Revealed: How Then Governor
Goodluck Jonathan Gave
Obaigbena $1 Million From
Bayelsa’s Poverty Alleviation
Funds For Beyonce And Jay Z's
Visit To Nigeria
caption:
Beyonce and Jayzee in
Nigeria in October 2006
By SaharaReporters, New
York
SaharaReporters has
uncovered a document
indicating that a million
dollars of Bayelsa State’s
poverty alleviation fund
was spent by then
Governor Goodluck
Jonathan on bringing
American entertainers
Beyonce and Jay Z to
Nigeria in 2006.
In a letter stamped and
signed by Bayelsa
officials, N150 million
(approximately a million
dollars in 2006) was
released from the state’s
poverty alleviation fund
for the first ThisDay Music
Festival in Lagos.
The document came to
light after a controversy
was ignited over how
much money American
“reality TV” star Kim
Kardashian was paid for a
brief visit to Nigeria.
Ms. Kardashian, star of a
US TV show about her idle
rich family and who shot
to international fame after
a sex tape featuring her
and her rapper boyfriend
went viral, was reportedly
paid half a million dollars
for the 24-hour-visit last
week.
The sources who provided
the 2006 document for
Beyonce and Jay Z’s visit
told Saharareporters that
there was a shady
financial link between the
producers of some high
profile entertainment
events and the governors
and other officials who
control budgets at the
state and federal levels.
Mr. Obaigbena’s
newspaper, ThisDay, is a
major sponsor of
entertainment events that
brings US music stars as
well as top public figures
for flying visits to Nigeria
in exchange for
gargantuan paychecks.
“Mr. Obaigbena often lines
up financial bonanzas
from numerous
governors, ministers and
other top government
officials to finance his
jamborees,” said one of
the sources who is based
in the UK and is
knowledgeable about such
deals.
SaharaReporters obtained
a letter from Mr.
Obaigbena to the Bayelsa
State government
soliciting funds from the
oil-producing state ahead
of Nigeria’s 46th
independence celebrations
in 2006. The publisher
wrote, “We invite you to
partner with us as co-
hosts of the festival.” The
letter added: “With a total
budget of $10 million, the
co-host is expected to
contribute a minimum of
$2.5 million (two million
five hundred thousand
USD).”
At the bottom of the
letter, minuted by hand
and signed by then
Governor Jonathan’s aides
as well as the Bayelsa
State accountant general
are the words, “Release
N150,000,000.00 (One
hundred and fifty million
naira) only to be drawn
from the poverty
alleviation subhead.”
One source told
SaharaReporters that Mr.
Obaigbena sent similar
letters to other south-
south states.
SaharaReporters could not
ascertain how much of the
released funds was paid
directly to performers at
the festival. There is no
indication that Beyonce,
one of the few
entertainment stars
internationally famous
enough to only need one
name, was aware that her
performance was being
subsidized by the poor
people of Bayelsa.
But during Beyonce’s
celebrated rendition of
the Nigerian national
anthem, pictures of
Bayelsa State were
projected onto the wall of
the Lagos concert venue.
According to the Nigerian
Bureau of Statistics, 47%
of Bayelsans live in
poverty. The World Bank
says that per capita gross
domestic product in the
Niger Delta is significantly
below the country’s
average. According to the
state’s own 2005
development strategy,
80% of rural communities
have no access to safe
drinking water, a key
indicator in judging
poverty. In Yenagoa, the
state capital and Bayelsa’s
largest urban area, an
estimated two out of
every five residents do not
have access to safe
drinking water.
In 2005, as part of its
UN-approved strategy to
combat poverty, the state
promised to make a fund
of N100 million available
as soft loans and micro-
credit to Bayelsans. The
allocated fund was N50
million less than Mr.
Jonathan approved for Mr.
Obaigbena’s music
festival. That promise was
made in the Bayelsa State
Economic Empowerment
and Development Strategy,
published by the United
Nations Development
Program and signed by
then Governor Diepreye
Alamieyeseigha. A civil
rights activist in Yenogoa
told SaharaReporters that
the state “has been a
woeful failure in its
poverty reduction
program.”
The letter from Mr.
Obaigbena to then-
governor Goodluck
Jonathan said the concert
was necessary to show
that the news from
Nigeria was “not just…
HIV/AIDS, conflicts,
poverty, kidnapping, strife
and riots.”
The publisher added: “This
is the longest ever period
of democracy in Nigeria,
over seven years and
counting! And a stable
democracy means more
investment and economic
prosperity for all.”
The publisher went on to
give reasons why the state
government should
contribute to the concert.
The stars’ performances
would “tell the world,
through music, that
Nigeria’s time has come,”
Mr. Obaigbena wrote. The
letter added, “And once
the good news catches on
with the young and
upwardly mobile, music
loving new generation it
will catch on with the
world of investments and
bountiful opportunities.”
In 2006, Mr. Goodluck
Jonathan had just become
governor of Bayelsa after
his boss, Diepreye
Alamieyeseigha, was
impeached and convicted
on corruption charges.
Mr. Jonathan was then
elevated to Vice President
to then President Umaru
Yar’Adua. Mr. Yar’Adua's
death in 2010 enabled Mr.
Jonathan, a zoologist
whose PhD focused on
tropical fish, to assume
the presidency.
Since 2006, Mr.
Obaigbena’s parent
company, Leaders &
Company, has produced a
number of high-profile
events that have seen
such American stars as
Rihanna, R Kelly, and
Usher perform for
Nigerians. The ticket
prices for these concerts
are usually out of reach of
the “average” Nigerian.
The events feature tickets
that cost many tens of
thousands of naira,
usually reserved for “VIP
access.” ThisDay has also
hosted political luminaries
like former US President
Bill Clinton and former
economic adviser to the
Obama presidency,
Lawrence Summers. At an
Africa Rising concert in
London, former US
Secretary of State Colin
Powell came on stage and
danced to the popular
Naija jam “Yahooze” by
Olu Maintain.
http://mobile.saharareporters.com/news-page/revealed-how-then-governor-goodluck-jonathan-gave-obaigbena-1-million-bayelsa’s-poverty-al

Hmmn

I hope ds publication ws nt done in d spirit of 'if u daboh me, i tarka u' of yore. Or why is ds publication coming up now dat Fashola is accused of splashing $500k on kim kardashian?
If ds is true, i urge mr & mrs carter to return dat pay to poor bayelsans(nothing to say abt GEJ cos he's above d law. Isn't he in Nigeria?)

hahahaha
Bloody Niggerians