I think Obj has finally gone mad!

what is really telling us is that we should punish him since he one of the 2 most corrupt people in our history!

[size=18pt]Trailing Obasanjo's loot[/size]

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/saharareporters-discovers-trails-objuba-loot
Posted: June 25, 2007 - 01:00


Saharareporters discovers trails of OBJ/Uba loot…Andy
Uba screened out of Yar'Adua's ministerial list.

Saharareporters has discovered highly irregular
business schemes that beam a light on the methods used
by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his former
aide, Emmanuel Nnamdi (Andy) Uba to siphon public
funds.
Saharareporters investigations have revealed that Obasanjo and Uba
used front companies to open foreign accounts into
which huge amounts of funds were deposited before they
were then moved out to the Cayman Islands, Jersey and parts of the Carribean.
The schemes involved a Nigerian born British citizen,
Lillian Nwoko whose modus operandi was akin to that of
Loretta Mabinton, the Portland, Oregon-based attorney
who served as a money-laundering front for Andy Uba
before she was caught by the US secret service.

Lillian Nwoko similarly helped Andy Uba to register
companies in the UK which were then used to open
foreign bank accounts for money laundering purposes.
Each company was then voluntarily closed. Three of
such companies were registered with the address as
259A Grays Inn Road in London, UK.

Lillian Nwoko was named as the secretary in the three companies.
The first company, UNIC Securities Limited, was formed
in September 2000. Its business was declared as “cargo
handling and business consultancy.” Lillian Nwoko was
listed as the secretary. There were two other
directors, Ibrahim Hauwa and Dr. Lame Ibrahim Yakubu,
fronting for Andy Uba. The two directors gave their
address as Plot 1503 Abidjan Street, Wuse Zone 3,
Abuja-Nigeria.
The UK company house report indicated that the
company did not file any financial reports before it
was dissolved in July 2003.

The two other companies, SENTREX Ventures Limited and
Fontana Ventures Limited, were incorporated on the
same date and have Andy Uba and Lillian Nwoko as the main
directors. Andy Uba used Plot 772 Ibrahim Taiwo Road
Asokoro, Abuja as his address. He gave his date of
birth as December 14, 1958 and his citizenship as
Canadian. Incidentally, Plot 772 Ibrahim Taiwo Road
was the same address to which Loretta Mabinton (Andy
Uba's lady accomplice in the Portland, Oregon money
laundering scandal) shipped the Mercedes Benz she
bought for Andy Uba with proceeds of laundered cash
brought to the US on former President Obasanjo's
presidential jet. The US Secret Service initially
confiscated the Mercedes Benz, releasing it only after
Uba paid a fine of $26,000.

SENTREX and FONTANA Ventures Limited merely gave the
nature of their business as “other businesses.” The
two companies, which didn't file any financial
reports, were also dissolved in 2003.

A financial fraud expert who asked to remain anonymous
told Saharareporters that the formation and
dissolution of companies without filing financial
statements was “highly suspicious.” The expert, who
lives in England, said “such practices are used to
avoid detection by the prying eyes of the public.” One
source in Abuja told us that the method “is consistent
with former president Obasanjo's style of corruption,”
adding that the former president’s hidden assets were
“in the billions of dollars.”

Meanwhile, Andy Uba appears unable to buy any reprieve
from his political misfortunes.
On June 14, the Supreme Court kicked Uba out of the
governorship seat he usurped in Anambra, ruling that
incumbent Governor Peter Obi has the constitutional
mandate to remain in office till March 2010.

25 September 2006
[size=18pt]Government of Corruption: Obasanjo and Atiku Must Go![/size]
- For a Working People's Political Alternative Now!
By Peluola Adewale, DSM Executive Committee

When President Olusegun Obasanjo was in Singapore attending IMF/World Bank annual meeting on September 16, his attention should have been fixed on the tumultuous events rocking close by in Taiwan. About 100,000 people had literally taken over the Capital, Taipei, to press their demand for Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian to step down over allegation of corruption involving his wife and relations. Earlier, the massive protest in Taipei, which had been on for a week, had twice recorded over 300,000 people on the march. Obasanjo would have been praying against facing such nightmarish experience at home.

Obasanjo and his deputy, Abubakar Atiku, in their mudslinging battle have been able to force open the can of worms of corruption in Aso Rock, the Nigerian seat of power in Abuja. The newspapers are awash with shocking revelations of how the government with much celebrated "anti-corruption crusade" has been looting public resources to fund private concerns of President and Vice-President, satisfy the greed of their friends, relations and even concubines, and award inflated contracts to their companies or cronies.

For instance, Obasanjo and Atiku, whose government, in line with neo-liberal economic reforms has literally abandoned public education, have been diverting public resources by proxy to provide facilities like building, library and buses for their private educational institutions: Bell Secondary School and Bell University, Ota (Obasanjo) and ABTI American University, Yola (Atiku).

Remarkably, more than any other evidence, the continued and effortless buying up of public properties by Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) has confirmed the fact that privatisation policy, the keystone of Obasanjo's economic reforms, is the mother of all corruption. The Transcorp, partly owned by Obasanjo whose 200 million shares in it make him a core investor, was officially launched by the President in July 2005 at the State House, Aso Rock Abuja. The company, which is granted various mouth-watering concessions to ease its pillage of Nigerian economy, has bought at give away prices, in less than two years of existence, public properties like Nicon Hilton Hotel, Nigeria Telecommunication Limited (NITEL), four of choicest oil blocs among others.

It should be recalled that in order to safeguard their profits and privileges, Obasanjo's co-owners of Transcorp morally and financially supported the defeated bid of Obasanjo to elongate his tenure in office beyond 2007 (third term agenda). Earlier in 2003, the elements that constituted Transcorp donated to the campaign fund of Obasanjo under the auspices of Corporate Nigeria.

It is not an oversight that Obasanjo has not mentioned Atiku's exploit as the Chairman of National Council on Privatisation (NCP) which prosecuted the unwholesome privatisation of the nation's patrimony in their first term in the office and through which Atiku converted some public assets to himself and cronies. This is to draw away attention from privatisation as a veritable means of self-enrichment.

Right from the outset, the Obasanjo government has been neck deep in corruption. In the first 6 years of this regime, Nigeria ranked among the most corrupt countries in the World. In order to put up façade of anti-corruption posturing, Obasanjo has sacrificed some of his top government officers. However, it is only the Tafa Balogun, the former police chief that has been successfully prosecuted and jailed, though for less than six months imprisonment for stealing N17billion among others. Nothing is heard of, or done on others after achieving the momentary public relations stunt of "fight against corruption". Obasanjo's household is not equally aboveboard. The President's late wife, Stella, brothers-in-laws along with Atiku and some top government officers were involved in Ikoyi House scandal. Obasanjo made scapegoat out of a minister and swept the rest of the matter under the carpet in order to stem the embarrassment the scandal had brought to his household. Many damning reports seriously indicting Obasanjo's lackeys like Bode George over Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) scandal have been dumped in the dustbin.

