February 20, 2007
Long after death has shut President Olusegun Obasanjo’s eyes and deadened his limbs, psychologists and historians will find his persona an interesting subject of study. Nigerians, who Obasanjo has had the unquestionably good fortune of twice being their head of state, will, by the same token, continue to talk about Obasanjo’s unpredictable nature. Good or bad, history will judge President Obasanjo. Will he go into the books as the leader who truly reformed Nigeria and set her on the path of greatness or be remembered as one who truncated Nigeria’s democracy, throwing the nation into avoidable chaos for his own selfish ends? Or will he end up in jail, a place he likes to keep those who wrong him? Psychologists who spoke to TheNEWS last week were unequivocal that President Obasanjo is already thinking about what happens to him after he must have left office. The psychologists described what the President suffers from currently as "abandonment anxieties." They affirmed that some of the recent comments of Mr. President show his desperation and concern about his post-May 2007 fate. "He is too concerned that those on his side now could abandon him and even volunteer information that could lead to his imprisonment for the second time," explained one psychologist. Former governor of Kano State and AC chieftain,Abubakar Rimi criticised President’s Obasanjo’s description of the next elections as a "do-or-die affair." The statement, said Rimi, smacks of the "garrison mentality in the PDP. It is one of the reasons why the party will fail. It is wrong. If Obasanjo wants to die at the polls, he can do that alone. He should not drag the rest of the country to die with him. Politics is not war and no one should use such violent language." As far as Obasanjo is concerned, the greatest guarantee of a happy retirement, is to have his government supplanted by another led by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The President, said a source, once had face-to-face talks with former Ghanaian President, Jerry Rawlings, who was said to have told the Nigerian leader that his greatest regret lies not in relinquishing power but in his inability to have his favoured candidate succeed him. On this score, unlike Rawlings, Obasanjo is determined not to fail. He is prepelled by an unrestrained zeal to legislate a future for the Nigerian nation. The President has demonstrated this determination by not just ensuring the emergence of his favoured candidate, Umar Musa Yar’Adua, as the presidential standard bearer of the ruling PDP, he has also made a duty of attending Yar’Adua’s presidential rallies to shore up the Katsina governor’s support base. A few months back, when the President made the infamous "no PDP, no Nigeria" comment, many people ignored it as yet another gaffe by a graceless president. However, another unfortunate comment from him two weeks ago has more than rankled nerves. While addressing elders and stakeholders of the PDP in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, on 10 February 2007, Obasanjo sounded tough and categorical. Like a warlord, he declared that this year’s general elections would be a "do-or-die affair" for both himself and the ruling PDP. "We want those who are going to succeed us to continue where we stopped," he professed. The President added that the electorate should be careful with their choice of leadership. According to him: "I read that somebody said I was campaigning. I will campaign because this election is a do-or-die affair for PDP. Why should we have criminals as leaders?" he queried. His remark may have been the outpouring of a sincere heart, but it drew strident public criticisms. One of the first to react, predictably, was Alhaji Balarabe Musa, Second Republic Governor of Kaduna State. Musa said he had no problem with the President, even if he chooses to commit suicide. He, however, added that what Nigerians want is a fair contest in the coming polls. Even men of God are predicting a torrid time outside the presidency for President Obasanjo, which should give the Nigerian leader cause for concern. One of such men of God is Pastor Paul Adewunmi of Redeemed Christian Church of God, Testimony Parish, Akute, Ogun State. Speaking to a Lagos-based softsell, First Weekly recently, Pastor Adewunmi, who used to be a Muslim, predicted that after May 2007, ‘‘the incumbent at the centre will be an ordinary man because of his association with enemies of the nation.’’ Professor Omo Omoruyi, former Director-General of the Centre for Democratic Studies, CDS, thinks the President’s statement was undemocratic. He added that the statement was an indication that the PDP was not ready to conduct a fair election. "I want to believe he did not make that statement because that is very undemocratic. These military men masquerading like politicians talk anyhow," he observed. Omoruyi, however, vowed that any move by the President to scuttle the current democracy would be strongly resisted. "He wants to achieve his aim by all means, but I tell you that Nigerians will check the PDP by all means," he added. Obasanjo’s comment also drew the ire of Alhaji Lai Mohammed, National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress, AC, and topshots of other opposition parties. But the President has a reputation for controversial statements. Before now, he had been widely condemned for overreaching himself on the corruption status of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Ondo State. While on a campaign tour of Akure in Ondo State on 3 February, Obasanjo reportedly revealed that he pleaded with Mimiko not to leave the PDP. But since he decided to leave, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, would soon be visiting the former Housing Minister. Mimiko claimed the President’s remarks came to him as a surprise. "With due deference to the person and the office of Mr. President and with every sense of modesty and responsibility, I wish to state emphatically that I am not a corrupt person," he declared. In a statement signed by him and published in the 7 February edition of The Nation, the former minister noted that his records in the various capacities he served the nation widely attest to his purity. "During these years of service, not one of my numerous actions and decisions was motivated by any corrupt intentions," Mimiko said. He then concluded that "it is very painful that Mr. President decided to pass uncomplimentary remarks about my parents. Painful as this is, I have chosen to allow it to rest, as I consider it inappropriate for me to join issues on this matter." A determined Obasanjo is not just bent on ensuring that his deputy, Atiku Abubakar, does not succeed him, he is hellbent on ensuring that politicians he does not like are disqualified from the April polls. He set up a committee to try politicians ‘‘indicted’’ by the EFCC for fraud and corruption, including those who belong to rival parties. Chairman of the Administrative Panel of Inquiry was Professor Ignatius Ayua, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice. Enraged, some of those indicted stayed away, arguing that the President did not have the constitutional power to try them. Lagos governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, vowed never to face the panel. He declared: "Who should face EFCC? Who is corrupt and who is importing fuel daily without reviving the refineries? That person is Obasanjo." Nevertheless, the President set up another committee made up of some hawks in his cabinet which looked at the report and gazetted it overnight. Briefing newsmen shortly after an emergency Federal Executive Council meeting last week, Frank Nweke Jr. said the Council of State deliberated on the White Paper which indicted the politicians and upheld the panel’s verdict. He also disclosed that names of those indicted have been sent to INEC, political parties and security agencies. "So far, over 100 public officers and politicians were indicted by the Administrative Panel of Inquiry set up by the Federal Government. All the names have been forwarded to INEC and their political parties for appropriate action," said Nweke. But many politicians see this as an invitation to anarchy, saying the action of the President is unconstitutional and uncalled for. Lawyer, human rights activist and founder of the National Conscience Party, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, however, believes the government’s decision to bar the indicted politicians from contesting elections was constitutional. He also said that contrary to the opinion in the opposition camp, the indicted politicians do not constitute any threat to the President. Besides, until last week, he pointed out, those indicted were members of the PDP. "DSP Alamieyeseigha, Ayo Fayose, Obasanjo’s godson, and even Joshua Dariye, who were targeted and removed from office on account of corruption are PDP members," Fawehinmi argued. Fawehinmi, who was speaking with TheNEWS last week, declared that Obasanjo’s politically reckless and desperate actions show that he has something to hide. He predicted that EFCC Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, a creation of Obasanjo, may jail the president for corruption. "Obasanjo looks over his shoulders because he knows Ribadu watches him. Even Ribadu’s pronouncements sometimes shock Obasanjo. I do not know if this young man will not arrest Obasanjo the moment the President leaves office in May this year. I do not