February 21, 2007
Q: Recently, President Olusegun Obasanjo said the 2007 election is a do or die affair. What does his outburst portend for our democracy? When I heard General Obasanjo say the next election will be a do or die affair, something confirmed my fear that Obasanjoo is definitely corrupt. And he would do everything to see that his corrupt and treasonable tracks are protected by the puppet he intends to crown because there must be reasons why Obasanjo wants to die for the sake of election. The simple reason is that Obasanjo has done many ignoble things and that is why he wants the PDP presidential candidate, Umar Yar’Adua whom I don’t know, to win by hook or crook so that he can cover Obasanjo’s misdeeds in office. Two, Obasanjo’s desperation confirmed that there will be organised rigging in the April polls in favour of PDP. This also means that the people’s vote will not count. Since it is going to be a do or die affair, lining up to vote will be irrelevant. And when General Muhammadu Buhari said the federal government had already written the result of the election, that has not been denied by the federal government, except by INEC. So, Obasanjo and PDP are ready to rig in a greater proportion, more than we saw in the 2003 elections. Ironically, Obasanjo is not a candidate, so why should it be do or die election? I smell a rat. This man called Obasanjo wants to throw Nigeria into chaos so that there would be no election, or at best hold election and deny Nigerians of their popular choice.
Curiously too, Obasanjo said he would not hand over to anyone who will not continue with his programmes. What programme? Is it the reforms that impoverished Nigerians? Or is it the eight-year sterile regime of Obasanjo that could not provide electricity, job and security to Nigerians? What type of programme or reform? A government that inherited 3,035 megawatts of electricity in 1999, but generates less – about 2,055 megawatts – in 2007. Today, the whole nation has been thrown into darkness, businesses are collapsing because they cannot generate power or energy. Obasanjo’s government has not built a single refinery since 1999. Mr. President was Minister of Petroleum for seven years and four months, yet scarcity of fuel has become a rule rather than an exception.This is an indictment on the President.
Obasanjo, since 1999, has been awarding oil blocs on his own without recourse to the Federal Executive Council even when he knows that his acts constitute abuse of office. So what type of continuity does Obasanjo want? Is it continuity of poverty, disease and insecurity of life? Or is it corruption in high places, continuity of hunger or joblessness? I remember in 1999 when he assumed office, one tuber of yam went for N65-N70. But today, one tuber is N350 in the open market, the same with rice and other foodstuffs. The high point of Obasanjo’s economic policy is hyper-inflation, yet he wants his policies to be sustained. Iran for example, is a petroleum exporting country like Nigeria. That country has built more than 12 refineries. It refines 3.4 million barrels of fuel a day. It also exports. But Nigeria has four refineries which are moribund. These refineries need repairs. So Nigeria is importing petroleum instead of exporting and Obasanjo has not done anything to build refineries so that we can have the benefits of enjoying petrol. So is this what Obasanjo wants his successor to continue with? And that is why people now call National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) of the Obasanjo administration National Economic Enslavement and Dehumanising Strategy. This is what Obasanjo wants the next president to uphold?
So when Obasanjo thinks like this and ends up with Transcorp, some of us are not surprised. Transcorp is the worst example of Obasanjo’s profligacy and corruption in the last seven years. This was a President who called Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, DG, Stock Exchange and Chairman, Transnational Corporation (Transcorp), established Transcorp and took N200 million shares and registered Obasanjo’s shares as Obasanjo Holdings. This is the bane of Transcorp. Any Nigerian who invests in Transcorp will forfeit it to the government in future because the base of Transcorp is fraudulent. Transcorp was conceived in Aso Rock by Obasanjo to give him greater economic power while in office and after leaving office. And that power is got at the expense of the Nigerian people.
All over the world, governments invest in people. Obasanjo did not invest in his own people. He always talks of foreign investments. In all, the President in the last seven years and seven months, spent close to two years outside Nigeria; slept out of the country for two years either trying to arrange his own business or pretending to bring private investors to the nation. But Nigerians have not seen these investments in the country.
Take the consolidation of the banking sector by Soludo. The banks have rendered Nigerians as mere spectators. These banks place high interest rates on loans, creating a Berlin Wall between the banks and the people. So the banks are only good to people like Obasanjo who are in government. Obasanjo said he took loans worth N2.5b from banks to reactivate his moribund farm and to acquire new farms. What property did he use as collateral security? Is it the Nigerian nation? I ask this question because prior to 1999, el-Rufai said the president had N20,000, meaning that Obasanjo was bankrupt before he was catapulted to power.
Besides, we did not see the loans documents. So we don’t know whether it was a smart exchange of document or he actually took loans.