This congenital corruption endemic, along with the Obasanjo government's anti-poor, capitalist neo-liberal reforms explains why the poor masses suffer in the midst of abundance. Perhaps more than in any other periods in the annals of Nigeria, the country has amassed fabulous wealth from sales of crude oil alone due to its increasing price. But the very neo-liberal economic reforms that entail privatisation, commercialisation, cuts in social spending, etc provides enabling condition for the rapacious ruling elite to loot the huge but loose resources accrued to the country and transfer the public property to themselves at give-away prices to the detriment of the poor working masses. Thus it is not accidental, as a World Bank report reveals, that one percent Nigerian thieving elite accumulate 80 percent of the oil and natural gas revenue leaving 99 percent of the population to scramble for share out of the remaining 20 percent.

Today, Obasanjo and Atiku are at daggers drawn on who between them will continue to wield influence over the nation's loot after May 2007 elections. Workers and poor masses must not pitch tent with either of the thieving camps. Rather, workers and poor masses should be mobilised by labour and pro-labour/masses organisations for an immediate campaign to chase out both Obasanjo and Atiku out of office. However, such campaign cannot be only limited to fighting corruption and looting. It must be linked with the struggle of the poor working people for a formidable political alternative to wrest power from the parasitic, corrupt ruling elites of all ethnic, religious and capitalist political parties and end anti-poor, corruption-prone neo-liberal capitalist economic reforms.

As we move towards 2007 general elections therefore we propose that the Labour Party, National Conscience Party, Democratic Socialist Movement and other pro-masses organisations should jointly work together to build a formidable pan-Nigerian working peoples' political alternative with a socialist programme which include public ownership of the commanding heights of economy with democratic management and control of the working people themselves. This is to guarantee the planning and implementation of adequate provision of basic needs like education, health care, water, electricity, food, housing, jobs, roads, public transport etc for the vast majority of the people. More importantly, such a political platform must be a party that from day one intervenes, in and out of power, with workers and poor masses in their day to day struggles for improved living standards, against capitalist onslaught and build a powerful mass movement that can completely transform society.

http://www.socialistnigeria.org/page.php?article=1084

[size=18pt]Obasanjo’s hypocrisy in the eyes of Ribadu[/size]

Written by Aliyu Mohammed Danbaba Saturday, 17 September 2011 03:00

Gradually but surely, the chicken is coming home to roost. Apart from corruption that characterized privatization as revealed by the recent Senate investigation, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has received his latest moral shelling yet from his former boy, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who served as the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In a recent diplomatic cable accounts brought to light by Wikileaks, the former chairman of the EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu was quoted as saying that, while Obasanjo was busy jailing others for corruption, the former president “was cleverly covering up his tracks.” In other words, Obasanjo is cleverly corrupt! But Ribadu’s heaviest bombshell was that corruption under Obasanjo’s administration was worse than the alleged stealing linked to the late General Sani Abacha’s regime.

This damning revelation is the biggest challenge to Obasanjo’s hypocrisy. As rightly observed by Ribadu, while Obasanjo established the EFCC and ICPC, the former president was allegedly infected by the same corruption virus that he set out to cure. It is a case a doctor afflicted by a disease he was trying to cure! Although Obasanjo’s hypocrisy on the anti-corruption crusade was public knowledge, the revelation by Ribadu has finally blown off the mask from the face of the former president. On the strength of the Wikileaks’ diplomatic cable accounts reporting a meeting between Ribadu and former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Robin Sanders, it is now clear that Obasanjo himself undermined the anti-corruption crusade through his own double standard. It is also now clear that Ribadu knew the former President was corrupt, but had to look the other way to save his seat as EFCC Chairman.

One is particularly attracted to the revelation by Ribadu that corruption under Obasanjo was worse than the situation during the military administration of the late General Sani Abacha. Nigerians were told by Obasanjo that Abacha had emptied the national treasury through large-scale official thievery. But how comes corruption still continues to grip the nation, despite the fact that Abacha is no more in power? What happened that, despite the billions of dollars recovered from the Abachas by Obasanjo’s administration, massive stealing still continued under a “born-again” president? Again, where did all these billions of dollars coughed out by the Abachas go? Until he left office on 29th May, 2007, former President Obasanjo didn’t convincingly tell Nigerians where the Abacha billions were invested to improve national infrastructure or the socio-economic conditions of ordinary Nigerians.

Nuhu Ridbadu knew what he was saying because he was a witness to power and incredibly close to Obasanjo who had also used the former EFCC chairman to fight or disgrace his perceived political adversaries, especially those opposed to his infamous third term agenda, which crashed on the floor of the Senate on May 16, 2006. Ribadu had to protect Obasanjo, despite his apparent private conviction that his boss was a clay-footed moral giant! Despite repeated petitions against Obasanjo’s alleged corrupt activities, Ribadu was not keen to touch any complaint pertaining to his boss, even after leaving office, which automatically ended his immunity.

A case in point was the petition against Obasanjo filed by the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL), led by a Lagos lawyer. In the petition, the anti-corruption organization wanted explanation about how the former President became a multi-billionaire after becoming a president, in contrast to the fact that he was “stone broke” when he was drafted into power in 1999. General T.Y. Danjuma was the first to use the phrase “stone broke” to describe Obasanjo’s pathetic financial predicament before coming into power. CACOL particularly wanted the EFCC to investigate by what magic a man saved from bankruptcy by friends before he came to power could have become a billionaire overnight after being elected a president. The former president was worth only N20, 000 in 1999, according to his assets declaration record at the Code of Conduct Bureau. The anti-corruption organization expressed open frustration at the EFCC’s apathy to their petition.

According to Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, N1.2 trillion was devoured by monsters of corruption from 1999 to 2007. Yet Gen. Abacha was not on the scene when this epic white-collar robbery was being committed against Nigerians by their so-called democratically elected leaders. Nuhu Ribadu’s acknowledgement that corruption was more devastating under Obasanjo’s administration should be a revelation to the fans of the Otta farmer, who were converted to the view that Gen. Abacha was the worst evil of corruption Nigeria had ever experienced. With Ribadu’s Wikileaks confessions, Obasanjo should not only apologize to the Abachas but also to millions of other Nigerians who he deceived with his so-called anti-corruption crusade.

While purportedly fighting corruption, the former President was using the same method to execute his selfish agendas such as the attempts to remove independent-minded National Assembly leaders, like former Speaker Ghali Umar Na’Abba and the use of public funds to mobilize support for his ill-fated third term ambition by bribing lawmakers. Despite the badge of corruption he hung on Abacha’s neck, Obasanjo refused to declare his assets publicly when leaving office, arguably because his new-found wealth is inconsistent with his financial status in 1999. A recent report released by Transparency International written by former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell, raised questions over how the Otta chickens farm could have made over 250,000 dollars monthly income. It is public knowledge that Otta farms were in ruins when Obasanjo was in jail. Even former Special Adviser to Obasanjo on Public Communication, Chief Femi Fani Kayode told Nigerians that Otta farms were making N30 million every month to convince Nigerians that his boss didn’t make money from government. What he didn’t tell Nigerians however, was that Otta farms had virtually collapsed and struggling to survive before Obasanjo became a president in 1999. Therefore, Campbell’s revelation was only in line with what Obasanjo admitted about the unbelievable profitability of Otta chickens farm while he was in office.

