* Afraid that ill-gotten wealth may be confiscated
* Aondoakaa, Ruma, Mangal on the run
* Searchlight on security agencies over cover-up plot
THERE is wisdom in the saying that politics is a game of possibilities and that there are no permanent friends but interest.
Perhaps, the renowned philosopher and economist, Karl Marx, was right when he stated: “the material condition of an individual determines his views” on contemporary issues.

Bereaved former First Lady, Hajia Turai Yar'Adua, has been compelled by circumstances to review her hitherto uncompromising position on developments in the country and her soiled relationship with President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.


National Daily Intelligence sources revealed that Turai has unexpectedly expressed regret over her behaviour toward Jonathan who was deputy to her husband who died two weeks ago from complications as a result of kidney and heart diseases.
Turai, according to competent presidency sources, was swayed by what she described as Jonathan's humility and heartfelt sorrow evident in the manner in which he honoured the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

Turai started having a re-think about the character of Jonathan when the news of Yar'Adua's death was broken to him by the National Security Adviser, General Mohammed Aliyu Gusau who had been briefed by Yusuf Tilde the Chief Security Officer to the departed President.

“Jonathan reacted instantly without prevarication. He rushed immediately to Aso Rock to console Turai and other family members. When he was ushered into the president's apartment where the corpse of his former boss lay on the bed (already wrapped), he burst into tears perhaps in solemn remembrance of their affinity in stirring the ship of the state,” our source said.

National Daily learned that Turai was overwhelmed by Jonathan's open show of emotion and was said to have evinced a cavalier attitude to him when he emerged from the bedroom to console her and other family members.

“Jonathan later asked Turai to delegate a member of the Yar'Adua family to participate in the meeting of the presidential burial committee and convey the wishes of the family. Though, the Federal Government bore the financial cost of the burial, some amount of money was also made available to the family to take care of certain expenses which were considered to be incongruous to the interest of the family, our source disclosed, adding: “Turai and members of Yar'Adua family were equally impressed that Jonathan's personally attended the three-day Fidau ceremony held for the late President at his country home in Katsina State. Jonathan was dressed in familiar Hausa attire and his presence helped to calm down the wailing mother of the deceased, Hajia Dada Habib.”

Sources said that Jonathan used the occasion of his visit to Katsina State to assure Turai that her late husband's legacy will not be eroded and that she is free to intimate him with any matter that verges on the well-being of the family.

Though Turai has seemingly back pedaled on her antagonistic attitude to Jonathan which was allegedly precipitated by Jonathan's decision to accept the call to assume office then as acting president and the need to preserve her economic and political interest, she is still said to be uncomfortable about the future direction of Jonathan's policy. This is even as pressure have started to mount on Mr. President not to allow Turai and the 'Cabal' to get away with the alleged monumental looting of the late president security vote account and monies from last minute contracts awarded to cronies.

She is not only a politically sensitive person; Turai is also a smart business woman. She did not want her husband to leave office without ensuring that the family had something concrete to fall back on when. Sources close to the former First Family said since her husband was not interested in material acquisition she decided to engage herself in diverse economic activities such as contracts and oil deals. She did these businesses by proxy. When it dawned on her that Jonathan will succeed her husband as president, she became afraid that Jonathan may decide to probe her involvement in some of those inappropriate businesses and even confiscate some the properties she acquired during the period. Turai is said to have lodged huge sums of money in local and foreign banks using pseudo names and associates as proxy to cover up. She is also afraid that these accounts may be frozen by the federal government and the monies repatriated as was the case when former President Olusegun Obasanjo insisted that all monies stolen by late Head of State, General Sanni Abacha and family must be recovered.

National Daily sources said that Jonathan is indeed under intense pressure to probe some of the contracts awarded under the Yar'Adua administration and proceed to constitute a panel to carry out the objective.

The former Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, Alhaji Sayyadi Abba Ruma is allegedly wanted for a N96 billion contract scam. He was said to have awarded the contract to a fictitious company and had 60 per cent of the contract sum paid up front.

Yar'Adua's aides were believed to have known that the late president might die at any time, they thus embarked on a looting spree, using the man's name to enrich themselves, and transferring these monies overseas surreptitiously. Key men of the late President who are presently under surveillance but believed to have fled the country or are already on the run are former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Micheal Aondoakaa, former Special Adviser on Economic Matters, Mallam Tanimu Yakubu, Yar'Adua's bosom friend and alleged chief money launderer, Alhaji Dahiru Mangal, Abba Ruma and former General Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo.

