Atiku’s Aides Expose Obasanjo’s
Corruption
A new book published by the
media aides of Nigeria’s former
Vice President, Atiku Abubakar
has detailed the high handedness
and the corruption of former
President Olusegun Obasanjo,
under whom Atiku served for
eight years.
According to a report by Thisday,
the new book is entitled: “Atiku
Media Office: The Wars, The
Victories,”
Thisday reported that “presents
the grim details of how Obasanjo
crippled his deputy, Atiku, in
office at the height of their
disagreement in 2003.
The book also spoke about how
Obasanjo who “in 1999 had less
than N20, 000 in his bank
account” grew to acquire
monumental assets.
The former vice-president’s
spokesman, Mallam Shehu
Garba, “and others” authored the
book, said Thisday.
On Obasanjo’s assets, the authors
wrote: “It is, however, ironic
that the same EFCC (Economic
and Financial Crimes
Commission), whose only
allegation against Atiku
Abubakar is authorisation of
placement of deposits in interest-
yielding bank accounts, failed to
see anything wrong or even
curious is a situation where
Obasanjo who in 1999 had less
than N20,000 in his bank
account managed to acquire
several highly mechanised multi-
million naira farms in all the six
geo-political zones of the
country; Obasanjo palm oil
farms in Calabar; his farm at
Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State, the
biggest of its kind in Africa; big
fish farms in Lanlate and Ota; a
big poultry farm in Ibogun and
oil palm and estate at Ehuuagie,
Rivers State.
“As if that was not enough,
Obasanjo’s investments allegedly
stretch across all sectors of the
economy with such ventures as
the multi-million naira
Temperance Hotel, Ota; the Bells
Secondary School and University;
Transcorp, which owns the
Abuja Hilton, NITEL, oil blocks;
steel company, as well as a
speculated interest in the
Aluminium Smelter Company of
Nigeria (ALSCON) in Ikot-Abasi,
which was allegedly sold to
foreign interests allegedly at a
price believed to be far below its
actual value.”
“In a revealing chapter titled,
“Constitutional and Political
Background to the Obasanjo/
Atiku Conflict,” the authors also
traced the history of Obasanjo’s
emergence as president in 1999
to the efforts of some retired
military generals who
collaborated with the Peoples
Democratic Movement (PDM)
machine of the late Shehu Musa
Yar’Adua, then being led by
Atiku.
“Although Atiku would later
emerge Obasanjo’s running mate
and subsequently vice-president,
General Ibrahim Babangida, Lt.
General Aliyu Mohammed Gusau
(rtd) and a few Northern leaders
who supported Obasanjo did not
take kindly to this arrangement,
according to the authors.
“The problem between Obasanjo
and Atiku, the authors said,
started with the 2003
presidential election against an
earlier alleged expectation that
the former president would
spend only one term.
“The authors detailed how
Obasanjo deployed EFCC to fight
the ex-vice president on charges
of corruption and how the
former president took over the
Peoples Democratic Party and
appointed his men as party
leaders.
“According to them, the former
president began to cripple Atiku
by moving to “control such petty
things as allocation of staff
vehicles, office and residential
accommodation or determine
who should be entitled to lunch
at the State House. 247 Nigeria News Update