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Could This Be Why She Left? Okonjo Iweala's Secret Fact File by Wendell(m): 7:04pm On Aug 31, 2006
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                                     COULD THIS BE WHY SHE LEFT? OKONJO IWEALA'S SECRET FACT FILE

She is a little beyond daper,usually bespectackled with her characteristic headgear (which became her branded trade-mark) to accentuate her Ankara outfit. Beleiving that in as much as one can be corporate in appearance by looking western, one can also be corporate in appearance by looking African. And she lived it! Thus she redefined the standards of corporate dress code.

For all that she could be, she is a seasoned professional of world class fame. For all that she couldn't be, she is just not a politician.She is a mother. She is Dr. (mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who resigned her office as External Affairs Minister on the 3rd of August was a victim of high stakes political games orchestrated by her. Investigations have uncovered some disturbing details that may have forced the highly celebrated Finance and later External Affairs Minister to resign.   

The MIT trained economist who was a world bank executive and later a consultant to Nigeria before becoming Minister of Finance is credited with designing and implementing policies that enabled Nigeria’s economy to pick up, leading to the country winning billions of dollars in debt relief from the Paris Club of lenders. The controversial debt relief was celebrated by her supporters while her detractors considered it ill-advised and a betrayal of the poor masses of Nigeria. 
It may be necessary to state that Pres. Olusegun during a speech early in his administration announced that the government would pursue debt relief and carry out reforms in the economic sector.
However, while Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was celebrated for this achievement of debt relief and other economic reforms, it was not as a result of the efforts of a single individual. The Obasanjo economic team which included people like Nenadi Usman, FCT Minister, Nasir El-Ruffai, Nuhu Ribadu, Mansui Muktar, Oby Ezekwesili, may have been shoved aside in the accolades as the former Finance Minister is known to have claimed total credit for this achievement.  During the last “jamboree” in Abuja organized by Hope Sullivan Masters and tagged: The Leon Sullivan Summit, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala took total credit for the economic reforms of the Obasanjo Administration. She made this statement to as many international dignitaries at the summit as were interested in listening to her. This statement was overheard by some reporters, including one aligned with this magazine. The President is said to have been told about this boast by his Minister. 

This and other incidences of “running her mouth” became an embarrassment to some of her colleagues. They privately admonished her to watch her “mouth” but like one of the people who spoke to her said, “The woman was past redemption as you could see she was set on a course of destruction.”  Okonjo-Iweala’s former Minister of State for Finance and her successor at the Finance Ministry, Nenadi Usman gave a speech on 4th July, soon after Okonjo-Iweala was reassigned to the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Okonjo-Iweala is alleged to have started a murmur campaign claiming that the speech given by Nenadi Usman was written by her. This was part of a campaign to “talk down” the new Minister of Finance. The former Minister is suspected to have co-opted some local and foreign journalists in this campaign.   
The former minister invited Financial Times to do a story on Nigeria that was to be published to coincide with the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The meeting will hold in Singapore in September. Okonjo-Iweala, according to a letter written by James Eedes, Africa Editor for The Banker, a Financial Times publication, recommended that the current Minister of Finance, Nenadi Usman be interviewed for the publication.  The reporter faxed from Transcorp Hilton, ten questions to Nenadi Usman in advance of the interview. Two of the questions seem to have been tied or motivated by some of the reporting we did following the reassignment of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to the Foreign Affairs Ministry. For instance, the fifth question was: “Are you tough enough to resist demands of increased allocation from excess crude account, especially in the lead up to elections

A presidency source said that the President was infuriated by the questions from the Financial Times reporter. The President suspected that his Foreign Affairs Minister “put the reporter up to it.” He immediately wrote a letter to Okonjo-Iweala, who was on official assignment in London. The letter informed the former minister that she was no longer the head of the country’s economic team. A staffer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs faxed the letter to the Minister the next day. On getting the letter, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in a fit of anger, according to sources, exclaimed: “Obasanjo is the most ungrateful man in the world!”

