₦airaland Forum

*Why You Should Be On Twitter!*

* Twitter takes just 2 mins to register on (saves your time)!

* To register, open to https://www.twitter.com think of a username you want to be registered with and start the registration under your *Profile page*.

* On Twitter, you only get to boost your friends list by *following* people you want to add up or you *follow* people you want to befriends.

* Think about what you do and put them under your *bio* page in your *Profile page*

* Twitter takes you directly to whom you are following be it corporations or individuals and this is one unique thing about this *Social Network Platform*.

* Twitter is so security conscious that your account hardly gets hacked.

* For better patronage, you can link your Twitter's Account to your schools, place of work, clients, colleagues, email addresses etc.

* You can turn your own Twitter's Account into your own *Private TV/Radio Station* where you can broadcast to the whole world any information you feel like can influence events and general views, who knows you may become famous through that.

* Lastly, be very careful not to be addicted to this medium of information by spending less hours on it. One thing is certain, Twitter makes you to be *addicted to knowledge*. Cheers!

If you are impressed with this piece of information, you can start by following me on your Twitter, I guarantee you gonna like it as I will follow you back!

https://mobile.twitter.com/tomakinta

Afi god naa, we shall see soon if truly this is true!

diegwu02:
Great Move Mr. President.

.......and you will because of this vote for him?

Petroleum Trust Fraud
By Ray Ekpu
05 June 2018 | THE GUARDIAN

It is not known to this column how close Brigadier Sani Abacha was to Major General Muhammadu Buhari by December 1983. It was Abacha who announced at the end of a few minutes of martial music on new year’s eve that the government of President Shehu Shagari had been thrown into the dust bin of history. Buhari became the fulcrum of that history as Nigeria’s head of state. On August 27, 1985, there was another game, the Revolving Doors’ game. Buhari was out, thrown out, while Ibrahim Babangida, was in, thrown into the pinnacle of political power in Nigeria. Babangida clamped Buhari into the dungeon for some months where he cooled his feet, while his colleagues were bestriding the Nigerian political and military firmament like they owned the world. Babangida left or was forced to leave the throne after eight years of dangerous foot work. He called Chief Ernest Shonekan, a successful private sector entrepreneur, to come and take the baton of leadership.
He took it and as he was trying to hold it in his hand firmly, Abacha who had been eyeing the coveted prize greedily grabbed it in 1994. He immediately increased the price of petroleum products. The public rolled out a series of protests. As an appeasement measure, he set up the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) as an intervention development agency to bring succor to the people especially in the rural areas. He made Buhari the executive chairman of the Fund which he ran for five years (1994-1999).
Why did Abacha appoint Buhari the Executive Chairman of PTF? Was it as an atonement for the sin of standing by while he was overthrown by the Babangida Boys? Or was he just sympathetic seeing that the man had been left in the cold by Babangida since his ouster on August 27, 1985? Or was Abacha simply looking for a fabled disciplinarian who didn’t love money too much or the dirty part of it? Buhari needed that rehabilitation, physical, financial and reputational. He was eager to come in from the biting cold and be seen as a man who, despite the overthrow and detention, had kept his dignity and integrity such that Abacha who was Babangida’s man, could trust him with the big-wallet job.

The Petroleum Trust Fund was to intervene in such areas as roads and waterways, supply of educational materials, rehabilitation of educational infrastructure, food supply, health, water supply, etc. Buhari set up a capricious management structure and appointed Afri-Project Consortium (APC) led by a 42 year old man, Salihijo Ahmad. This Consortium was the sole manager of the PTF projects. Ahmad had admitted to Newswatch in an interview published by the magazine in its April 19, 1999 issue that it was APC that wrote the proposal which defined the mandate of the PTF. It suggested the criteria, procedure for selection and appointment of contractors, consultants and suppliers. It also worked out the monitoring mechanism adopted by the PTF. The APC had some 620 consulting firms reporting to it. It was the sole management consultants to the PTF. Most Nigerians had no idea how the PTF was run. It was when President Olusegun Obasanjo took over in 1999 and set up an interim management committee (IMC) headed by Dr Haroun Adamu to wind down the PTF that the worms crawled out of the can. That Interim Management Committee appointed three technical consultants to investigate various aspects of the PTF management. Their findings conducted independently were damning. When I read President Buhari’s remarks a few weeks ago in which he crowed about the achievements of the PTF under his leadership, I decided to do a facts-check since I knew that Newswatch had done a cover story titled “How Buhari ran PTF” which was published in its March 13, 2000 issue. This story was the product of a thorough investigation into the mammoth fraud as discovered by the technical consultants hired by the IMC. Details of the IMC report are distilled for you here. The findings: N144.51 billion had been given to PTF by the Federal Government during its lifetime; A residential estate was to be built at Wuse, Abuja, for N703 million but the technical consultants hired by IMC put the realistic valuation at about N328 million; Between July 1994 and July 1999, about N25 billion was either stolen or improperly expended; Extension of PTF headquarters was to gulp N650 million; Expired HIV/Aids drugs and kits worth N28 billion was supplied to several hospitals nationwide. This was confirmed by the Nigerian Guild of Medical Directors whose Secretary, Mr. Rowland Ogbonna, asked the Federal Government to withdraw the drugs immediately from all hospitals in the country. Many projects were abandoned while the completion rate of other projects was put at 30%; the sum of N500 million that the PTF deposited in a bank disappeared as soon as the IMC was announced. The bank agreed to pay the money after President Obasanjo read the Riot Act to the bank officials. On taking over, IMC discovered that there were no contract documents, drawings or specifications relating to projects. The APC could and did award contracts and vary the pricing without any reference to the PTF. Mr. Ahmad had asked the IMC officials to come and collect some documents in connection with all the transactions. On the day of the appointment he collapsed and died. The other members of the APC team claimed that they were not in a position to supply the documents.

There were more sordid revelations. The Afenifere did an analysis of the siting of the projects. The consumption of petroleum products by the South was 70% while that of the North was 30%. However, the distribution of the PTF projects was a reversal of the consumption pattern: 70% to the north and 30% to the south. All southern states had 4,440.43 kilometres of roads rehabilitated (24%) while states in the north had 13,870.47 kilometres rehabilitated (76%). Teaching Hospitals’ rehabilitation: South 38%, North 62%; Specialist hospitals: South 29%, North 71%; Food supply: South 17%, North 83%; National Health and Educational Rehabilitation Programme (NHERP): South 0% and North 100%; Vocational Programme: South 3%, North 97%; Primary School rehabilitation: South 12%, North 88%. Haroun Adamu acknowledged the gross imbalances in the sharing of the projects but regretted that his committee could not do much to remedy the situation since by the IMC mandate they could not embark on new projects.

From the findings there was massive fraud in PTF, fraudulently masquerading as achievements. The institution was a government intervention agency but run without the regulatory checks and balances that undergird the implementation of government projects. The Afri-Projects Consortium was just on its own, a loose canon with no authority to check it. Buhari was the Executive Chairman but he was absent-minded and had capriciously surrendered the operational powers of the PTF to APC without diligent supervision. The boys looted the place dry and there was no evidence that Buhari had an inkling of the huge corruption under his feet. Sometime before the IMC takeover, a newsmagazine, TheWeek, had interviewed him about the swirling corruption allegations. He said allegations of corruption against him were false. “My integrity is intact.” His friends said so too and even insinuated that Dr. Adamu was going after Buhari because the former dictator had detained him in 1994. Adamu told Newswatch: “I am not here to probe Buhari, No, that is not our mandate. Whatever happened when he was head of state is long forgotten. He is my friend.”
Buhari’s personal integrity was not soiled by the Petroleum Trust Fraud but he displayed supreme incompetence as a manager. As an Executive Chairman the buck stopped at his desk and no matter how you want to slice it he takes vicarious responsibility for the humongous fraud that took place in that institution. Secondly, the grossly lopsided distribution of the PTF projects between North and South is an awful testimonial for a man of his national standing to whom the nation through the coup makers had given the highest position in the land. His lopsided appointments today constitute a déjà vu.