Although the constitution doesn’t compel a president to declare his assets publicly, moral duty demands that Obasanjo should go the extra mile to convince Nigerians that he could convincingly defend his new incredible wealth by subjecting his assets to open scrutiny. After all, he takes the credit for establishing EFCC and ICPC. Therefore, if a man has nothing to hide, he shouldn’t have anything to fear in making his public life an open book. Nuhu Ribadu has dealt a mortal moral blow on Obasanjo and it is, therefore, high time the former President came out to defend the sources of his current stupendous wealth eight years after leaving office. General Abacha may not be a saint. Despite the vilification of corruption against him by enemies, his performance record in five years was still by far better than those leaders who had more oil revenues but failed to perform to justify the resources available to them.

[size=18pt]Obasanjo massive financial fraud and Corruption[/size]

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/06/corruption-jibe-et-tu-obasanjo/

The facts of Obasanjo’s corruption are difficult to hide. Indeed, the list is endless as the the nation’s treasury was looted with impunity, the Constitution violated without respect for the rule of law and due process. The following are a few instances:

Massive fraud involving over N3.5 trillion in the oil and gas sector, sale of Abuja houses, communications and the power sector of the economy.

Obasanjo was alleged to have illegally withdrawn as much as N231.4 billion from the Federation Account without due process or authorization from the National Assembly (Daily Sun of Thursday, February 5, 2009).

The Ad-Hoc Committee set up by the House of Representatives to probe the activities of the NNPC between 1999 and 2008, indicted Obasanjo and former MD of the Corporation, Mr. Funso Kupolokun, for violating the guidelines for the respective bid rounds, thereby finding them guilty of “preferential treatment of winners at the conclusion of the bid rounds”.

Obasanjo illegally approved the withdrawal of $68.8 million from the Bilateral Air Service Agreement, BASA, Fund into which a total sum of $86 million was paid.

A Senate Joint Committee, headed by Senator Abubakar Sodangi revealed that the plot of land originally belonging to the defunct National Primary Education Commission (allocated in December, 2005 to Inter-Projects Association Limited which immediately commenced development), was illegally allocated to Obasanjo Farms Limited, on May 28, 2007, a day before Obasanjo handed over power to the late President Yar’Adua.

Two Abuja lawyers sued Obasanjo and the Code of Conduct Bureau for mismanaging over N1.2 billion belonging to the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF.

Nuhu Ribadu, former EFCC Chairman, who fought his personal battles, was promoted by the former President without any recommendation from the Police Service Commission, thereby violating due process.

In the power sector alone, Obasanjo and his cronies bleached out a staggering $16 billion without anything to show for it. Also, N16 billion was paid to some 34 unregistered companies to execute projects under the National Integrated Power Project, NIPP.

In the oil sector, where Obasanjo was the Minister, the corruption stench was even more disturbing. He handed out oil blocks and other favours to whomever he pleased without recourse to laid down rules.

Obasanjo allegedly sold the country’s refineries at give-away prices. The Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries were both sold for $750 million, far below their actual worth.

Using the vantage position of his authoritarian presidency and awesome state power, Obasanjo organised the launching of a personal N7 billion Presidential Library Project in Abeokuta and coerced state governors and local government chairmen to make donations.

For his own pecuniary interest, Obasanjo coupled a so-called Transcorp conglomerate and sold Nigeria’s prime assets to this group where he kept a personal N200 million worth of shares in the blind.

During the Obasanjo years, there were fraudulent payments made on railway projects worth N8.3 billion, including the lines running from Lagos to Kano with tributaries.

He was mentioned in fraud and contract manipulations with Siemens, Wilbross and Hallibuton.

[size=18pt]Obasanjo looted Treasury to start his Farms[/size]

On Dec. 5th, 2005, the European Union (EU) denied giving Pres. Obasanjo a clean bill of health concerning his anti-corruption credentials. This has dented the saintly image the President has cultivated in the past few years.



Elendureports.com can now reveal, according to documents in our possession, that on August 18, 1973, Brigadier Olusegun Obasanjo, the then Commandant of Nigerian Army Corps of Engineers, registered Obasanjo Farms, Ltd. On October 1979, Gen. Obasanjo retired from the Nigerian Army after ruling the country for three years, following the assassination of Gen. Murtala Mohammed. By 1979, Obasanjo Farms, Ltd. started commercial operations with fifty million naira (N50,000,000.00). Given the exchange rate in 1979, the Obasanjo Farms, Ltd. commenced operations with more than fifty million dollars ($50,000,000.00).



Until 1979, Olusegun Obasanjo had spent his entire professional life in the Nigerian military. The natural question is how did this man who is reputed to have been an honest soldier float a multi-million dollar company without partners? Who bankrolled Obasanjo Farms, Ltd.? What collateral was provided for loans, if financing was raised through a bank?



Under duress from the public, following allegations of corruption against Pres. Obasanjo, his spokesman, Femi Fani-Kayode, declared that Obasanjo Farms, Limited, headquartered at the Agbeloba House on Quarry Road, Ibara Abeokuta, Ogun State generates a monthly income of about thirty million Naira (N30,000,000.00)



Obasanjo Farms Ltd. is a success story. Yet, it is not an ordinary success story in the sense that it does not follow the normal patterns of rags to riches; the staple from which typical success stories are made. Elendureports.com was reliably informed that Gen. Obasanjo's pet project as Head of State, "Operation Feed the Nation," was set up as a front to divert resources for the funding of Obasanjo Farms, Ltd. Obasanjo Farms, Ltd., is listed as being engaged in poultry and pig farming, which employees about 3,000 people.



The allegation is that money, heavy-duty machinery, and other materials meant for Operation Feed the Nation were diverted to Obasanjo Farms, Ltd. right from its inception. Obasanjo Farms, Ltd. has a huge abattoir at the back of General Hospital in Otta, Ogun State.



In direct contravention to the Nigerian Constitution, Pres. Olusegun Obasanjo still retains the title of Chairman, Obasanjo Farms, Ltd. This allegation is supported by documents in the possession of Elendureports.com. Other members of the top executive of Obasanjo Farms, Ltd. are Elder Daniel W. Atsu, who is the Managing Director, and Bolarinwa Atilade, who is the Financial Controller. WEMA Bank is the company's major account provider, while it maintains accounts in several other local banks.



Ironically, some elected Nigerian public officials have been dragged before the Code of Conduct Tribunal for operating their businesses while in public service. Recently, the President also warned civil servants to desist from engaging in private businesses.



Soon after the Abacha junta imprisoned Obasanjo on trumped up coup charges, Obasanjo Farms, with operational bases in Owiwi, Igboora, Lanlate and Ibadan, started experiencing a down-turn in fortunes. There is speculation that the Abacha regime discouraged people from patronizing the farm. However, after Obasanjo was released from prison and his subsequent drafting to run for president, the farm saw a resurgence of income. Since 1999, Obasanjo Farms, Ltd. has acquired more assets. For example, the President showed off a huge teak farm to one of his close friends some years ago.



