₦airaland Forum

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo knelt down for then Vice President Atiku Abubakar in his desperate bid to secure the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2003 poll, according to Professor Wole Soyinka.

The revelation came yesterday as the Nobel laureate gave a rare insight into the high-stake lobbying and negotiations that preceded the PDP’s presidential primaries in which Atiku was highly favoured to win at the expense of his then boss Obasanjo.

Besides, Soyinka spoke on how genuine efforts by Chief Bola Ige to reposition the energy sector as Power Minister between 1999 and 2000 were sabotaged by Obasanjo.

Soyinka was replying a question at a special reading session to mark the presentation of his latest book, “Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?: Gani’s Unfinished Business”, at the Freedom Park, Lagos.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Louis Odion, one-time Edo State Information Commissioner and The Nation columnist, asked the literary giant whether he believed a sensational claim last year by Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose of witnessing Obasanjo going down on his knees in Tripoli before the late President Muamar Ghaddafi in his desperate bid to secure the Libyan strongman’s support for an extension of his chairmanship of the African Union (AU), since the former Nigerian President has neither denied nor confirmed the account.

Fayose’s account was published by an Abuja-based monthly magazine, The Interview.

Ghaddafi was younger than Obasanjo. Libya is smaller in size and population compared to Nigeria.

Responding, Soyinka said he had no cause to doubt Fayose, given his knowledge of how Obasanjo did the “unthinkable” when his aspiration for a second term in office was similarly threatened in 2003.

Said he: “Before the PDP primaries in January 2003, Obasanjo got everyone he knew could reach me on the surface on the earth including Yemi Ogunbiyi and my son, to get me to help him intercede when it was clear that (Abubakar) Atiku was in a position to take his job. He knew Atiku had a lot of regard for me and calls me ‘Uncle’.”

In the now famous BBC interview few days to PDP’s 2003 primaries, Atiku had declared that he was under tremendous pressure from his supporters to contest the ticket against Obasanjo but was yet to make up his mind in what triggered panic in Obasanjo’s camp.

“The pressure was intense,” the literary giant recounted. “Of course, I could not have knelt before Atiku not to embark on a course of action that would lead to his boss’ disgrace. But I can confirm to you that Obasanjo as President knelt down before Atiku so that he would not lose his job.

“But I warned Atiku that for making Obasanjo to kneel down for you, be sure you would have to pay heavily for that. I guess my warning came to pass if you remember Atiku’s dramatic change of fortune once Obasanjo was sworn in for a second term of office.”

As expected, yesterday’s book reading turned out a day of reminiscences of many bizarre dramas and unsavory episodes that characterised Obasanjo’s reign as two-term president betweeen 1999 and 2007. The panel of disscussants included frontline rights activist-lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) and Mr. Sam Omatseye, author and Chairman of “The Nation” Editorial Board, and was moderated by Mr. Kunle Ajibade, award-winning author and Executive Director of “TheNews/Tempo”.

The roll-call at the event included literary colossus Prof. J. P. Clark, Colonel Tony Nyiam (retd) and Mr. Jahman Anikulapo.

Dispelling the notion that the long-running disagreement he has with Obasanjo is personal, Soyinka said his motivation is the desire that those he described as cause of the nation’s problems do not continue to recycle themselves as the solution.

He also dismissed Obasanjo as a hypocrite for denying that he did not have a hand in the third term agenda in 2006.

Said the playwright: “I remember I was invited to a conference in Germany around the time the third term game was unfolding in Nigeria. Then, I received this frantic call from officials at the Nigerian embassy who confided in me that they had been told to prepare for Obasanjo’s third term in office. They expressed fears that should it succeed, the country might be plunged into a serious crisis. They were of the view that I could use my leverage to talk to him or help mobilise public opinions to dissuade him.

“At the conference proper, I made sure I continually made poignant innuendos in the direction Obasanjo sat that day. But, typically, he kept shrugging his shoulders and looking the other way.

“But when the opportunity came for a closer interaction at the dinner, I pointedly told him that ‘Obasanjo, you know you cannot try third term’. Suddenly, he charged back at me, saying, ‘Wole, you only have one vote!’ I remember the Nigerian envoy then to Germany, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, jovially remarked that, ‘Ah, Mr. President, Wole Soyinka has more than one vote o. You know when he says anything, people listen across the world.’

“As soon as Obasanjo left the venue, I told Adeniran that ‘with what you’ve just said, be sure you’ve lost your job’. True, soon afterwards, Adeniran lost his job.”

Corroborating Soyinka, Falana said contrary to Obasanjo’s continued denial, the former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice alluded in her book to how the former Nigerian leader prevailed on George Bush to support his third term bid. This, Falana said, Obasanjo never refuted.

On the parlous energy situation in the country, Soyinka recalled that Obasanjo did not only frustrate Ige but also humiliated him.

He said: “This was a man who said after Bola Ige died that we put somebody there, Bola Ige who did not know his left from right. He owes Bola Ige for maligning him, after humiliating him after sabotaging his genuine efforts to transform the power sector. It was sabotage and nothing less than a terrorist act against the electricity supply of the country.

“Bola Ige was frustrated and his works sabotaged. In fact, he had done his homework before he took office. He summoned a group of experts and mapped out the transformation of the sector. But, he was sabotaged from the inside. Bola Ige asked Obasanjo to remove one Suleman Bello, who was the managing director of the corporation then. The consequences we are suffering today. Obasanjo collaborated and protected the system headed by Mr. Suleman Bello. I dare Obasanjo to meet me one on one on any podium to debate the power project.”

A mother of two, Mrs. Riskat Abdulsalam, on Thursday asked a Mapo Customary Court in Ibadan to dissolve her 12-year marriage to her husband, Taiwo Abdulsalam, alleging battery.

Narrating her ordeal, Riskat, who lived in Bodija area of Ibadan, said that her husband had become so used to beating her to the extent that he rendered her incapacitated as she could no longer walk.


“Taiwo has subjected me to untold physical, psychological and emotional torture and the latest is the reason why I chose to part ways with him.


“After I left his home on September 8, 2017, he met me at Molete area where he violently pushed me into a ditch and I lost my two legs to that singular push.


“Medical doctors told me that I might never be able to use my legs to walk normally again and that is why I’m on crutches now.

“Taiwo beats me every now and then on simple matters and even starved the children and I of food.

“Whether he is responsible or not, I pray this honourable court to give me custody of the two children, because he has not got what it takes to cater for them,” Riskat said.

The respondent, who admitted the divorce suit, however, denied all the allegations leveled against him.

Taiwo, a businessman, said that his wife lacked patience, adding that she was the sole cause of her predicament.

“My lord, Riskat is not ready to endure with me in any bad situation. Whenever there was little or nothing, she came with her problems.

“However, I gave her more than enough anytime I was buoyant, including the children.

“In fact, I have pleaded with her over and over not to leave me, but Riskat said she preferred to be afflicted with tragedy than to come back to my house.

“I even invited some Islamic clerics to intervene, but she remained adamant,” Taiwo explained.

President of the court, Ademola Odunade, advised the couple to consider the implications of their action on their children by allowing peace to prevail.

Odunade adjourned the case till August 16 for judgment.

In my world $100,000 is still maintain/sustain money. Before u look left and right it's gone

A 45-year-old bricklayer, Mohammed Sani, has been arrested by the FCT Police Command for allegedly sodomising an 11-year-old boy in the Mabuchi area of the city.

The victim, who is an apprentice at a mechanic workshop, told PUNCH Metro that his friend introduced him to Sani.

He added that whenever Sani had sex with him, he would give him N20 to buy biscuits and would warn him not to tell anyone about what transpired.


The victim said, “When I was at the workshop some months ago, my friend told me to come, saying someone had a job for us. When I got to the man’s place, he took off my clothes and raped me.

“After he had finished, he gave me N20 to buy biscuits. He told me that if I told anyone, he would beat me.


“After that day, he continued to do it with me. Sometimes, he would give me N20, while some other times he would give me N30.”

The victim told our correspondent that the suspect sodomised him many times between March and July.

However, nemesis caught up with the suspect last Thursday when the victim returned home late and could not explain to his mother where he had been.


Speaking to our correspondent, the mother of the victim, Mrs Yakubu, said she did not know that her son had been a victim of defilement for several months.

On how she found out, Mrs Yakubu, said when her son returned late from the workshop, she asked him where he had been and why the clothes he wore were different from the ones he put on when he was going to work.

Mrs Yakubu, who is a widow, said, “Usually, my son closes from work at 6pm and whenever he leaves the shop, his master would call me to inform me. So, I waited for hours for my son to return home.

“He came back around 10pm, and when I asked him why he was just returning home, he said he had a very busy day.

“I also noticed that he was wearing an oversize pair of trousers. When I asked who gave it to him, he said it was one ‘uncle’. So, I punished him and asked him about the relationship between him and the ‘uncle,’ but he initially refused to speak.”

The victim’s mother said when he could no longer bear the punishment, he confessed that Sani had been sodomising him and had threatened to kill him if he exposed him.

“I was disappointed in my son because he used to tell me things. I never expected him to be so secretive,” the widow said.

Sani, who is married, told PUNCH Metro that it was the devil that pushed him to do it.

The bricklayer said he was ashamed of himself and asked his young wife to forgive him.

“I cannot really explain what came over me. I was not like this before,” he said.

When our correspondent asked him if he was defiling the young boy for spiritual reasons, the suspect said no.

The suspect’s wife, while speaking to our correspondent, said she was disappointed.

Mrs Sani said even though she had not given birth to any child for her husband, he was patient with her and wondered why he would indulge in such an evil act.

Police investigations, however, revealed that Sani might have defiled other young boys in the area.

A woman, Sefia Panshak, told our correspondent that she believed her 10-year-old son might have also been defiled by the alleged paedophile.

The boy, however, said the suspect used to hug him.

“The man only used to hug me and give me N400 whenever he sends me on an errand,” the boy said.

The spokesman for the FCT Command, Anjuguri Manzah, confirmed the incident adding that investigations were ongoing.

He said, “I can confirm the incident. Investigations are ongoing and the suspect will be transferred to the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department.”

FIFA will award the winners of the 2018 World Cup final France $38m in prize money while Croatia, the runners-up in Sunday’s showpiece at Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium will receive $28m. Both amounts are a $3m increase on those awarded to the finalists of the 2014 tournament in Brazil, in which Germany beat Argentina.

Belgium will receive $24m for their victory on Saturday in the third-place playoff in St Petersburg, $2m more than fourth-placed England.

In total the pot of prize money for the 2018 finals in Russia has increased by almost $50m, up to $400m this year compared to $358m four years ago.

France competed in their third World Cup final of the last 20 years, having won the trophy for the first time ever on home soil in 1998 and then losing the 2006 final in Germany to Italy in a penalty shootout.

Croatia, playing in their first ever major international final, were beaten in the 1998 semifinals by France.

THE Niger State Police Command has arrested two kidnappers for abducting a 10-year-old boy at Dutsen-Kura community in Minna, Niger State.

Yushe’u Bala, 20, and Sale Bala, 25, were nabbed by police operatives attached to GRA Division, Minna, after abducting Afdal Hadi, of the same address.

They reportedly demanded N150,000 ransom for his release.

Northern City News gathered that one of the suspects, Bala, was a security guard at the house of his victim.

Checks revealed that he connived with his accomplice who was also a security guard in the area to kidnap the minor to raise money to enhance their standard of living.

Bala told our correspondent that they kidnapped the boy in order to make money to improve their lives, stressing that they were tired of working as security guards.

“Our N150,000 ransom demand is affordable compared with what other kidnappers demand; we ventured into it to make little money to improve ourselves and leave security guard work,” he explained.

“I pray that the police will forgive me because I cannot explain how the plan was hatched to the extent of kidnapping the son of my employer,” he said.

The Command’s Public Relations Officer, Muhammad Abubakar, told Northern City News on Sunday that the suspects

The winner of the Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has said that he will pay the backlog of salaries owed civil servants in the state within the first six months of his return to office.

Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress beat Kolapo Olusola of the Peoples Democratic Party in a keenly contested race to succeed the incumbent Governor Ayodele Fayose.


Speaking at his residence in Isan-Ekiti, the former Minister of Solid Mineral Development, said Ekiti State lost value under Fayose, while also promising to re-introduce free education in the state.

He said, “Ekiti people should expect the eight-point agenda redoubled. They should expect the backlog of salaries cleared within the first six months of my coming to the office. They should expect re-introduction of free education, including payment of fees for the West Africa Examination Council, National Examination Council, National Business and Technical Examinations Board and the national entrance examination into tertiary institutions which they lost out on.


“We will re-introduce social security scheme for the elderly in an enhanced manner. They should expect the return of our youth volunteer programme. Luckily, the Federal Government has started a programme similar to what we used to have in Ekiti State, called N-Power. We will add our own initiative to that programme.

“The outgoing government is not interested in what happens to the young in our society beyond using them as thugs and forcing them to eat crumbs from the table of the master. They should expect a return to decency, decorum, integrity, values in Ekiti State. It is about reclaiming our land and restoring our values which we have lost in the past four years.”

Meanwhile, an APC chieftain, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, has congratulated Fayemi on his victory at the poll.

According to the former Minister of State for Works, Fayemi’s victory will change the leadership style in the state, stressing that the people of Ekiti deserved mature leaders who value development of state’s human and natural resources.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has lampooned Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State after the failure of his preferred candidate, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, at the polls.

The EFCC said in a tweet that with Fayose’s tenure ending in less than three months coupled with the loss of his immunity, he should begin to prepare to visit the commission.

The commission hinted that investigation into Fayose’s alleged N1.3bn poultry project during his first term from 2003 to 2006, would be reopened and the prosecution would be able to continue

The tweet read, “The parri (party) is over; the cloak of immunity torn apart and the staff broken.

“Ekiti Integrated Poultry Project/Biological concepts Limited N1.3bn fraud case file dusted off the shelves. See you soon.”

However, a large section of Nigerians on Twitter accused the EFCC of being unprofessional and fighting a one-sided anti-corruption war.

The anti-graft agency subsequently deleted the tweet.

Fayose has been having a running battle with the EFCC since 2007 but it intensified in 2016 after it was discovered that the governor, while running for office in 2014, allegedly received over N1.3bn from the then Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, who is now a member of the All Progressives Congress.

The money was said to have emanated from the account of the Office of the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), who has been in detention for nearly three years.

Fayose’s aide and trusted ally, Abiodun Agbele, who allegedly received the money from Obanikoro, has since been arraigned by the anti-graft agency while all of Fayose’s accounts have been frozen.

The governor was, however, untouched due to his immunity.

Obanikoro has, however, been converted to a prosecution witness and will be expected to give evidence against the governor when his tenure ends.

With Fayose’s tenure coming to an end on October 16, 2018, his case is expected to be immediately reopened.

Something's cooking...@peksikeji. @lindaikejitv