June 19, 2010
I wish to commend Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for his recent letter to President Goodluck Jonathan in which he denied involvement in the Halliburton scandal. A number of reports, including those of a federal government panel, claim that the former President benefitted from a massive $180 million slush fund set up to ensure that particular foreign interests got their tentacles into the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) project.
I wish to commend Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for his recent letter to President Goodluck Jonathan in which he denied involvement in the Halliburton scandal. A number of reports, including those of a federal government panel, claim that the former President benefitted from a massive $180 million slush fund set up to ensure that particular foreign interests got their tentacles into the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) project.
In what is now known worldwide as the Halliburton scandal, top officials of a succession of Nigerian governments are reported to have been bought—or sold, depending on how you look at it—for millions of dollars.
Some of them were cheaper than that, of course. But at least one official Nigeria report identifies Obasanjo as a key beneficiary. Among others, he is reported to have shared a whopping $74 million with his Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, and two officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company. He is also reported to have collected another $5 million that he may or may not have split with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
In the United States and France, many of the schemers involved have been indicted, and they have paid vast sums of money—estimated at over $1 billion by one source—in plea bargaining.
Not in Nigeria. For a long time, nobody was identified. In the past two years, however, the names have begun to surface, yet nobody has been prosecuted.
In fact, in a recent comment, I complained that none of the people named so far has even shown any concern, let alone embarrassment. Corruption, I suggested, has become so much a part of us that even former chiefs of state were ignoring public accusations made by no less than a presidential panel.
In his letter to President Jonathan, Obasanjo said he wanted to “make a once-and-for-all detailed explanations and absolute rebuttal of these allegations.”
The former president deserves some praise for being this much of a man. His response is completely different from anything that has happened in the past when he offered the impression that nobody has the right to raise his voice to him.
What he has now done is what a self-respecting man does: speak out on behalf of his name.
What he has done is what a patriot does: speak up on behalf of his country and stand by her.
Obasanjo does not deny the scam, which, according to him, began in 1994 during the Sani Abacha era and lasted into his own administration. But he said his role was limited to trying to bring the scam down, not benefit from it.
When he assumed office in 1999, he said in the letter, he ordered the recovery of the monies that had allegedly been paid as bribes in respect of the NLNG project. He said he also directed law enforcement agents in Nigeria to cooperate with their foreign counterparts in the investigation of the issue as well as other matters pertaining to corruption cases that involved Nigerians and foreign individuals or corporate organizations.
Although President Jonathan ought to require no invitation to investigate this mess, I hope he takes Obasanjo up on the challenge. The account that Obasanjo has given suggests that the issue is messier and broader than was previously understood, and all the issues need to be clarified. It would also help improve our image in the eyes of the world.
For me, and for the moment, a few questions are unavoidable.
I find it exceedingly strange that Obasanjo claims to have begun investigating the scandal as far back as 1999 when it had not even broken.
I find it exceedingly strange that he claims some success in his investigations because throughout his eight years in office, his government never identified a single Nigerian regarding the Halliburton file, let alone prosecute one.
I find it exceedingly strange that Obasanjo claims to have investigated this issue, with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) having meetings with investigating magistrates in France and Switzerland, but when the issue got serious, Obasanjo shut out the same EFCC and handled the issue alone with a foreign lawyer.
“Due to the nature of the matter, I requested and received direct briefings from this lawyer as to progress in the recovery and repatriation efforts,” he wrote, reports that he said he shared with certain government officials, but not the EFCC. “As the exchange of the correspondence between the lawyer and I are germane in the rebuttal of the unfounded allegations against me, you will permit me to make brief references to the content of some of the said correspondences.”
I find it exceedingly strange that a matter of public interest is so bizarre that in a republican democracy, a president appoints a foreign lawyer to a public investigation, and then conducts the matter through a direct one-on-one with that lawyer.
It is interesting that Obasanjo finished his letter by dialing up his indication of an anti-corruption intention during his inauguration in 1999; his setting up of two anti-corruption bodies and his hunt for the Sani Abacha loot as evidence of his battle against corruption.
This shows how much he misunderstands the question.
There is nothing in his letter that refutes the allegations that he may have benefitted from the Halliburton scandal, just as there is nothing in our national experience during his tenure that confirms his claims to fighting corruption.
Yes, he made loud claims, and he set up structures. But yelling and sabre-rattling do not a war make, which is why, by the time he left office, more Nigerians saw Obasanjo more as a fraud than as an anti-corruption warrior.
This is why his letter to the President is an opportunity for all sides. Obasanjo can clear his name, and the Nigerian public can gain clarity as to the Nigerians who accepted Halliburton bribes.
But we cannot make any progress if President Jonathan continues to sit on his hands on the corruption question, particularly given that Obasanjo is widely-known to be his friend and a consultant to his government.
Jonathan has so far failed to honour his promises to take decisive steps to fight corruption. He has done nothing about the floundering leadership of the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, and now Halliburton has rolled on to his laps.
The truth is that under the leadership of the PDP, Nigeria cannot fight a credible war against corruption. Obasanjo and Umaru Yar’Adua have proved this point, and Jonathan would have to earn a better image.
Let us be clear: Obasanjo has been found culpable by a federal government panel. That is not rumour, and it is unhelpful that he is suggesting a witch-hunt. His letter to Jonathan is diversionary, and is meant only to solicit sympathies at the highest level where customary PDP brotherhood and covert manipulation can be of help to him. That is not justice.
What Jonathan ought to do is remind Obasanjo there is an investigating panel, before which he should appear. The question is not the presidency, but Obasanjo’s, and if the former president has any evidence, it is at the panel that it is of value. It is the mark of desperation to cry for presidential interference.
It seems obvious Obasanjo knows there is no offensive against corruption in this country, and is counting on Jonathan to continue the elaborate PDP scam, Africa’s biggest.
• [email protected]
In what is now known worldwide as the Halliburton scandal, top officials of a succession of Nigerian governments are reported to have been bought—or sold, depending on how you look at it—for millions of dollars.
Some of them were cheaper than that, of course. But at least one official Nigeria report identifies Obasanjo as a key beneficiary. Among others, he is reported to have shared a whopping $74 million with his Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, and two officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company. He is also reported to have collected another $5 million that he may or may not have split with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
In the United States and France, many of the schemers involved have been indicted, and they have paid vast sums of money—estimated at over $1 billion by one source—in plea bargaining.
Not in Nigeria. For a long time, nobody was identified. In the past two years, however, the names have begun to surface, yet nobody has been prosecuted.
In fact, in a recent comment, I complained that none of the people named so far has even shown any concern, let alone embarrassment. Corruption, I suggested, has become so much a part of us that even former chiefs of state were ignoring public accusations made by no less than a presidential panel.
In his letter to President Jonathan, Obasanjo said he wanted to “make a once-and-for-all detailed explanations and absolute rebuttal of these allegations.”
The former president deserves some praise for being this much of a man. His response is completely different from anything that has happened in the past when he offered the impression that nobody has the right to raise his voice to him.
What he has now done is what a self-respecting man does: speak out on behalf of his name.
What he has done is what a patriot does: speak up on behalf of his country and stand by her.
Obasanjo does not deny the scam, which, according to him, began in 1994 during the Sani Abacha era and lasted into his own administration. But he said his role was limited to trying to bring the scam down, not benefit from it.
When he assumed office in 1999, he said in the letter, he ordered the recovery of the monies that had allegedly been paid as bribes in respect of the NLNG project. He said he also directed law enforcement agents in Nigeria to cooperate with their foreign counterparts in the investigation of the issue as well as other matters pertaining to corruption cases that involved Nigerians and foreign individuals or corporate organizations.
Although President Jonathan ought to require no invitation to investigate this mess, I hope he takes Obasanjo up on the challenge. The account that Obasanjo has given suggests that the issue is messier and broader than was previously understood, and all the issues need to be clarified. It would also help improve our image in the eyes of the world.
For me, and for the moment, a few questions are unavoidable.
I find it exceedingly strange that Obasanjo claims to have begun investigating the scandal as far back as 1999 when it had not even broken.
I find it exceedingly strange that he claims some success in his investigations because throughout his eight years in office, his government never identified a single Nigerian regarding the Halliburton file, let alone prosecute one.
I find it exceedingly strange that Obasanjo claims to have investigated this issue, with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) having meetings with investigating magistrates in France and Switzerland, but when the issue got serious, Obasanjo shut out the same EFCC and handled the issue alone with a foreign lawyer.
“Due to the nature of the matter, I requested and received direct briefings from this lawyer as to progress in the recovery and repatriation efforts,” he wrote, reports that he said he shared with certain government officials, but not the EFCC. “As the exchange of the correspondence between the lawyer and I are germane in the rebuttal of the unfounded allegations against me, you will permit me to make brief references to the content of some of the said correspondences.”
I find it exceedingly strange that a matter of public interest is so bizarre that in a republican democracy, a president appoints a foreign lawyer to a public investigation, and then conducts the matter through a direct one-on-one with that lawyer.
It is interesting that Obasanjo finished his letter by dialing up his indication of an anti-corruption intention during his inauguration in 1999; his setting up of two anti-corruption bodies and his hunt for the Sani Abacha loot as evidence of his battle against corruption.
This shows how much he misunderstands the question.
There is nothing in his letter that refutes the allegations that he may have benefitted from the Halliburton scandal, just as there is nothing in our national experience during his tenure that confirms his claims to fighting corruption.
Yes, he made loud claims, and he set up structures. But yelling and sabre-rattling do not a war make, which is why, by the time he left office, more Nigerians saw Obasanjo more as a fraud than as an anti-corruption warrior.
This is why his letter to the President is an opportunity for all sides. Obasanjo can clear his name, and the Nigerian public can gain clarity as to the Nigerians who accepted Halliburton bribes.
But we cannot make any progress if President Jonathan continues to sit on his hands on the corruption question, particularly given that Obasanjo is widely-known to be his friend and a consultant to his government.
Jonathan has so far failed to honour his promises to take decisive steps to fight corruption. He has done nothing about the floundering leadership of the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, and now Halliburton has rolled on to his laps.
The truth is that under the leadership of the PDP, Nigeria cannot fight a credible war against corruption. Obasanjo and Umaru Yar’Adua have proved this point, and Jonathan would have to earn a better image.
Let us be clear: Obasanjo has been found culpable by a federal government panel. That is not rumour, and it is unhelpful that he is suggesting a witch-hunt. His letter to Jonathan is diversionary, and is meant only to solicit sympathies at the highest level where customary PDP brotherhood and covert manipulation can be of help to him. That is not justice.
What Jonathan ought to do is remind Obasanjo there is an investigating panel, before which he should appear. The question is not the presidency, but Obasanjo’s, and if the former president has any evidence, it is at the panel that it is of value. It is the mark of desperation to cry for presidential interference.
It seems obvious Obasanjo knows there is no offensive against corruption in this country, and is counting on Jonathan to continue the elaborate PDP scam, Africa’s biggest.
• [email protected]
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