~Bluetooth:


BBC
Wednesday, 24 November, 2004,

Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo has for the first time publicly declared the income from his private farm in the south-west.

A spokesman for the president said he was earning 30 million Naira ($250,000) a month from his farm in Otta.

Mr Obasanjo had made the public declaration to quell rumours that he was stealing money from the Nigerian state, the spokesman said.

Africa's major oil producer is ranked among the world's most corrupt nations.

Despite the oil wealth, the majority of the population lives on less than $1 a day.

Mixed feelings

The BBC's Nigeria editor Bilkisu Labaran Ohyoma says that the farm is massive and diverse, with various livestock including chickens, ostriches, pigs and fish, as well as crops.

The grounds also include a conference centre, where Mr Obasanjo recently hosted a regional summit on the crisis in Ivory Coast.

Mr Obasanjo's spokesman Femi Fani Kayode said his farm was managed by professionals and much of the money was reinvested to develop the property.

On the streets of the capital, Abuja, reaction to the declaration was mixed.

Some said Mr Obasanjo had earned the money through hard work but others said it was not right that he was earning so much money when most Nigerians were living in poverty.

One Nigerian told the BBC that it could do no harm for public officials to declare their wealth.


Telegraph.co.uk

President comes clean to fight corruption crackdown
By David Blair, Africa Correspondent
(Filed: 25/11/2004)

Nigeria sought to draw a line under decades of corruption yesterday when President Olusegun Obasanjo declared his private income, disclosing that he makes £140,000 a month from a chicken farm.

Mr Obasanjo, the first Nigerian leader to declare his assets, told a bemused nation that his farm in Otta state yields annual profits approaching £1.7 million

The president's spokesman, said his declaration was part of a government campaign to clean up Nigeria. The farm also stocks ostriches, pigs and fish and boasts a conference centre where Mr Obasanjo hosts regional summits.

Previous Nigerian leaders gloried in looting their country's oil wealth. Gen Sani Abacha, the military dictator who died in 1998, stole between £1 billion and £3 billion. Despite scouring the world for his assets, the government has recovered less than £500 million.

Despite the crackdown, official corruption continues on a wide scale. Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer, earning about 95 per cent of its hard currency from daily exports of two million barrels. But about 50,000 barrels are stolen every day and sold for huge profits.

http://www.nigerianmuse.com/important_documents/?u=Obasanjo_farm_wealth.htm


Now tell your president to declare his own !

Tolu19: For the sake of things getting worse, for the sake of national wealth seriously wasted everyday, for the sake of corruption getting to a record high and the sake of wrong decisions made by GEJ everyday,I beg that he is impeached without futher delay.

If he had been impeached Dec 2011, Petrol would still be 65 naira
If he had been impeached in May 2012, his wife's plane wouldn't have forced Dana Air crash with many lives gone.
If he had been impeached before the helicopter of the govenors crashed,they would have still been alive
If he had been impeached in February,the world renowned corrupt and public funds armed robbers wouldn't have been pardoned.
Etc

Who knows what happens 2morow from our president.

Please Politicians do us a huge favour by impeaching GEJ, arrest him immediately after impeachment, recover all stolen funds, cancel all his waste projects like giving fones to farmers nationwide and d rest,arrest all his cabinet members and prosecute dem seriously like Egypt prosecuted Hosni Mubarak,send Okupe and Abati to special jail and seize all their assets,their should no mercy to any slight degree,nothing like Abati's wife crying on TV to forgive her husband or Abati village people coming in groups with placards for his release. Justice must be served wholely, no half justice for any of them. Rebuild the civil service, mend all crooked ways and let Nigerians be united again happy,richer,better and safer.

I pray thee.

bubadaniel13: OP just a question for the confused Mr Joel Brinkley,Is GEJ the first leader of Nigeria?how many years has he spent on power so far?Nigeria has been ruled by bad leaders for decades and u expect GEJ to turn bad things around within three years,the writer of the article must be dreaming.

~Bluetooth:

Now tell your president to declare his own !

Tolu19: For the sake of things getting worse, for the sake of national wealth seriously wasted everyday, for the sake of corruption getting to a record high and the sake of wrong decisions made by GEJ everyday,I beg that he is impeached without futher delay.

If he had been impeached Dec 2011, Petrol would still be 65 naira
If he had been impeached in May 2012, his wife's plane wouldn't have forced Dana Air crash with many lives gone.
If he had been impeached before the helicopter of the govenors crashed,they would have still been alive
If he had been impeached in February,the world renowned corrupt and public funds armed robbers wouldn't have been pardoned.
Etc

Stiv:

Your points make no sense. Obj raised petrol from 20 to 70. A lot of planes crashed under Obj's regime, and the Minister wasn't touched. Under Obj, students sat at home for 6 months due to ASUU strike. And you're still blaming GEJ for the problems in Nigeria.

Sunny_bobo:

Point of correction, there is a difference between declaration of assets and public declaration of assets. Declaration of assets is a constitutional requirement for all public office holders and GEJ has done that. The constitution doesn't require him to make such declaration public. Anyone who is interested in knowing the president's assets should approach the CODE OF CONDUCT BUREAU using the Freedom of information (FOI) act which was signed into law by the same GEJ to obtain such information. Misrepresenting information with intent to misinform the gullible public won't make APC win the next elections that's if the merger even succeeds.

Pygru: Chei!!
Where have I been all this while?
This children never cease to amaze me.
Oga Jona has only spent Just TWO years.Why not allow him to complete his tenure before you all start running you mouth.
If he is impeached who will replace him Sambo Mark Tambuwal
Oga Jona is the best thing that ever happend to Nigeria.

~Bluetooth:


If Yardua can willingly declare his own,why can't Jonathan do that to prove he's interested in the anti-corruption war ?

Dee60:

Mr 'Sophisticated Ignorance' may in fact be very active in NL, posting stuff and having his cronies hit 'Like'. What has OBJ got to do with this? Rather than the administration do its job, it keeps on being haunted by OBJ's ghosts! OBJ did his, please do yours!

pro01: Someone should kindly tell me how GEJ's (2 year) administration is worse than OBJ's eight years in power. I have since concluded that shallow people (which describes many of the most vocal critics of the present administration) hate GEJ not necessarily for his actions or inactions, but because of his person and persona.

(Un)fortunately, GEJ is not as rambunctious, belligerent, swashbuckling, untamed, and uncouth as Obasanjo, which makes him seem less exciting and therefore 'worse'. It's all a matter of perception; groundless perception based on appearances rather than substance.

How, in cold facts and figures, is corruption - all forms of corruption - worse under GEJ than it was under Obasanjo? Nigeria earned the highest revenues in her history during Obasanjo's eight wasted years in power. How did that tell on our lives? Were the roads better under OBJ than they are now? Was the power supply better than it is now? Were our hospitals better equipped? Was there greater infrastructural development under OBJ than now? Was there less wastage of public funds under OBJ than now? Was the Rule of Law better observed under OBJ than it is under GEJ? Was general insecurity any less under OBJ than it is today (minus the emergent Boko Haram phenomenon, which sensible people realise is a political ploy to return power to the north)? Was the public service more efficient under OBJ than it is now? Most importantly, did Nigerians have more food on their tables under OBJ than they have today under GEJ (despite the fact that the country earned more courtesy of record crude oil prices during OBJ's eight years)? What then, is the basis for maligning GEJ as the worst thing to happen to Nigeria? Could it be merely because of his unpretentious appearance and underwhelming personality? Or could it be because of his unfashionable trademark hat? Because of his perceived lack of 'swagger'? Is that enough to justify so much baseless hate?

Do you so easily forget that the highest number of politically motivated assassinations occurred under Obasanjo, and ALL of them (including the murder of a serving Minister of Justice/Attorney-General) remain unresolved?

Again, how can anyone forget that political corruption, which is arguably worse than financial corruption, was elevated to official state practice under Obasanjo? In Nigeria's political history, has there been any election worse than the 2003 and 2007 general elections conducted by Obasanjo? Compare that with GEJ's demonstrable resolve not to tamper with electoral processes - which has seen the freest and fairest elections in Nigeria's history take place under him (e.g. Edo, Ondo, Anambra, Imo, etc). Gradually, the phenomenon of election-rigging is becoming extinct, primarily because GEJ refuses to endorse such, even to his own party's detriment. Can you say the same for OBJ?

Have we forgotten how Obasanjo sought to ALTER the constitution to prolong his stay in power through a dubious third term provision? Is that brazen act of political corruption not infinitely worse than pardoning a penitent convicted man?

I can go on and on, but the imperative of brevity constrains me. The fact is that we cannot judge GEJ in isolation. He had predecessors, and if we cannot prove how his administration is worse than those of his predecessors (especially OBJ), then we have serious issues indeed.

~Bluetooth:


If Yardua can willingly declare his own,why can't Jonathan do that to prove he's interested in the anti-corruption war ?

Sunny_bobo:

Point of correction, there is a difference between declaration of assets and public declaration of assets. Declaration of assets is a constitutional requirement for all public office holders and GEJ has done that. The constitution doesn't require him to make such declaration public. Anyone who is interested in knowing the president's assets should approach the CODE OF CONDUCT BUREAU using the Freedom of information (FOI) act which was signed into law by the same GEJ to obtain such information. Misrepresenting information with intent to misinform the gullible public won't make APC win the next elections that's if the merger even succeeds.

Why we can’t reveal Jonathan’s assets declaration form – CCB

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/11/why-we-cant-reveal-jonathans-assets-declaration-form-ccb/

Efikman: BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!! He declared his income from otta farm in 2004, five years after ascending to power and looting billions. We all know that in 1999 Obasanjo farms was dead and OBJ was in debt. The miraculous recovery and stupendous earning only point to one thing..... Take a guess..

Tolu19: For the sake of things getting worse, for the sake of national wealth seriously wasted everyday, for the sake of corruption getting to a record high and the sake of wrong decisions made by GEJ everyday,I beg that he is impeached without futher delay.

If he had been impeached Dec 2011, Petrol would still be 65 naira
If he had been impeached in May 2012, his wife's plane wouldn't have forced Dana Air crash with many lives gone.
If he had been impeached before the helicopter of the govenors crashed,they would have still been alive
If he had been impeached in February,the world renowned corrupt and public funds armed robbers wouldn't have been pardoned.
Etc

Who knows what happens 2morow from our president.

Please Politicians do us a huge favour by impeaching GEJ, arrest him immediately after impeachment, recover all stolen funds, cancel all his waste projects like giving fones to farmers nationwide and d rest,arrest all his cabinet members and prosecute dem seriously like Egypt prosecuted Hosni Mubarak,send Okupe and Abati to special jail and seize all their assets,their should no mercy to any slight degree,nothing like Abati's wife crying on TV to forgive her husband or Abati village people coming in groups with placards for his release. Justice must be served wholely, no half justice for any of them. Rebuild the civil service, mend all crooked ways and let Nigerians be united again happy,richer,better and safer.

I pray thee.

omaigala: What baffles me most is the CIA's report of the erosion menace in Nigeria, the probable conclusion is that, the CIA have being spying on us for God knows when.

kingoflag:

If you arent a loony....

So, because OBJ did bad, GEJ should be bad too?

pro01:

You people need to pretend you have some sense at least. In addition to the pile of nonsense written by the jaundiced journalist, the comments on the first page necessitate a comparison with OBJ, since the general idea these people seem to be passing across is that GEJ's administration is the worst ever, hence it is in order for him to be impeached - even though his predecessors weren't.

This has everything to do with OBJ! The level of hate and scorn directed at GEJ is unprecedented, whereas his supposed 'failure' (assuming but NOT conceding that he is a failure) has many worse precedents - most of which can be identified in OBJ's eight year administration. In spite of this, many of you hypocrites continue to praise OBJ as the best thing to happen to Nigeria and condemn GEJ as the worst thing. What is the basis for that? None of you have been able to prove how GEJ's administration is more corrupt or less competent than OBJ's, yet you all maintain that he is the worst thing to ever happen to the country. This is exactly why it is unacceptable to appraise GEJ in isolation, whilst falsely portraying OBJ's era as a period when Nigeria was well governed.

Most of the issues disingenuously chronicled by the journalist has characterised governance in Nigeria long before GEJ became president, and these problems were arguably at their peak during OBJ's eight wasted years. Why then should GEJ be singled out for relentless mud-slinging? If OBJ was not impeached for committing so MANY impeachable offences during his tenure, why is it right to impeach GEJ - over what exactly?

On a side note, if it is fine for some of you to hate GEJ for no good reason, be advised that it is also fine for many of us to like him for very good reason!