know whether Ribadu will not commit Obasanjo to prison for corruption. Nothing can be ruled out about Ribadu," the lawyer noted. Fawehinmi hinted that Ribadu had informed him that he had investigated the President for corruption. Yet there are other reasons why the President is desperate? TheNEWS investigations show that there are so many constitutional breaches and general abuse of office for which he could be tried when he leaves office. For example, the President’s misuse of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is legendary. He is known to always bypass the National Assembly and gets access to funds not appropriated for in the budget. Critics say this was the reason the President retained control of the Petroleum Ministry for over seven years. The President’s critics accuse him of holding tight to that ministry to cover his tracks at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. This view may not be entirely wrong, considering the fact that many of the contracts the President used the NNPC to award were done without recourse to the Federal Executive Council and due process. "I was National Chairman of PDP for over three years. I was also honorary Special Adviser on Agriculture. I know and I was told by many ministers, that President Obasanjo did not for once bring any memo for the award of oil bloc or contract in the Petroleum Sector to Council," Chief Audu Ogbeh told TheNEWS in a chat. This magazine checks at the NNPC show that in most cases, the President, through his Chief of Staff, General Abdullahi Mohammed (retd), uses the corporation to award contracts by fiat, not passing through tender process or competitive bidding. In a letter entitled, "Request for Revalidation of Approval for NNPC funding on the Nigerian Navy" and dated 18 August, 2006, Mohammed merely stated the importance of procurement of spare parts for Navy and the President directed NNPC to award the contract. And on 28 August 2006, there came contract for procurement of Pol, Local Refit of NN Ships and spare parts at the cost of N4.63 billion. That was not all, the President unilaterally wrote a letter to the Group Managing Director, NNPC, asking the corporation to fund the training of 50 undisclosed men, establish media centre and operational centres in Abuja, Warri and Port Harcourt. The entire contract sum (N1,019 billion has since been paid to the contractor whose name was missing in Obasanjo’s letter to NNPC. The President wrote: "After a session between me and the service chiefs and other stakeholders in the Niger Delta area on the security situation, the Chief of Defence Staff has submitted a report…Because of the importance of this issue, I am requesting and also authorising the NNPC to fund the immediate term operation which is clearly delineated here." NNPC MD, Funsho Kupolokun, hurriedly approved Obasanjo’s request without following the due process. In his letter dated 16 November 2006 and entitled "Special Training and Equipment Requirements for Security Challenges in the Niger Delta," the NNPC boss affirmed that due process was not necessary in the contract award. "In view of the urgency, propriety, nature and confidentiality attached to the project, the procurement of Federal Executive Council and Due Process approvals may be inappropriate, if we have to expeditiously address the security challenges in the Niger Delta," wrote Kupolokun. Curiously too, in the few cases where foreign companies were patronised by the Presidency in contract awards involving the NNPC, the most prominent of them is Singapore Technologies Kinetic Ltd. One of the contracts handled by Kinetic Ltd is the supply of 193 Cobra Armoured vehicles for the Nigerian Army at the cost of $35.7 million. The company which had payment Bankers Guarantee No. 550-0-0446905 with Invoice No. STK/2007/088B has been fully paid. The haste with which the money was paid the contractor has fueled suspicion that the President may have vast interest in it. It will be recalled that the agreement to supply the armoured vehicles was reached in January, 2007 between the Chief of Army Staff, Major-General Azazi on behalf of the Federal Government and Singapore Kinetics. And to the surprise of many contract analysts, the presidency pressurised the NNPC to approve and release "advance payment" of the agreement to the tune of $35.7 million on 24 January, this year. Obasanjo’s acquisitive tendencies make him a valid target for corruption investigators. In word and in deed, Obasanjo’s reputation as a frugal leader suffered some dent in the heat of the Petroleum Trust Development Fund, PTDF, scandals. Obasanjo had fired the first salvo via a controversial EFCC indictment of Vice President Atiku Abubakar for corrupt enrichment. According to the document, Atiku was alleged to have diverted a sum of $125 million approved for the operation of the PTDF to the Equitorial Trust Bank, owned by Otunba Mike Adenuga, and the Trans International Bank. The report claimed that soon after receiving the lodgement, TIB doled N400 million to MOFAS Shipping Company owned by Otunba Oyewole Fasawe. The report also linked Adenuga’s payment of $20 million for his Globacom licence to PTDF money lodged in his bank. The EFCC alleged that from October 2003, MOFAS paid more than N500 million to Umar Pariya, Personal Assistant to Vice President Atiku Abubakar. On one occasion, the sum of N61 million was paid by MOFAS directly to the Vice President on 29 January 2001. MOFAS was also said to have paid N60 million directly to Musa Garba on 22 May 2002. Garba is, among other things, a contractor who works for the ABTI American University owned by the Vice President. Atiku’s response to the damning allegations was combative. The Vice President, speaking through his media aide, Malam Garba Shehu, unleashed a Pandora’s box of who got what from the PTDF cake. Backed by facts and incontrovertible bank statements and cheques, Atiku was able to establish that the President, his family, businesses, native community and the PDP benefited from the PTDF largesse. According to Shehu, Bodunde Adeyanju, the President’s Personal Assistant, made over 100 sorties to TIB, Abuja, located at Tofa House in the Central Business District, between 1999 and 2004 in quest for cash. "The truth of the matter, is that there is a big linkage between Chief Obasanjo and Otunba Fasawe, contrary to the claims that the President has made. There are cheques worth over N100 million issued to IBAD Nigeria Limited, a construction company solely owned by Obasanjo from Fasawe’s MOFAS TIB accounts,’’ Garba charged. In addition, Fasawe made some direct payments to the Obasanjo Africa Leadership Forum and to the Obasanjo Campaign Organisation. Garba unleashed documented evidence to show that the President procured a brand new Prado Jeep for Mrs. Ajoke Mohammed, wife of the late Head of State, General Murtala Muhammed. R.T. Briscoe, acting on the president’s directive, also supplied two Coaster buses, valued at N11 million, to Obasanjo’s Bells Comprehensive High School in Ota , about the same time. "The TIB Abuja branch cheque was issued on December 20, 2001. An additional N1.95 million was also issued to R.T Briscoe on TIB Apapa branch on 7th December 2001. Also, a TIB Abuja branch cheque of N4 million was issued to Ibogun-Olaogun Development Association on 26th February 2004. Ibogun-Olaogun is Obasanjo’s village,’’ Garba explained. He disclosed that from 1999 to the elections in 2003, the President, through Adeyanju, collected over N3 billion from MOFAS account at TIB, Abuja branch. The damming disclosure from the Atiku camp was met with stiff denial from Obasanjo’s aides. Atiku took the matter a step further when he told the Senate Committee on the PTDF scam how the President paid N250 million of PTDF money to a lawyer to register a company, Galaxy Backbone. Believing he had enough ammunition to nail the President, he urged the Senate Committee on the PTDF scam to make its sitting public. But whatever may have happened to the PTDF largesse would amount to a sip from the sea when compared with Obasanjo’s track record of greedy acquisitions. In Cross River State, Obasanjo is a proud owner of a massive 10,000 hectares of farm land which amounts to a space of 100 square kilometres, twice the size of the total land mass of the disputed Bakassi peninsula. Criss-crossing nine communities in the Akamkpa and Akpabuyo Local Government areas of the state, Obasanjo acquired the land in 2001 under the pretext of the agro-forestry initiative, a scheme which seeks to restore degraded portions of the forests via planting of forest-friendly crops. Despite stiff resistance from displaced villagers in Abiati, Mfamosing, Aningaje, Mbobui, Ndingane, Ekonganaku and Akwa Ikot, all in Akamkpa, and Effanga Ikot and Oyom Eneyo in Apkabuyo Local Government areas, Obasanjo went ahead to establish a massive oil palm plantation with improved seedlings from Malaysia. In no time, the President expanded his interest in the state with the clandestine take-over of the large Kwa Plantation and the state-owned oil palm nursery at Ochong, reputed to be the largest in the country. Similarly, in 2004, anti-riot policemen were dispatched to Badagry to quell a brewing uprising from locals protesting Obasanjo’s forceful take-over of their farm lands for his Bell University’s permanent site project. Even in his native Ogun State, Obasanjo’s rapacious fangs have been felt by the indigenes. In 2004, Obasanjo allegedly obtained land