Thank God nobody forced him to say it. In fact, nobody has the capacity to do that because he is one of the elite, the untouchables, the godfathers, the enforcers, the movers and shakers of the society.

So, it was an open confession.

I can bet it with my salary that his conscience must have pricked him to “pour it all out.”
He must have become restless for days, weeks, months and years.

I am sure that due to what his conscience was constantly telling him, he couldn’t sleep, just like the Biblical King Ahasuerus.

General Theophilus Y. Danjuma is a recurring decimal in Nigerian politics and a major power behind many administrations, military and civilian.
A multi-billionaire, he was, and still, a major  actor in the polity.

The history of the First Republic, the January 15, 1966 coup and the July 29, 1966 counter coup is not complete without mentioning Danjuma’s name, a man who was, and still, fearless to the extent that fellow officers were afraid of him.

He was Major-General Illiya Bisalla’s student but later rose to become Bisalla’s boss as the Chief of Army Staff, a promotion which contributed in no small measure to the February 13, 1976 Lt. Col. Bukar Sukar Dimka-led coup when General Murtala Muhammed was killed.

For successive regimes, Danjuma was a known and respected voice, ensuring stability in the process.

Even when General Olusegun Obasanjo returned on May 29, 1999 as the 12th Commander-in-Chief, Danjuma played a major role. That was why he was made the Defence Minister.

Predictably, like in every power struggle, they parted ways.

Just like Saul (who later became Apostle Paul) was arrested by the Holy Spirit, the spirits of impoverished Nigerians, living and dead, arrested Danjuma penultimate week.

He confessed, without any prompting, on how he contributed to what Nigeria is today.

It was an open indictment of why Nigeria is not, and will never, work.

A pointer to the fact that this geographical expression was designed to fail.

An acknowledgement that Nigeria is a country of the father and  the son.

An affirmation that hardwork does not pay.

An admission that you don’t have  to be educated. Just have a godfather somewhere, and you will be smiling to the banks in billions.
An assertion that public opinion does not count in this clime.

A recognition of the fact that as long as you don’t belong to a cabal, you are just wasting your time in anything that you do.
An open declaration that when money speaks, integrity should take the back seat.

A big revelation that nothing, I repeat nothing, can shock Nigerians again.

Because how can an individual confess that he once had $500 million (more than N75 billion) to play around with and he didn’t know what to do with it?

The sum involved is more than the 2010 Budget of a state like Ekiti.

And that is just one out of numerous deals involving the former minister.

Pitiably, Danjuma is just an individual, out of a few Nigerians involved in deals like this.

Danjuma hails from Takum, Taraba State in the North. There are many states in the region whose budgets are not up to that sum.
What really happened?

T[i]he General  shocked his audience at a consultative meeting his foundation and some Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) had in Abuja penultimate  Wednesday when he narrated how he made $500 million from an oil business.[/i]

Wait for this: he  was in a fix on how to spend it.

Participants at the meeting could not believe what they heard after Danjuma’s narration.

Danjuma, who was happy to tell the audience how rich he was, said the $500 million came as his profit from the $1 billion  (N150 billion) he realised from selling an oil bloc, which was allocated to him 12 years ago during the late General Sani Abacha regime.

He said he used $500 million to settle some pressing personal issues, pay his staff and tax to the government.

The oil bloc given to him was in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital.

That is a state in which many Ogoni were killed because of the pressure on the government then to use their oil to take care of their interests.

When the bloc was given to Danjuma, it took him about 10 years before his company struck oil. By this time, he was already a lucky man because oil price had soared in the international market.

“This made me to sell the bloc because I  knew that whatever goes up must come down. The deal fetched me $1billion. But, after taking care of the essentials of life, I was left with $500 million.

“I was not sure whether the money would be secured in the bank or not. I contemplated saving the money for my children. But, a second thought told me this was not the wisest thing to do as my children might fight over it after my death.

“It was at this juncture I decided to establish a foundation which I have committed $100 million to.

“I retired at an early age of 41 from the army. It was also because I got to the top early and after that, I started shipping business and became reasonably rich.”

Wondering  what he would be doing with an extra $500 million at the age of 72, he said: “I decided to set up a foundation and endow it with my fund. This is because the Nigerian government, no matter how noble its intentions, cannot address these challenges on its own.