Sources alleged that Turai acquired stupendous wealth within Yar'Adua's three years in office as president. She allegedly bought choice properties by proxy in Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, United States and the United Kingdom among others.

Turai was said to have acquired shares also by proxy in some banks and blue chip companies. She allegedly was always asking for and receiving gratifications from Political office holders, business moguls and multinational companies who requested for certain favours from late president Umaru Yar'Adua, through her.

Apparently, she capitalized on Yar'Adua's sneaky attitude to official duties as a result of his ill health.

Competent sources said that some prominent persons during the Yar'Adua administration have become jittery as a result of a possibility that President Jonathan may bow to pressure to probe their activities in office.

National Daily gathered that key pro-Yar'Adua people, who were highhanded when their principal was around, have not only been penciled down for dismissal but also for probe.

Competent sources disclosed that Turai who seems to have accepted the reality of Jonathan's presidency and may have decided to heed the principle of self-preservation had initially sent emissaries to the new president to beg on her behalf.
It was learned that Turai had earlier sent business mogul Dahiru Mangal to plead with the president to forgive her past misdeeds against him and not to go ahead with the probe of contracts awarded under the Yar'Adua administration. She also allegedly promised to support his administration and even his future political aspiration.

“Apart from Mangal, influential northerners like Aliko Dangote and the Emir of Katsina have also tried to settle the rift between Jonathan and the wife of his former boss.

Turai is desperate to protect her interest and avoid her numerous deals from being exposed” our source said.
Sources disclosed that Turai presently rues the feud she ignited up between the country's first two families which became intractable around the last time late Umaru Yar'Adua was flown out to receive medical treatment at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital, and Research Center, Saudi Arabia.
“Turai ensured that Jonathan was not duly informed about her husband's trip overseas, and that he was not given vital details of his condition in the hospital despite the fact that Jonathan as the vice president deserved to know.

These she did for fear that Jonathan might support the clamour for the Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF) and the National Assembly to declare President Yar'Adua incapacitated by invoking section 144 of the constitution especially if Jonathan affirms through official medical report that the then president will be unable to continue in office” our source said, adding: “She not only constituted a vicious cabal who misinformed the nation, she brought her husband back to the country without informing Jonathan. This caused serious security problem. She even prevented the acting president from visiting Yar'Adua in Aso Rock when he was smuggled into the country from Saudi Arabia.

National Daily learned that even when Jonathan personally called her on phone to inform her that he would like to pay a goodwill visit to his former boss, Turai still refused to oblige him on the grounds that Yar'Adua needed sometime to regain his strength after a harrowing experience at the hospital in Saudi Arabia.

Sources said that apart from her contempt for Jonathan for accepting to become acting president, she did not want him to confirm that Yar'Adua was indeed gaunt and in a vegetable state. This, she feared, may embolden him to concur with most Nigerians who were urging him to accept the agitation for him to be officially pronounced the substantive president as a result of late president Yar'Adua's assumed incapacitation.

Meanwhile, rumours are rife that some of those who are believed to have taken advantage of their being members of the late President Yar'Adua's kitchen cabinet or their allies to corruptly and stupendously enriched themselves have as a matter of fact started to sort themselves by allegedly compromising some of the heads of the country's security agencies.

They are said to have been asked to part with huge sums of money so they would either get favourable security reports or be allowed to flee the country, enjoying their loots pending the expiration of Jonathan's presidency.

It was alleged these rumours of how some heads of these agencies are enriching themselves are before President Jonathan, and he has asked competent aides to scout for replacements. On hearing about Jonathan's decision, one of the affected Security Chief has hinted he would like to resign from office within the next 60days.

Jonathan is said to be worried that should these persons not be brought to book and the monies confiscated and repatriated from wherever they are around the world, they could deploy the resources to hijack the coming elections.

Although these allegations could not be verified as the agencies discountenanced them, it is yet to be seen how they will ensure these men and women do not run away from the long arm of the law.

For Hajia Turai Umaru Yar'Adua, the chicken may have come home to roost. But will President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan take his pound of flesh?

It is morning yet on creation day.



Source: http://www.nationaldailyngr.com.