  A brief chat with the Financial Times reporter, James Eedes. The reporter said, “The issue of asking the Minister the question of how she would like to be compared to the former minister is nothing really. I don’t want to be embroiled in this. I am a journalist. I don’t want to be part of the story. The Finance Minister would be naïve to think that these questions are not out there. She should have taken the opportunity to address these issues. The much talked about qualifications of Okonjo-Iweala, I consider it just a chip on the shoulder.”  James Eedes described the timing of the advance questions he sent to Nenadi Usman as “coincidental.” He said he had not spoken to the former Minister in a long time. “I can say with 100% conviction that the last time I spoke to her (Okonjo-Iweala) was in Burkina Faso. Since then the only contact with her has been through Ndubuisi.” 

While many of her former colleagues have refused to speak on the record concerning her resignation, the general feeling amongst them is relief. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was regarded by most of her colleagues as a very arrogant and difficult person. She is accused of nearly sabotaging the debt relief program. According to highly placed sources at the Central Bank and Ministry of Finance, the Finance Minister refused to inform the Central Bank Governor, Charles Soludo that payment to countries in the Paris Club were usually made in local currencies of the creditor nations until about twenty-four hours to the expiration of the allotted time for payment. The Central Bank of Nigeria hurriedly opened accounts all over the world within a few hours to the deadline and in the process lost millions of dollars.

Okonjo-Iweala is also accused of insisting that her former aides at the Ministry of Finance report to her after being reassigned to the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Memos were sent to the Minister by these aides without the knowledge and permission of the Finance Minister. Mansur Muktar, Director of the Debt Management Office is alleged to have been the major culprit.  Another occasion of Okonjo-Iweala’s meddlesomeness was Nigeria’s preparations for the upcoming meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Singapore.

After a Federal Executive Council meeting recently, Okonjo-Iweala and members of the economic team commenced their meeting. During the meeting, Iweala, though not the Finance Minister, issued instructions to the Ministers and other members of the economic team. She directed El-Ruffai, Nuhu Ribadu, and Oby Ezekwesili to prepare papers that would be presented at the Singapore meeting. They all declined. At that point Oby Ezekwesili, according to sources said: “Why are you asking us to prepare papers…what about the Minister of Finance?” Okonjo-Iweala is said to have retorted, “she can prepare papers if she wants.”

Knowledgeable sources in Abuja posit that there was no doubt that Okonjo-Iweala would have been sacked by Pres. Olusegun Obasanjo had she not resigned. She is reported to have been disliked by her colleagues, including the Secretary to the Federal Government, who according to sources, had “scolded her a few times because of her utterances and attitude.” 

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has not followed the normal path of fading away quietly. Instead she has chosen to fight back. We are reliably informed that her team of media consultants have gone full steam in their desire to ensure that her resignation is seen by the Nigerian people as being motivated by principle. Her press team is said to have access to slush funds and have been very generous with it in the past few days. For instance, on Saturday August 5th, four Nigerian newspapers ran, curiously, identical stories that painted the former Minister in very bright colors. A celebrated Nigerian international journalist said a recent story in the prestigious Guardian newspaper treated Iweala “like a saint who came to Nigeria and died of cancer.” 

There is no doubt that Madam Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is one of a kind. She loved her job and her dedication and patriotism was beyond question. She is a very accomplished woman. 
 
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Re: Could This Be Why She Left? Okonjo Iweala's Secret Fact File by Ugwumba(m): 11:43pm On Aug 31, 2006
I read this sometime ago (can't remember where), but still offers no clues as to why she really left. can someone fill inthe inuendo in this 'fact file' with more definitive info?
Re: Could This Be Why She Left? Okonjo Iweala's Secret Fact File by Abeem(m): 8:52am On Sep 07, 2006
@ Ugwumba

Read this article from Independence news. It offers an insight on what led to the resignation of Okonjo-Iweala.

http://www.independentngonline.com/news/183/ARTICLE/10354/2006-09-03.html
Re: Could This Be Why She Left? Okonjo Iweala's Secret Fact File by Chxta(m): 10:24am On Sep 07, 2006
Very plausible. Nigerian politics is that petty. . .
Re: Could This Be Why She Left? Okonjo Iweala's Secret Fact File by omofineboy(m): 6:33pm On Sep 08, 2006
After going through the said publication which was posted here, I can only say that the writer is one of her enemies. for God's sake lets praise the woman, other wont like her becuase they are head deep in corruption. mark it corruption.

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