Corporate Nigeria is not an original initiative from Nigeria. Some of us got together in 1993 during the period Abiola was running for president. All Nigerians, North, East, South-South and South-West, people from all parts of Nigeria who were in the corporate world, got together. At that time, Pascal Dozie was our chairman and we were looking at ways of making MKO the President of Nigeria because all of us shared the view that was similar to Corporate America. If he became the president of Nigeria, the business and economic environment would be conducive for business and the Nigerian economy would thrive.
And so we borrowed a leaf from Corporate America that picks candidates, not parties. The organized private sector, that is Corporate America, holds dinners and luncheons. They write cheques - a maximum of $100,000 from any individual - towards electioneering campaigns. And so we borrowed that from Corporate America, registered it as an NGO and used that platform to hold luncheon and dinner parties where we asked the candidates (MKO Abiola and later Kingibe who was his running mate at that time) to explain what they were going to do or what was their economic blueprint. And we would also make inputs to the blueprint for the benefit of Nigeria. All the money that was raised in 1993 went in the personal names of the candidate, Abiola. We didn?t touch the money but Corporate Nigeria opened an account in Guaranty Trust Bank. As the cheques came, we gave them to him - not more than a hundred thousand from each company or individual - by directing them to GTB, where the candidate cleared them. Whatever the candidate decides to do with the money, just like Corporate America, is his business. It has no business with the party. We are not party members because we did not register with any party or carry any party card. We also do not attend any political meetings and we don?t follow the candidate on any electioneering campaign. We just assemble in a restaurant and discuss issues, especially economic and financial issues that concern the nation. So Corporate Nigeria was not instituted by the Obasanjo administration. It was in 1993 during the MKO election. Corporate Nigeria is an NGO, not a political wing or anything. We do a lot of NGO business and donate money to motherless babies? homes. We organise symposia where certain topical issues about the economy of Nigeria are discussed. We write the government officials who are in charge of those areas; whether it is Minister of Finance, Governor of Central Bank or Minister of Industry and so on, and we discuss government policies that we feel impede the progress of the economy. We will also find the appropriate government official in charge, whether it is Customs or insurance; whatever parastatal, we will invite the head of that parastatal to come and talk about it at the luncheon. This is what we do. If NACCIMA, for example, has problems with tariffs - imports tariffs - we, with the Chamber of Commence and then the people?s representative, would come and talk about it to proffer solutions. This is what we had been doing until 1999 when it was obvious that we were going to have another civilian administration. We didn?t do that during the military. Now, in 1999, when Obasanjo became a candidate, we only held the luncheon and dinner to raise money after he became a candidate, and after a party had accepted him as a flag bearer. If we identify you as a candidate that would make a positive difference in the economy, we would adopt you because of the capabilities you have to provide an enabling environment for business to thrive.
We would now invite you to talk at a luncheon or dinner, as the case may be, and then we raise money for you.
But we don?t raise and say ?take our corporate money.? No, we don?t do that. It is the corporate chieftains that donate their own personal money. I can never take money from the Stock Exchange. I cannot even reach that kind of money. I can?t part with Stock Exchange money. We donate our own personal money. The luncheon or dinner is sponsored with our own personal money and whatever is got, we give it to the candidate, not the party. Corporate Nigeria organized dinner at Eko Hotel for Obasanjo, the candidate in 1999.
We believe in the passion of that man to keep Nigeria one and to foster the economic fortunes of Nigeria as a nation. We share the same passion with Obasanjo and that is why we conducted the Corporate Nigeria dinner. And at that time he had picked his running mate, Atiku Abubakar. We didn?t campaign; we only discussed issues at that dinner or the luncheon. Subsequently, we invited him with his team to come and tell us what he had in his economic blueprint for the organised private sector, Corporate Nigeria, and we proffered solutions to some of the economic problems of Nigeria. In 2003, Chief Obasanjo was going for second term, and we now wrote him and asked if he would like us to repeat the dinner or luncheon and he was happy. And both he and Atiku said we should do it. We organised another Corporate Nigeria dinner. Because the time frame was so short, we could not do a luncheon. We just had only one dinner at the Lagoon Restaurant in 2003 and gave him all the money that we had pooled from all walks of life. Corporate Nigeria is not just a few Nigerians. You are a member of Corporate Nigeria if you are not working for government.
Could you give us a list of members of Corporate Nigeria?
