS; Planning, Group General Manager, NNPC Corporate Planning & Strategy and Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer NNPC Ltd Corporate Strategy & Sustainability.
Yet the ninnies who have targeted her want to wipe off her good records in one targeted attack just to ensure continuous flow of their filthy lucre.