titles in Ishasi-Akute and Aiyetoro areas of the state. This development naturally pitted him against the original land owners. Members of the Adeogun-Atele family of Aiyetoro-Itele made spirited efforts to resist what they termed the arbitrary take-over of their ancestral land by the President. For their efforts, seven members of the family were arrested and charged for armed robbery when policemen stormed the site to effect the take-over in April 2004. When the family members remained adamant even in chains, Obasanjo told the police to ignore them, declaring in Yoruba that oto lejo, oto leto, that is, legal acquisition is one thing, back door process is another. Obasanjo’s greed for farmland also found expression in nearby Awela community where he grabbed a massive 500 hectares of virgin land. The President also acquired similar facilities in Ajoda and Abele communities in the Abeokuta axis. Today, Temperance Farm, Ota, which, before OBJ’s ascendancy to the Presidency in 1999 was in the throes of bankruptcy, has been transformed into a multi-billion naira business, so much so that it supplied eggs and chicken to caterers during the 8th All Africa Games in 2003. Remi Oyo, Senior Special Assistant (Media) to the President, attributed the growth of the farm to a N2.5 billion loan obtained by Obasanjo shortly after he came to power. However, Atiku was quick to dismiss the explanation, querying: "What did he use as collateral to secure the credit facility?" Away from the borders of Nigeria, Obasanjo has extended his rapacity to the West coast of Africa. TheNEWS gathered that Obasanjo has acquired chains of choice properties along the Accra waterfront in Ghana. He also has choice properties in the Gambia. This magazine gathered that to finance some of his personal acquisition schemes, the President borrowed about N10 billion for election finances out of the $220 million Joint Development Zone, JDZ, funds lodged in the defunct Hallmark Bank. Before his sudden demise in 2005 in a crash involving an aircraft owned by Bellview Airlines in Lisa village, Ogun State, Mohammed Waziri was Obasanjo’s most trusted aide. Sources disclosed that the former Chairman of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC, knew where ‘all the dead bodies were buried.’ TheNEWS gathered that after Waziri’s demise, Obasanjo personally coordinated the removal of a fire-proof safe in Waziri’s house after which the safe was chiselled and opened. Though contents like jewellery were returned to Waziri’s disconsolate wife, the woman never got to see the full contents of the safe. Waziri’s last errand for his boss was to try and convince Fasawe, who was in detention at the EFCC cell in Lagos, to help nail Atiku in exchange for his freedom. Obasanjo’s puritanical stand was first challenged early in the life of this administration when Dan Etete, Minister of Petroleum under the regime of the late General Sani Abacha, accused Obasanjo of bias and corruption in the revocation of the oil prospecting licence granted to his Malabu Oil and Gas Company Limited for oil prospecting lease, OPL 245. Etete alleged that Obasanjo and Atiku were bribed by Shell to re-award the licence to it. Besides lobbying serving ministers to persuade Obasanjo to upturn the revocation, Etete petitioned African presidents, in a bid to regain the licence. He was also said to have petitioned Obasanjo on the matter, alleging that the said licence was revoked because Atiku Abubakar and Fasawe were interested in the licence. The House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources launched a congressional inquiry into the disputed deep offshore oil bloc. This was on the strength of the petition sent to the House by Malabu challenging revocation of the licence. To give the scandal international dimension, Etete dispatched a letter to the South African President, Thabo Mbeki, castigating Obasanjo. Malabu Oil and Gas also slammed a $1bn (N126bn) lawsuit on the Federal Government in New York’s Manhattan Federal Court in respect of the oil block. Are the President’s fears justified. Maybe. Given the unpredictability of humans, he has every reason to dread being betrayed. There is no guarantee that Yar’Adua, if he becomes president, will not move against him. The Katsina governor is said to enjoy being his own man. During the First Republic, while his dad belonged to the conservative Northern Peoples Congress, NPC, led by Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto, Yar’Adua opted to pitch his tent with the Northern Elements Progressive Union, NEPU led by Aminu Kano. If Yar’Adua’s First Republic radicalism is anything to go by, then Obasanjo’s exit jitters are understandable.
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