Apart from this bank revolution rubbish, our educational system is in shambles at all levels. When Tony Blair took office ten years ago in Britain, newsmen asked him, "Mr. Prime Minister, what will be your priority". He said, No. 1 Education, No. 2 Education, No. 3 Education. And I almost cried for Nigeria because if a developed country like Britain places premium on education, why not Nigeria? Go to the library of Nigerian tertiary institutions, there is no single modern book there. Go to the laboratory, there is no reagent to do experiment. Go to Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and see the decadence. People are dying like rats because there are no drugs; even when there are drugs, they are too costly for the common man to buy. This is a country that saves $44 billion in foreign exchange. A country that pays $12 billion to Paris Club of creditors. In order to sustain his third term agenda and get the support of European Union, Obasanjo paid the $12billion in one year. This money was supposed to be paid in 12 years. But Obasanjo hurriedly paid the money in a year instead of paying in 12 years and the club parted away with $6 billion to Nigeria. Shortly after, it turned to Paris Club for loan. If government had invested the $12billion, in five years’ time it would have got $100 billion in profit. The greatest debtor in the world today is America yet it is the most powerful nation on earth. No nation is ashamed of being a debtor once the debt is ploughed into regenerative investments that have multiplier effect on its economy. But in Nigeria, government paid its debt just because the President wanted to court the support of the super powers in abusing his office through tenure extension. Money is not what you have or what you owe but the use to which you put it. So President Obasanjo is not a good manager of money and this is disastrous. And finally, Obasanjo has not forgotten his botched third term dream. He believes that if he creates more confusion, Nigerians would ask him to stay on. But let me tell him, when you go to war, you can only know what you plan but you can never know what to meet at the battlefield. If Obasanjo allows this democracy to fail, he will pay the price!. So what is your impression of Governor Umar Yar’Adua, the PDP presidential candidate? Some of his supporters believe that he can be different from Obasanjo. I don’t know him. All I know is that a PDP candidate is always a candidate of PDP and he cannot be better than Obasanjo. PDP is a disaster to Nigeria. I don’t know how an offspring of PDP can be different.
Recently, some politicians were indicted by an administrative panel set up by the federal government. The opposition parties have questioned the legality of the panel. What is the position of the constitution on this? We must see the indictment from the standpoint of corruption. There is no doubt that since 1999, we have seen corruption at the highest level. And this has caused a serious impediment to the socio-economic and political well-being of Nigeria. Nigerians are basically poor because of corruption in high places. In June 2000, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) Act was born. But we all know that ICPC is not effective. Some state governors dragged ICPC to Supreme Court challenging its powers to fight corruption at the state level. You remember my case against Governor Bola Tinubu in 1999. Even to investigate him was a tug of war until we defeated him at the Supreme Court on May 10, 2002. The ruling was that no President, Vice President, Governor or deputy has immunity against investigation for crime. In June 7, 2002, the Supreme Court in the case of Attorney General of Ondo State versus Attorney General of Federation, decided that the Federal Government, through the National Assembly, has the powers to establish institutions to fight corruption at all levels of government. It also said ICPC has come to stay. And that corruption by virtue of item 6 D of the Legislative list of the Constitution has to be centrally controlled and that the ICPC has jurisdiction all over Nigeria. It also said any institution so established by the National Assembly has jurisdiction all over Nigeria. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
Curiously too, Obasanjo said he would not hand over to anyone who will not continue with his programmes. What programme? Is it the reforms that impoverished Nigerians? Or is it the eight-year sterile regime of Obasanjo that could not provide electricity, job and security to Nigerians? What type of programme or reform? A government that inherited 3,035 megawatts of electricity in 1999, but generates less – about 2,055 megawatts – in 2007. Today, the whole nation has been thrown into darkness, businesses are collapsing because they cannot generate power or energy. Obasanjo’s government has not built a single refinery since 1999. Mr. President was Minister of Petroleum for seven years and four months, yet scarcity of fuel has become a rule rather than an exception.This is an indictment on the President.
Obasanjo, since 1999, has been awarding oil blocs on his own without recourse to the Federal Executive Council even when he knows that his acts constitute abuse of office. So what type of continuity does Obasanjo want? Is it continuity of poverty, disease and insecurity of life? Or is it corruption in high places, continuity of hunger or joblessness? I remember in 1999 when he assumed office, one tuber of yam went for N65-N70. But today, one tuber is N350 in the open market, the same with rice and other foodstuffs. The high point of Obasanjo’s economic policy is hyper-inflation, yet he wants his policies to be sustained. Iran for example, is a petroleum exporting country like Nigeria. That country has built more than 12 refineries. It refines 3.4 million barrels of fuel a day. It also exports. But Nigeria has four refineries which are moribund. These refineries need repairs. So Nigeria is importing petroleum instead of exporting and Obasanjo has not done anything to build refineries so that we can have the benefits of enjoying petrol. So is this what Obasanjo wants his successor to continue with? And that is why people now call National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) of the Obasanjo administration National Economic Enslavement and Dehumanising Strategy. This is what Obasanjo wants the next president to uphold?