We don?t have a list of members. If we are having a meeting of Corporate Nigeria today and you come and say ?I work for TheNEWS,? we?d admit you. We don?t have a list of members. We don?t have membership dues. It is open to everybody in the organized private sector. There is no register of members and every year, we look at somebody who can create time and provide leadership. In 2003, I was made the chairman; in 1999 I wasn?t the chairman. It was Pascal Dozie that was chairman. In 2003, they said I should be chairman and I should co-ordinate. We now did Corporate Nigeria for Obasanjo and Atiku. After the one at Lagoon, the candidate of the party also requested that we should do one in Abuja.
They were doing a fund-raising for Team Nigeria in Abuja that week and it was convenient to do it in Abuja for those candidates. We convened in Abuja, including people in Abuja that were working in the private sector, at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers. That was the so-called N2 billion fund-raising. Of course, we didn?t raise any N2 billion. But at that dinner in Abuja, there were some non-Corporate Nigeria members. Some politicians came into the room but we never ever called one single politician to the podium to donate money. It was only the corporate people in that hall that we called on to come and say something and donates money.
The Chairman of PDP was not present. It was just a few government people and a few politicians that escorted the incumbent President to the dinner. They only followed him and Atiku to the dinner. Not that they came as Corporate Nigeria. And like I said, Corporate Nigeria is open, we don?t drive people away. But we never called on one single politician. It was only corporate people that we called and we raised money in the names of the two candidates and in fact, when I read some cheques, it said ?Friends of Atiku Abubakar? from persons not companies.
N100, 000 is not the same as $100,000. We are very open and transparent about it. When the court case came (when General Muhammadu Buhari and M.D Yusufu took the President to court), I showed the registration certificate, that Obasanjo had nothing to do with Corporate Nigeria. This organization has been in existence since 1993. We used the platform for other things. When the debt relief came, there were a lot of misgivings about it and there were investigations. Corporate Nigeria organised a luncheon for the Minister of Finance to come and make presentations. When the mega bank decision was announced, Corporate Nigeria invited the Governor of Central Bank to a luncheon in Lagos to come and explain. We do such things that would be good for the economy. And we do it with individuals, not political parties. None of us is a member of a political party. We are skilled professionals who mind our business. We believe that you don?t go and do what you are not trained to do. Some people go into politics untrained. We believe that it is because they didn?t have any other job. Then, there are few that are trained and seasoned politicians. We are not trained to be politicians. We keep doing what we know best.
It is widely believed that Corporate Nigeria was the faceless organization that sponsored the wrap-around advert carried by some newspapers.
If Corporate Nigeria or a serious corporate entity places an advertisement, what stops them from putting their name? When Corporate Nigeria was congratulating Obasanjo, we put the names of the president and the board of trustees. If you believe in what you are doing, you can?t be anonymous like this.
Look at it the other way. If you are an investigative journalist, some people who are anti-third term can insert something, pay for it and say it is from corporate friends. I know that whenever the Nigerian Stock Exchange wants to do an advertisement or public statement, the newspapers insist that somebody must sign it. A human being ? Mrs. Idowu, Sola Oni, its PR people ? somebody must sign it. You don?t just say management. Even if the persons say they don?t want their names known, they would confidently tell the newspaper. Somebody would bring the ad and the money, and the kind of money you are talking about is not a small amount. That is why I said to the young man that asked the question during the conference: if you know of any board member of Transcorp involved in this Third Term thing, just whisper him to me. I expect the newspaper to know who brought the advert because it is not fair to be speculating and calling people names. There was one magazine called National Standard that put my picture and the pictures of about five members of the private sector and said we are the ones behind Third Term or something like that. I can say that if Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke or anybody associated with me in Corporate Nigeria or Transcorp is sponsoring Third Term, we are not going to hide it. We don?t work for government. If you believe in something, you come out and say so, which we have done in the past.
It is also widely believed that President Obasanjo is a partner in Transcorp.
The only relationship Transcorp has with Obasanjo is that he had this vision that we must have mega companies in Nigeria that could compete worldwide. His brain functions very well. He is very alert, articulate and focused and what some of us in the private sector like in Obasanjo is the passion he has for Nigeria staying as one big, strong and solid country that is truly the giant of Africa.
Do you not think that the third term agenda is heating the polity and could lead to anarchy?
There would never be a coup in Nigeria because we Nigerians would fight back and say: ?My friend, go to the barracks and sit down there because that is what you are trained to do. You are not trained to come out.? Ninety-five per cent of Nigerians would do that. There is no question of heating the polity.
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