Elendureports.com was authoritatively informed that Obasanjo deposited checks worth millions of Naira meant for his Presidential campaign into various company accounts. There are claims that he did not make this money available to his campaign. As at the time of filing this story no audit of his 1999 campaign organization account has been conducted. A source very close to Pres. Obasanjo said, "Money just flowed in and Baba was just using it as he wanted."



Just recently the former Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Audu Ogbeh, revealed that Pres. Olusegun Obasanjo and his bosom friend, Anthony Anenih, have yet to account for forty billion naira (N40 billion) raised for his 1999 Presidential campaign. Ogbeh insisted that the President, through his Legacy Campaign headquarters, was responsible for appropriating the campaign funds.



Also, Lagos lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi, in recent Court submissions regarding the seven billion naira raised for the Obasanjo Presidential Library, presented evidence linking the President to Bells University and Bells Educational Services, a multi-million dollar institution, wholly owned by Obasanjo Holdings, Ltd.



Contrary to popular belief, President Olusegun Obasanjo has yet to publicly declare his assets. In addition, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has yet to publish its findings regarding allegations of corruption made against the President by Abia State Governor, Orji Uzor Kalu. While Nigerians may disagree on almost everything else, it is reasonable to expect that the unanswered question on the minds of the citizenry is: Is the President's anti-corruption war for real or a charade designed to attack opponents, deceive Nigerians and the international community?


The Joint Development Zone (JDZ) is currently the proverbial money tree for the President. The JDZ is a joint venture owned by Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe. This venture is supposed to manage the large deposits of oil in the Gulf of Guinea. The company managing the mapping of the JDZ is PGS, a company whose Nigerian subsidiary is managed by the father-in-law of Obasanjo's second son. Obasanjo's cronies, Emeka Offor and Wahab Folawiyo, also has business interests in the region.

[size=18pt]GENERAL OLUSEGUN OBASANJO: A MONSTER AS STATESMAN[/size]



Sometime in the evening of Wednesday, March 18, 2009, at the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building of the London School of Economics, London , England the crème de la crème of the international community will once again be gathered to listen to the ostensible wisdom of an African statesman. But this man, General Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s former president and presently the UN Secretary-General’s peace envoy in the Congo is no statesman. He’s an animal called man, a corrupt and treacherous monster soaked deep in the blood of innocent Nigerians.



As a human being, Obasanjo has had some of the rarest opportunities in public service anybody could get anywhere, which ordinarily should have been a springboard for great things were he someone with an iota of humanity or decency. After a total of eleven years as the head of state and president of Nigeria , the man is only remembered today in Nigeria as a crude, corrupt, lecherous and bloodthirsty tyrant who masqueraded as a democrat and sought at all cost to always impose his perverse will on the nation, even where it is clearly detrimental to national interest.



Before May 1999 when Obasanjo was sworn in as the civilian president of Nigeria , he has had a history of public service at the highest level also as a military head of state between 1976 and 1979. His singular act of handing over government to an elected civilian government in October 1979 was seemingly enough for Nigerians and the international community to forgive him of his atrocities as military head of state. Some of those atrocities include the setting up of the notorious secret detention centre in the island of Ita-Oko, the killing of Nigerian university students in cold blood and the invasion and razing of the home and business premises of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the late iconic Nigerian musician who was an ardent critic of his military government.



Obasanjo transmutation into a pretend statesman after his military career saw him set up the African Leadership Forum at Ota , Nigeria from where he talked glibly about democratic reform in Africa . But when in 1993, he was presented with an opportunity to back up his talk with action with the June 12 elections, he, not for the first time, shocked the nation with his support for the annulment of the election. He viciously attacked Chief MKO Abiola, the man elected president in the election, despite the fact that the national and international communities overwhelmingly declared the election the freest and fairest in Nigeria’s history. In open desperation, Obasanjo was soon in cahoots with his military friends setting up all sorts of anti-democratic political contraptions to negate the people’s mandate.



Obasanjo and his military friends presided over the succeeding locust years until he fell out of favour with General Sani Abacha, the then head of the military junta who jailed him on coup-plotting charges against his government in 1995. This act by the odious Abacha invariably rehabilitated Obasanjo in the eyes of Nigerians and the international community as efforts were made to first commute the sentence passed on him and then get him out of jail. Thus, in June 1998, as Obasanjo walked out of prison preaching Christ and publishing a book titled, This Animal Called Man (a psycho-analytical study of the nature of human-induced evil from the Christian perspective), Nigerians and the international community felt he’d finally learnt his lessons and found God. No sooner after he was rewarded with the presidency of the country in May 1999, he began once again to show his true colour as a wolf in sheep’s clothing.



Seven months after taking over as civilian president, Obasanjo ordered the military invasion of a community in the Niger-Delta in a vain attempt to send the message to the creeks that his government would not tolerate any agitation for fair distribution of the oil wealth irresponsible exploitation of the valuable resource in the area. Obasanjo’s army razed the whole town of Odi to the ground and killed everyone in sight. The massacre had the world in outrage; but, typically, Obasanjo ignored the cries. Just to make sure the message was heard loud and clear, Obasanjo followed up with more massacres in Choba, Igwuruta, Biogbolo and other places in the Niger-Delta.



By these actions, he succeeded in transforming the essentially non-violent agitation for equity, justice and fairness in the region into a full-blown war needing the permanent location of a huge military taskforce in the area, perennial attacks against communities and running battles between the soldiers and the militants, some of whom are the same criminal elements Obasanjo armed to intimidate his political opponents and rig elections for his party, the PDP. It is in this light we must see last year’s visit of President Umaru Yar’Adua who came to ask Downing Street for military assistance to fight the militants, indicating how escalated the problem has now become. The world may not know it, but the seeds of the present crisis were firmly sown by Obasanjo.



Less than two years after Odi, between Monday October 22 to Wednesday October 24, 2001, Obasanjo repeated the same atrocity in the central Nigerian state of Benue where he sent in his murderous soldiers to kill and burn down the communities of Zaki Biam, Vaase, Agbayin, Gbeji, Sankara and several others ostensibly for the killing of some soldiers. Amnesty International described what happened there as “a killing spree” and appropriately advised that rather than seeking to deny, minimize or justify these extrajudicial executions, “the government of Nigeria must...condemn the killings publicly and make it clear that those responsible will be held accountable”.



When Human Rights Watch wrote its report on the massacres, Obasanjo boasted that he “dismissed the report with the contempt it deserves”. He went on in an interview with the Financial Times of April 9, 2002 to justify sending the soldiers on that mission and supported their action by declaring that when you send in soldiers, “they do not go on a picnic”, proclaiming that “in human nature, reaction is always more than the action”. A few weeks after the killings, Obasanjo was being welcomed by President George W Bush in the White House. At a joint press conference in the Rose Garden, Obasanjo unashamedly defended his actions before a shocked world.



From Kano to Kaduna to Jos, Obasanjo’s tenure witnessed the bloodiest peacetime inter-communal clashes in Nigeria . As strong suspicions grew that these clashes were instigated mainly by members of the new political class, especially top members of Obasanjo-led PDP, Obasanjo himself came out to claim he knew those sponsoring the mayhem. But the nation waited forlornly and hopelessly for him to name or institute prosecution against these people. Despite the thousands of lives senselessly lost in these carnages, not one single person has been prosecuted or convicted. Barely three years into his first 4-yeartenure, Obasanjo was asked how he felt about the fact that more than10,000 Nigerians have lost their lives through these politically instigated communal clashes on CNN (aired September 17, 2002) and his response was to imply that 10,000 people dying in a population of over 120 million shouldn’t be a big deal!



While political assassination perforated the reign of General Sani Abacha and largely accounted for the contempt in which he was held worldwide, Obasanjo surpassed the morbid record of the Goggled One in this regard, not only by the sheer number or the manner of their death, but also in the calibre of people that were assassinated. Still western leaders were falling over themselves to welcome him to their capitals, making him a fixture in high level conferences discussing African developmental needs.



Two days before Christmas in 2001, Bola Ige, a political rival to Obasanjo but at the time an uneasy ally, who held the important portfolio of Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in Obasanjo’s cabinet, was gunned down in broad daylight in his own home in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. In a macabre dance of the absurd, Ige’s death was played out in the full glare of the nation. But his blood was still warm when Obasanjo and his party rewarded those strongly suspected of his murder with political power.



On March 5, 2003, Dr Marshall Harry, who used to belong to Obasanjo’s party, but who defected to the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) and posed a great obstacle to Obasanjo’s agenda in the South-south region as vice chairman of his new party kissed the dust. The man was murdered in his own home in Abuja in circumstances that suggested the involvement of highly trained assassins with military background. The killers stayed for almost two hours in the house trying to get the man, who at a point came out on his balcony to cry for help while the men battered his reinforced door and cut through his ceiling. His house was just a few meters from the Police Command of the Federal Capital Territory , yet no help came.



On Feb 6, 2004, Harry’s kinsman, Aminosoari Dikibo, a national vice chairman of Obasanjo’s party was shot dead on his way to a zonal meeting of his party in Asaba. At the time, he belonged to a rival faction to Obasanjo within the party, was seriously opposed to his meddling in Anambra State and openly supported the Obasanjo-embattled Chris Ngige. Two days after the man’s death, before the police could say anything, Obasanjo peremptorily informed the nation that Dikibo was killed by armed-robbers. This was despite the fact that those who killed the man on the road did not take any valuable or money from him. Of course, Obasanjo’s claim was met with national uproar and suspicion. How did he know Dikibo was killed by armed-robbers that soon when the police were yet to come up with anything? Why is he pointing to that direction if not to divert attention from the real source(s) of the man’s death? Like Ige and Harry, Funsho Williams, PDP’s front-runner for the Lagos State governorship slot met his death in the hands of daring assassins in his own home on July 27, 2006. They came in, tied him up, brutalized, stabbed and strangled him.

Apart from the above, we had the cases of Alabi Hassan-Olajokun, a financier of the Alliance for Democracy in the western states; Dr Ayodeji Daramola, a governorship aspirant in Ekiti State; the activist pilot, Jerry Agbeyegbe; the fiery journalist, Godwin Agbroko; Andrew Agom, a member of the PDP Board of Trustees; Jesse Aruku, a governorship aspirant in Plateau State; Ahmed Pategi, PDP Chairman in Kwara State, Ogbonnaya Uche, ANPP senatorial candidate for Orlu and many more.

In all these cases, the killers made sure they left no one in doubt that these were political murders meant to send a message to certain other elements within the system committed to serious democratic party politics. Indeed, there are those who believe the murders were not unconnected with Obasanjo’s self-perpetuation agenda, as, by this time, his pet “Third Term” project was already in full swing. Curiously, since his Third Term plan was shot down by Nigerians, the political assassinations have stopped as well. Needless to say, these murders remain unresolved till this day. Prof Wole Soyinka, the Nobel Laureate said it best when he described Obasanjo-led PDP as “a nest of killers”.

Not surprisingly, such a regime couldn’t have been sustained without massive corruption, which he spearheaded even as president. Obasanjo’s way of fighting democratic battles within the National Assembly was through massive bribery. For instance, when in 2002, there was uproar for his impeachment following the massacres at Odi, Zaki Biam and so on(amongst 16 other charges), he used money to buy over the legislator sand made sure they didn’t get the needed numbers. At one point, Obasanjo’s bribe money was displayed on the floor of the National Assembly publicly.

Indeed, Obasanjo’s well-known corrupt dealings are legion and it would be a boldfaced lie for those who parade him within the international community today as a worthy statesman to claim they have no idea. The series of revelations of the huge corrupt dealings that pervaded the comatose power sector throughout Obasanjo’s tenure have his imprints all over them. In March 2008, the National Assembly indicted him for supposedly spending $2.2 billion on power without due process. The Transcorp shares, the Obasanjo Library Fund, the COJA contracts, the PTDF scandal, the Siemens bribe scandal, the oil contracts and oil wells allocation done directly by Obasanjo who also doubled as Petroleum Resources minister are all tips of the iceberg. Obasanjo ran Nigeria aground and, when it was obvious to him that his Third Term bid has failed, he vengefully imposed on the nation the seriously sick brother of his late friend, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua as president.



For Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua is the pliable tool he needed to make his getaway. He ensured that the election that brought him in was the worst in the nation’s history. He introduced the principle of “do or die” politics and used the security forces and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to intimidate anyone in the way of his designs. Indeed, he personally supervised the maiming, killing and sheer robbery that ensured Yar’Adua was put there. Nigerians today still groan under Obasanjo’s dastard legacy. The term ‘failed leader’ cannot begin to do justice enough to his legacy, yet those who direct affairs of the international community continue to embrace him as some kind of African messiah, pushing him in the forefront of anything Africa. Today, they have inflicted him on the Congo – a man whose legacy of death, mayhem and spectacular failure has knocked Nigeria into comatose is being depended on to provide a pathway to peace in the Congo ! Talk about pie in the flaming sky!



The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the international community who are entrusting Obasanjo with the task of bringing peace to the Congo are perhaps seduced by his glib talk. They probably think as one of the oldest and longest serving former ruler of an important African country and a former military leader who as a young officer served in Congo, he would command more respect from the warring factions there. Well, all they need to jolt them to reality is to think of Liberia. Obasanjo’s policies in Liberia made things worse by enabling his genocidal friend, Charles Taylor, who, when the international community finally decided enough was enough, found refuge in Obasanjo’s abode. The man had to be virtually prised away from his hands to stand trial for crimes against humanity. No one should be surprised. What bind them are not only cheap Liberian women, they are kindred spirits who hunt and kill innocents together!



Lastly, it’s important that the world should get an idea of the kind of father Obasanjo is. Just as Nigerians ushered in the New Year in 2008, they were greeted with the shocking and debasing news that Gbenga Obasanjo, the ex-president’s own son, has accused his father of having sexual relations with his wife, Mojishola Obasanjo. The younger Obasanjo was stating this in court papers, asking for the dissolution of the marriage. A nonplussed nation waited for general Obasanjo to deny this publicly. He didn’t, neither did the lady. Gbenga insisted: “I know for a fact that my father had sexual relationship with Moji due to her greed to curry favour and contracts from him in his capacity as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.” The divorce was granted on those grounds and its now there in public record that General Olusegun Obasanjo, who has a reputation as a lecherous man of insatiable sexual appetite, slept with his son’s wife!



The Nigeria Liberty Forum considers it a public duty to stop people like Obasanjo representing Africa anywhere, because he represents the same failed face of Africa .We cannot afford for different versions of Mobutu, Idi Amin, Bokassa, Conteh, Marcias Nguema and their ilk representing us at a time the world is yearning for genuine leadership. Obasanjo has the traits of the worst tyrants in Africa, but he seems to have the international community under his spell. They overlook his indiscretions and scandalous crimes and shower him with credibility when he should be cooling his heels in jail or hiding away in one remote corner of the world, far, far from civilization!



Not too curiously, the increasingly retrogressive authorities of the London School of Economics have equally fallen under his spell. They have since revoked all accreditations given to press men for the event and have requested that the Nigeria Liberty Forum pass whatever message it has through them to Obasanjo, all in an attempt to keep the public away. Well, it’s not going to happen, because the world must know who Obasanjo is. We can speak for ourselves in any public space and we can do so via a peaceful protest. Obasanjo is a monster not a statesman and no amount of lipstick or make-up will change him from who he is. We know him and every decent citizen of our world needs to know him for who he truly is as well.



Long Live the United Kingdom!



Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!





Signed: Kayode Ogundamisi


http://www.thenewblackmagazine.com/view.aspx?index=1866

[size=18pt]Obasanjo's corruption and looting lead to his liquidation of Nigeria Airways[/size]
FOR many years, very few people knew the reason for the liquidation of Nigeria Airways. Many were oblivious of intrigues that led to the death of the airline. Many had read the story on the internet and in documented articles.

Last week presented the opportunity for many to know the exact reasons the carrier met its untimely death. The occasion was at a book launch of Oba Olufemi Ogunleye. His book highlights the ills of the aviation industry and efforts made to rescue it. The forum was an occasion to extol the leadership quality of the Director General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Olusegun Demuren; how he was able, together with all NCAA personnel to give Nigeria a virile aviation industry that had engendered safety.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo whose administration liquidated the airline was in attendance. Also was a former Managing Director of the carrier, Gen. Olu Bajowa (rtd). It was fireworks the as the duo differed on the action that led to the eventual demise of the airline.

Obasanjo held the capacity hall spellbound. He defended his action. He argued that he left 32 aircraft in the fleet of the airline when he left public office in 1979; noting that when he came back as civilian President he was shocked to see only one serviceable aircraft.

He branded many of the chief executives of the airlines as corrupt, explaining that some of them exploited and stole massively from the airline.

According to him, “You will be an irresponsible leader if you have a situation like that and you don’t do anything about it and I did something about it. What I owed Nigeria was for them to be able to move from point A to B.

But Bajowa faulted Obasanjo for his action, stressing that he could not understand the wisdom or decipher the rationale behind the liquidation and eventual sale of Nigeria Airways, adding that as a former chief executive, the airline had enough assets in Nigeria, across the West African sub region, Central and East Africa, the United State and Europe, particularly the United Kingdom to offset whatever volume of liabilities it purportedly incurred.

He posited that the huge resources generated in hard currency from Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) could have been used as subvention from the Ministry of Aviation to help bail out the Nigeria Airways from its indebtedness, or at worst could have entered into business and operational partnership with a mega airline like the British Airways or any other credible world class airline.

To many who listened to Obasanjo, the former President they opined was only trying to play to the gallery to justify one of the worst decisions ever taken by any leader. While it is very true that the airline was oozing with corruption, there would have been better ways to resuscitate the airline.
If Obasanjo claimed that the officials were corrupt, what did he do to prosecute them and to make them pay for their crime? Why was the Justice Obiorah Nwazota panel report not implemented? Why was the white paper on the report not released?

The Nwazota panel heavily indicted top government officials, some of whom were alleged to be financiers of the ruling party in 1999 and 2003. The release of the white paper would have caused confusion in the camp of the party at that time. No wonder a very powerful former Minister of Information once told reporters that those indicted were, ‘role models”. He disclosed that it would be suicidal for government to publish their names or prosecute them.

Obasanjo had all the machinery of the state to bring the corrupt officials to book. Why did he suddenly develop cold feet in a matter that was proven beyond all reasonable doubt that these officials indeed engaged in one of the biggest corruption exercises that saw to the sorry state of the airline? Where were EFCC and ICPC? They obviously looked the other way.

To many right thinking person, the problem of Nigeria Airways was not beyond redemption. Kenya Airways went through the same problem as Airway. What did the Kenyan government do? The government, poised to revive the airline agreed to take over responsibility for the airlines external debt arrears and in October converted $33 million in debt owed it into equity. As a result, long term debt was reduced from $177 million to $49 million and net worth increased to $33million.The privatization of Kenya Airways was the first-ever privatization of an African airline.

The ownership of the East African airline is as follows: Airline partner 20 per cent; Kenya institutions 20 per cent; Kenya Airways staff 10 per cent; Kenya Government 20 per cent and Kenya public 30 per cent. This is a very perfect arrangement for a serious government and people of Kenya.
I have listened to many who said that Nigeria should not be bothered with a national carrier. They based their arguments on the fact that the country has flag carriers that can fit in well to offer same services that a national airline would offer.

I look around my shoulders and I am yet to see any one airline that has that potential to really offer that service. Many of them are just masquerading and pretending to be airlines; the reason Nigeria will always be shortchanged in the global aviation politics.

I advocate for a privatized national airline devoid of total control of government, but one owned by the public. This way, it becomes very difficult for corruption to thrive.

The benefits from privatization depend significantly on how it is carried out. To effectively implement a privatization, policy makers must analyze the macro-economic context; consider appropriate policy sequencing; examine the potential for and attractiveness of different types of investors; estimate the value of the company; establish an effective administrative process.

While there is no universal formula for successful privatization, well-thought out policy is important for ensuring that privatization produces widespread public benefits.

http://5vestartravel..co.uk/2012/03/how-not-to-liquidate-airline-nigeria.html

[size=18pt]Obasanjo’s Administration Most Corrupt – Aturu[/size]

This Day (Lagos)

INTERVIEW
5 December 2007

By Philip Ogunmade
Lagos

Despite the recurrent noise of anti-corruption campaign across the country, Nigeria’s involvement in corruption has continued to be on the hype, with consecutive outbreak of scandals involving Nigerian leaders on the global scene. In this interview with Philip Ogunmade, human rights crusader and Chairman of the Council of Industrial Lawyers, Mr. Bamidele Aturu spoke on why corruption persists and why the anti-graft war must be intensified

Recently, the United Nations (UN) appraised the anti-graft war in Nigeria and noted that the country’s image was now better. But ironically, in the last one month, there has been an outbreak of three scandals, namely: the Wilbros scandal in the United States, the Dan Etete scandal in France and Siemens scandal in Germany. What do you think this portends for Nigeria’s image?