So when Obasanjo thinks like this and ends up with Transcorp, some of us are not surprised. Transcorp is the worst example of Obasanjo’s profligacy and corruption in the last seven years. This was a President who called Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, DG, Stock Exchange and Chairman, Transnational Corporation (Transcorp), established Transcorp and took N200 million shares and registered Obasanjo’s shares as Obasanjo Holdings. This is the bane of Transcorp. Any Nigerian who invests in Transcorp will forfeit it to the government in future because the base of Transcorp is fraudulent. Transcorp was conceived in Aso Rock by Obasanjo to give him greater economic power while in office and after leaving office. And that power is got at the expense of the Nigerian people.
All over the world, governments invest in people. Obasanjo did not invest in his own people. He always talks of foreign investments. In all, the President in the last seven years and seven months, spent close to two years outside Nigeria; slept out of the country for two years either trying to arrange his own business or pretending to bring private investors to the nation. But Nigerians have not seen these investments in the country.
Take the consolidation of the banking sector by Soludo. The banks have rendered Nigerians as mere spectators. These banks place high interest rates on loans, creating a Berlin Wall between the banks and the people. So the banks are only good to people like Obasanjo who are in government. Obasanjo said he took loans worth N2.5b from banks to reactivate his moribund farm and to acquire new farms. What property did he use as collateral security? Is it the Nigerian nation? I ask this question because prior to 1999, el-Rufai said the president had N20,000, meaning that Obasanjo was bankrupt before he was catapulted to power.
Besides, we did not see the loans documents. So we don’t know whether it was a smart exchange of document or he actually took loans.
Apart from this bank revolution rubbish, our educational system is in shambles at all levels. When Tony Blair took office ten years ago in Britain, newsmen asked him, "Mr. Prime Minister, what will be your priority". He said, No. 1 Education, No. 2 Education, No. 3 Education. And I almost cried for Nigeria because if a developed country like Britain places premium on education, why not Nigeria? Go to the library of Nigerian tertiary institutions, there is no single modern book there. Go to the laboratory, there is no reagent to do experiment. Go to Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and see the decadence. People are dying like rats because there are no drugs; even when there are drugs, they are too costly for the common man to buy. This is a country that saves $44 billion in foreign exchange. A country that pays $12 billion to Paris Club of creditors. In order to sustain his third term agenda and get the support of European Union, Obasanjo paid the $12billion in one year. This money was supposed to be paid in 12 years. But Obasanjo hurriedly paid the money in a year instead of paying in 12 years and the club parted away with $6 billion to Nigeria. Shortly after, it turned to Paris Club for loan. If government had invested the $12billion, in five years’ time it would have got $100 billion in profit. The greatest debtor in the world today is America yet it is the most powerful nation on earth. No nation is ashamed of being a debtor once the debt is ploughed into regenerative investments that have multiplier effect on its economy. But in Nigeria, government paid its debt just because the President wanted to court the support of the super powers in abusing his office through tenure extension. Money is not what you have or what you owe but the use to which you put it. So President Obasanjo is not a good manager of money and this is disastrous. And finally, Obasanjo has not forgotten his botched third term dream. He believes that if he creates more confusion, Nigerians would ask him to stay on. But let me tell him, when you go to war, you can only know what you plan but you can never know what to meet at the battlefield. If Obasanjo allows this democracy to fail, he will pay the price!. So what is your impression of Governor Umar Yar’Adua, the PDP presidential candidate? Some of his supporters believe that he can be different from Obasanjo. I don’t know him. All I know is that a PDP candidate is always a candidate of PDP and he cannot be better than Obasanjo. PDP is a disaster to Nigeria. I don’t know how an offspring of PDP can be different.
Recently, some politicians were indicted by an administrative panel set up by the federal government. The opposition parties have questioned the legality of the panel. What is the position of the constitution on this? We must see the indictment from the standpoint of corruption. There is no doubt that since 1999, we have seen corruption at the highest level. And this has caused a serious impediment to the socio-economic and political well-being of Nigeria. Nigerians are basically poor because of corruption in high places. In June 2000, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) Act was born. But we all know that ICPC is not effective. Some state governors dragged ICPC to Supreme Court challenging its powers to fight corruption at the state level. You remember my case against Governor Bola Tinubu in 1999. Even to investigate him was a tug of war until we defeated him at the Supreme Court on May 10, 2002. The ruling was that no President, Vice President, Governor or deputy has immunity against investigation for crime. In June 7, 2002, the Supreme Court in the case of Attorney General of Ondo State versus Attorney General of Federation, decided that the Federal Government, through the National Assembly, has the powers to establish institutions to fight corruption at all levels of government. It also said ICPC has come to stay. And that corruption by virtue of item 6 D of the Legislative list of the Constitution has to be centrally controlled and that the ICPC has jurisdiction all over Nigeria. It also said any institution so established by the National Assembly has jurisdiction all over Nigeria. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });