Allegations of bribery and corruption has rocked the senate again, this time over the Petroleum Industry bill.
The chairman, Senate committee on petroleum resources Omotayo Alasoadura stated that an unnamed senator received a $10 million bribe to scuttle the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill.
He also said he has been offered millions of dollars as bribe to kill the bill-An offer which he claimed to decline.
The lawmaker also said the bill was delayed for 13 years because members of the committee in the sixth and seventh National Assembly also received bribes to kill the bill.
“They offered me money, but I said no, that the little money that God had provided for me is enough to cater for my well-being and that of my family.
“One of them said a former Chairman of the Committee I head got $10 million to scuttle the bill. I could have taken the money and resign from the National Assembly. “So the politics, lobby and so on from those who do not want the bill to see the light of the day was terrible.
“But to the glory of God, the bill was passed in two hours because I did a lot of underground work like meeting people, convincing them about the need for it and areas where people feel they were not satisfied especially, the frontier oil exploration outside the South-South.
” Speaking further about the politics involved in passing the bill, the senator stated: “The politics behind the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is more than what you have to do to get the bill passed.
“In fact, there was a day I was abused by a set of people who came to lobby me for the bill not to be passed. “Unless you can withstand pressure, you won’t be able to do what I did. And by the time we were to take the bill to the floor of the house for passage, we booked three days because we thought it would be stormy.
“The south-south wants everything; the North does not want it. “So, when it comes to the floor of the Senate, it will die because the Northern senators are more than the Southern senators. “In the National Assembly, the politics there is different from that of your state. National Assembly is about lobby. It is about getting people to support you.”
The PIGB was finally passed after 13 years of delay.