I think we have not had enough of those scandals. And those scandals are nothing but the tip of the iceberg because our ruling class is a terribly backward and corrupt class. It is backward because it is a class that does not believe in developing the society. It does not believe in creating infrastructural basis for development. It is also backward because it has helped hook, line and sinker, developmental strategies and blueprints from the West in an uncritical fashion. Because it is also backward, it plays a very peripheral role in international capitalist system. So, what it means is that because it is not a productive class, it is a class that believes in speculation, a class that believes in idling away, a class that believes in making easy money.

When you have such a class, you then have this tendency. That tendency is that the class will then begin to engage in what you call primitive accumulation. The only way it can begin to enjoy a semblance that its counterparts in Europe and advanced societies enjoy is to steal money. That is what I call primitive accumulation. And that is why I said our ruling class is a very backward class. It is a lazy class and it is a class of looters.

So, you are just getting some of these revelations. You will still get more. The UN or whatever you said gave Nigeria a clean bill of health, didn’t understand that the code of capitalism which tries to pretend that people should not steal money has not been imbibed by our ruling class and they are probably looking at the force and the essence of capitalism development in Nigeria or maybe they were also trying to deceive our people to think that capitalism is a good way forward for our people. But I tell you that we have not even heard anything yet because don’t forget that particularly this Siemens scandal didn’t happen this year. This is a thing that happened maybe about three or four years ago. And then, you have had some trials in foreign courts. They are still many. As I am talking to you, people are stealing money. People are still collecting bribe because that is the only way this class can function in their own way of thinking.

It is a very lazy and backward class. They don’t produce anything. That is why all our production companies have almost collapsed. Many of them are operating at less than 30 per cent capacity. Yet you see them buying new cars, buying flashy cars, building new houses, buying new houses worth N100 million. These are people who have no means of livelihood. So that is the kind of class that you are dealing with. That is why many of them cannot but become politicians. Politics for them is another profession because they go to the place, steal money and they will collect estacode.

They will collect allowances. They will live the life of opulence that has no bearing with their contributions to our society.

So, the Wilbross scandal, the Siemens, Etete’s scandals are parts of the same sleaze that you find among our leaders. So, the only way you can deal with this is for us to do a comprehensive audit, comprehensive probe and to allow the (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) EFCC to do its work. For example, I’m beginning to now see justification to explain their lifestyles. If you see a boy of 18 years who is riding the best car in town, building the best houses in town, the onus should be on him to explain how he came about such stupendous wealth. So, I tell you, we need to take this as a critical matter.

And the fact that these things happened during the last regime that claimed that it was fighting corruption, is quite revealing. That tells you that no corruption was fought by (former President Olusegun) Obasanjo. In fact, his government is now going down in history as the most corrupt administration in Nigeria. So, that is the big problem and that tells you that people who tell you that they are fighting corruption; people who tell you that they are doing rule of law are doing practically the opposite. So, our people must then see that the responsibility is on them to insist that those who connected remotely or directly with these scandals are brought to justice; they are prosecuted and we allow the rule of law to take its course.

How do you think the prosecution of those involved in these scandals can be meaningfully achieved when the EFCC, perceived as the most vibrant anti-corruption agency, seems to have gone moribund especially since the Attorney General of the Federation has stripped the agency of its independence. The EFCC can no longer make decisions of its own, neither can it embark on any move to arrest suspects without going through rigorous protocol in the AGF’s office?

The war against corruption is a very serious war. And I think nobody should be under the illusion that it would be an easy war or that those people who are corrupt will not fight back one way or the other. And they will fight back in many ways. They will fight back in different perspectives, using different methods. So, what you are finding out is that those who looted our treasury, have by that reason, come in contact with enormous wealth and also by that reason, have become very powerful, mobilising people who out of poverty, or who out of nothing to do, or who out of just ignorance are supporting them to fight the war against the war against corruption. So, there are two wars.The war against corruption is going on and also the war against the war against corruption.

Now, which one will be victorious at the end of the day, will depend not on just the Attorney General or the EFCC alone, but on what the people of Nigeria themselves want; what the civil societies want and that is what the press wants. And that is why I said that I have come in conjunction in our history where everybody, particularly those people who have no stake in corruption, must stand up and say, ‘look, enough is enough, we are going to wage war against corruption in Nigeria’ and the way to do that is to, through our own organisations, issue statements, do protests as some people went to do protest in EFCC against General Obasanjo. I think this is the kind of thing that we want. We must make Nigeria ungovernable for those who want to steal. We must make Nigeria a hot place for those who stole and are trying to defend the basis of their crimes. Until this is done, I tell you, the war cannot be won.

So, I don’t think the EFCC has become moribund. I don’t think the EFCC has become powerless. What I will say rather, is that the EFCC has a lot of logistic problems. That is all. Look, to fight this war can also be very overwhelming in a way that it may also be right to say that ‘well, we need to enhance the capacity of the EFCC to do this battle in the sense that we are talking about 36 states of the federation. Almost all of them without exception, particularly the governors of the last regime – 2003 – 2007; almost all of them were accused of corruption. There are petitions against all of them. The EFCC itself said it had unearthed several of such allegations against some of these people and had evidence. Now the EFCC with the way it is today, does not have the logistic basis to prosecute all of them at once.

That is why, we must insist even in this budget, I am surprised, I didn’t see enough money budgeted for the EFCC. I expect that government should budget enough money because if you are going to fight corruption, the EFCC has proven to be the arrow head of the fight against corruption. There was also a time that I had my own quarrels with them, which was also publicised because I insisted then that we must follow the rule of law. But I think that today, everybody agrees that the EFCC is trying to do things according to the rule of law. Look at the example of the Delta case, the Ibori case, where the man went and got a very funny exparte order. But the EFCC did the right thing. They got lawyers to vacate that order. That is how it should be done and that means that the EFCC cannot be accused of not following the rule of law. Now, the EFCC is pursuing the path of rule of law and constitutionalism.

Every Nigerian must support the EFCC, must support that organisation, must support that position and government itself must support the organisation by making adequate budgetary allocation for it, by giving it moral support in the sense that I expect that the President of this country should make it known to everybody, his associates and those who sponsored his election and whoever, that ‘look, the EFCC has come to stay’ and that he will give the EFCC maximum co-operation because it is the only way we can rid Nigeria off corrupt elements.

To prosecute governors across the 36 states will involve a lot of money. It will involve you briefing lawyers from different parts of the country. It will involve you sending your security operatives and agents to almost all the states. It will involve analysis of documents and this is going to take time.

So, as a people, we must try to enhance the capacity of the EFCC to deliver more blows against the corrupt people. So, I said it before that there is no dilemma between the rule of law and the fight against corruption. Both of them can go on simultaneously.