“In fact, in all developed countries, the implementation of social projects is never the sole responsibility of government; there are often strong collaborations as well as the private sector.”

I have decided to quote Danjuma extensively so that the readers, some of whom missed the real story, will know where I am coming from or the extent of what the former minister said.

I can’t really blame Danjuma for what he said.

I see him as an honourable man that at 72, he could come out and confess.

I don’t think individuals should be blamed for the decay in the country today.

We should blame ourselves for not having a system to run with, a system that will take care of the people collectively, not an individual handing out pittance to their fellow countrymen.

But, the tricky aspect is that these individuals, such as Danjuma, who should ensure that we have a system in place, are nowhere to be found.

And where they are found, they will ensure that the system does not work.

Because how on earth can such an amount be with an individual to toy around with?
I have written many times on the state of insecurity in the country.

Is it not obvious what N75 billion can do to make the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) more effective?
Nigerian roads are death traps. Thousands of Nigerians die every year due to the state of these roads.

N75 billion will do some magic but it is with an individual to toy with.

There is hardly a day I don’t use generating set in my house. This N75 billion, which Danjuma turned into Omolere ball to play around with, will fix light in some states.

Isn’t it obvious what N75 billion, if utilised properly by the government, will do in the lives of thousands of graduates, roaming the streets in search of jobs?

The tragedy of this country is that a few people have decided to milk this country dry without caring what happens to others.

They are collectively dancing on the collective will of the majority by placing their legs on Nigeria as a whole.

That is why they have turned government into the only business in Nigeria.

Danjuma’s story is just the reality of the scam in the country.

The essence of a state is to take care of the interests of the majority and once a conducive atmosphere has been created by the government, those who are smart and creative will go the extra mile.

But here, that foundation is not there at all.

That is why a septuagenarian, who has been in government since 1984 as a minister during the General Muhammadu Buhari regime, is still playing an active role in the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua presidency as if there are no other Nigerians to play that role, even better.

Only a few have access to the collective wealth and because of that, the middle class has disappeared completely.

This has affected our economy, no doubt, and our politics.

Votes don’t count again. It is only the politician with the deepest purse that the voters will follow.

This is designed to be so because the moment the people are liberated, there will be no need for any godfather to be worshipped.
With Danjuma’s revelation, can this country ever produce a Bill Gates?

Can Nigeria ever produce a multi-billionaire who uses his creativity, without government contracts, to get to the top?
William Henry Gates, the 54-year-old trillionaire American, comes from a family of entrepreneurship and high-spirited liveliness.

His father, William H. Gates II, is a Seattle attorney and his mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent and chairwoman of United Way International.

Gates had an early interest in software and began programming computers at 13.

In Nigeria, the opportunity is not there at all.  At 13, some kids will be hawking pure water in Oshodi because their fathers have been sacked and their mothers’ shops demolished by task force officers.

While still a Harvard undergraduate, Gates wrote a version of the programming language BASIC for the MITS Altair microcomputer.

In his 20s, Gates ran a small company called Traf-O-Data with his childhood friend, Paul Allen, and sold a computer to the city of Seattle that could count city traffic.

In 1975, before graduation, he left Harvard to form Microsoft with Allen, developing software for the newly emerging personal computer market.

Gates proceeded to make a fortune from the licensing of MS-DOS, an operating system that IBM needed for the new personal computer.

Gates rose to the top because the American system allows it.

In Nigeria, the system has been so messed up that we behave as if we are in the jungle.

And those who are not allowing the system to work benefitted from it in the past.

When Obasanjo retired as a General and the fifth Commander-in-Chief in 1979, he was 42.

The late Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, who was his deputy (Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters), was 36 when he retired.
Danjuma himself was 41.

Today, there are many Nigerians above 40 who are still taking application letters from Cadbury to Nestle, from Coca-Cola to Pepsi and from the Nigerian Compass to The Guardian.

When is this country going to have a system that will allow us  have a Bill Gates without government contracts

http://www.compassnewspaper.com/NG/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=42779:can-nigeria-ever-produce-a-bill-gates&catid=56:gabriel-akinadewo&Itemid=803