In fact, both of them should be done simultaneously because I have always said this that it is only when you respect the rule of law that those who are eventually jailed will understand that they cannot go to people and say ‘it is because you don’t like my face.’ But the way Obasanjo was waging his own war, the man was doing selective justice and so, the stigma that will come from that process will not be there because the idea of sending somebody to jail is that when he comes out, people should say, ‘look at this man, he is an ex-prisoner.’ But in the case of somebody who says ‘he sent me to jail because he didn’t like my face,’ when he comes back, his people will organise civic reception for him as they did for (DSP) Alamieyeseigha because some thought whether they liked it or not, that the man was being victimised. That was why I kept saying that we must do things right.

So, I tell you that in this war, we must support (Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission) ICPC. We must support the EFCC. You can imagine. Many people are working honourably. Many people are sweating, earning their salaries, making ends meet, yet some bandits, some hoodlums, who claim they are governors will just go and dip their dirty hands in the collective tea of the nation. That is worse than armed robbery.

So, I insist that in the Wilbros’ and Siemens’ scandals, it is not just the National Assembly or the ICPC just inviting people for interrogation. I expected that by now, that the Attorney General of the Federation must be prosecuting people. Some people will say, ‘we need evidence, we need evidence.’ That is true. We need evidence. We have had how many days that this scandal broke now? There are reported judgments in foreign countries which can be a basis for us to act. If in the next one or two weeks, if they are not prosecuting them, something is wrong somewhere. It is not just for you to go and tell the ICPC, ‘this is what I did and that.’ No, no, no. These guys must be prosecuted. This is what has run this country down. The roads are bad today. Vehicles can’t pass through the roads. Hospitals have become worse than mortuaries that people don’t go there. Many people are now having all sorts of terminal diseases because they diagnose their diseases to be a result of buying fake drugs and all of that.

The truth is that not many people want to do fake businesses or sell fake drugs but because they don’t have jobs, and you trace this at the end of the day to somebody stealing money. So, we insist that these guys must be prosecuted. Let the court set them free or jail them. Whoever the court sets free, we agree. And even when the court sets them free, we expect appeals from the Attorney General. We need to sanitise our country. We need to make corruption very expensive.

I asked this question earlier. What do you think is the adverse effect of these scandals at the international scene on the image of Nigeria?

These people have rubbished our image. And it didn’t start yesterday. It started many years back when those who came to power started thinking that being in power also meant privatising the state, privatising the resources of the state. One, the governors even made a comment that if you find government’s money in Government House, it didn’t matter whether it got there through the procedure or not. What is important for them is that they think they have come to personalize the state and so they could do what they like and so the culture of impunity came in.

People did what they liked. So, the image of Nigeria has been battered by the activities of our leaders who steal our money and until we begin to deal with them, impose maximum punishment for these crimes, to dissuade others from doing that, to deter others from following their footsteps, our image will remain for so long battered. It is true that not many serious foreigners will want to take Nigerians as a honest person and you cannot blame them because if you hear about three scandals in one month, if you hear about a country that has oil, that God has blessed so much, yet we can’t have decent public primary schools, then of course, they must continue to be wary of Nigerians. So, it is true as far as people are concerned, that this is a thoroughly corrupt country, a society where almost everybody is greedy until he can prove otherwise.

The General easy with OBJ, I wont mind if a thief catches a thief or if we use a corrupt man to stop corruption, either way it works but we need it dead

^
I haven't even posted half of what I have on Obj sef!

Obj is fund of trying to re-write history and confuse the younger generation, what he says is so obvious that it is sole purpose is to confuse youngsters who know little about him, regarding his own record.

afenex: The man stated fact and some are here condemning him.Everyone here making comments has one or two dirty linen but that doesnt stop us from commenting on things.OBJ stands out in the fight against corruption as opposed to Yaradua and our south south man GEJ.So I give him praise for having the guts to tell them the truth as it is in this country.

Arrant nonesence - stand out in fighting corruption KO stand out NI. How rich was OBJ when he came out prison and how rich is he now? How many people did he send to JAIL during his tenor? Or Are members of his cabinet not the most corrupt Nigeria has ever witnessed and most of them he personally hand-picked. PATRICIA ETTEH, BANKOLE, SALISU BUHARI (EX-SPEAKER AND TORONTO MAGNET) FORMER I.G BALOGUN,(HOW MANY YRS IMPRISONMENT DID HE GET AND HOW MANYBILLIONS DID HE STEAL), BODE GEORGE......and the list goes on and on. what of his own wife stella? TAA.....U people should run away, I think u don't know what is fighting corruption.

CHESSBOARD: The General easy with OBJ, I wont mind if a thief catches a thief or if we use a corrupt man to stop corruption, either way it works but we need it dead

NO THIEF CAN CATCH ANY THIEF RATHER THE THIEF WILL PRETEND TO BE A SAINT.....HOW MANY OF THOSE THIEFS DID OBASANJO PUT IN JAIL DURING HIS REGIME AND WHILE HE HAD THE POWERS? WAS HE NOT THE SAME PERSON THAT STOLE BILLIONS PURSUING A FRUITLESS THIRD TERM AGENDA? OBASANJO HAS NOTHING TO OFFER IN TERMS OF FIGHTING CORRUPTION...SO HE SHOULD JUST SHUT HIS MOUTH BECAUSE HE INSTITUTIONALISED THE SAME CORRUPTION. HE PROTECTED ALL THE PAST AND PRESENT CORRUPT LEADERS. OK...CAN OBASANJO SAY HE HAS NEVER READ OKIGBO REPORT?.....CAN HE SAY HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GULF WAR OIL WINDFALL? IF HE SAYS HE DOESN'T THEN HE IS NOT WORTHY TO BE MY PRESIDENT AND HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE DUMPED IN THE DUNGEON. I JUST DON'T WANT TO START NAMING THE CORRUPTIONS DURING HIS REGIME...THEY ARE ENDLESS AND WE DID NOT SEE ANY JAILED BY HIM.

In fact it as if this mad man called Obasanjo is mocking and laughing at the Nigerian masses

Propaganda and allegations by political opponents that weren't substantiated.We know OBJ is not a saint but he's still number 1 when it comes to civilian president in Naija.

Which one be propaganda?

That he devalue Naira 500%?

that he hiked fuel prices 500%?

That he mortgaged our future to the hilt with IMF loans at a time of record high revenues from high oil prices?

That he massacred civillians in Odi and Benue State?

That he oversaw the looting and closure of our national airline?

Which one be the propaganda?

And he is the best president in history right ?

NONSENSE!!!

OBASANJO is the biggest thief Nigeria has ever produced and that is why they are afraid of GEN BUHARI ....they know the man will put all of them in JAIL if he dares become the president of Nigeria. If U doubt me go ask JIM NWOBODO and others in 1983/84.

this guerilla called obj is the no 1 culprit in all these for legalising corruption in pdp led govt. he made inec a toy of pdp and efcc a tool in their hands. where have obj been since all the pdp senators and reps and other pdp agents have been stealing the country dry?
it is a shame that under obasanjo similar incident happened when chris uba confessed to having rigged election in favour of chris ngige. what happened? obasanjo promoted chris uba to pdp bot and sacked chris ngige. i see similar action happening here as farouk will be made to suffer while otedole will receive a national award.