When I read what he said about Abacha I was sorry for him. He said to a delegation, Buhari Support Group led by Comptroller General of Customs, Hameed Ali. “I don’t care about the opinion you have on Abacha but I agreed to work with him and we constructed roads from Abuja to Port Harcourt, Benin, Onitsha and so on. We also touched education and health. One of the former Heads of State was bragging that he spent $16 billion on power in Nigeria. Where is the power?” The emerging confrontation between the two former dictators, former friends and former allies and now fierce foes, Obasanjo and Buhari, will receive the attention of this column in due course. For now, I think President Buhari’s open veneration of the kleptocratic and autocratic Abacha is a cause for nausea. At the 10th anniversary of Abacha’s death Buhari had given the fantastically corrupt Abacha a clean bill of integrity. Even at that time, Nigeria was running all over the world trying to retrieve the billions Abacha had scattered in several banks in several countries and several continents. The horrifying stories of the elimination of prominent politicians and businessmen by Abacha constitute a notorious portion of our national narrative. No matter how hard Buhari tries, no matter what he thinks of the despicable, despotic Abacha, no matter why he thinks the man was a saint he will never succeed in winning Nigerians to his side. He will only wake up with fleas since he chooses to be in bed with dogs.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10156819321277841&id=595332840

IamaNigerianGuy:
Atiku's master plan is playing out.

Unite, confront, defeat.

Respect to you sir!

Era of mending fences within the ranks in PDP especially when you noticed that Otunba Gbenga Daniel is the Director-General of Atiku Campaign Organization (ACO)! I dey laff

Only fools doubt proofs, Atiku had been a man of the spotlight for over 45 years running now, we are not making mistake about our choice for Atiku, we are not saying he is the best out of the pack but trust me, as much as this coming elections favour a Northern candidate according to the political permutation of Nigeria, Atiku remains the only Northerner that can face Buhari squarely, money for money, influence for influence, power for power, logistics for logistics, clout for clout for the battle of the Presidency. PDP as a party also remains the only party available in opposition for now that can face APC. This is my convictione about the man, Atiku.

Chapter 9

Political Crisis

A little over six months into his administration, Abacha gathered politicians in Abuja to fashion yet another constitution. I was elected by my people to represent them at the Constituent Assembly. Shehu Yar’Adua was also an elected delegate from Katsina State.
The conference began in June 1994 with 273 delegates, including 96 appointees of the government. In the middle of its proceedings, I was informed that Abacha wanted to see me. When I met him, Abacha told me he would like to work with me. He said I should support his political programme and advised me to dump Yar’Adua.

I said Yar’Adua was my friend and that he should not try to tear us apart. I said I was my own man and that I could take decisions of my own. Abacha was not impressed. He asked me to go and think about it. By March 1995 Abacha began to move against opponents of his government. Yar’Adua was the first on his list. He was arrested and detained on March 9, 1995 for daring to recommend a terminal date for the Abacha government. General Obasanjo was also arrested.

Days after their arrest, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Chief of Defence Staff, addressed a press conference in Lagos during which he disclosed that 29 officers and civilians had been arrested in connection with a coup plot. Brigadier-General Felix Mujakperuo was picked to head the Special Investigation Panel (SIP) into the alleged coup.
Suspects were tortured and forced to confess their role in the coup and to implicate innocent men such as Obasanjo and Yar’Adua. A sham trial was staged. Yar’Adua was sentenced to death and Obasanjo to life imprisonment.

In an Independence Day broadcast on October 1, 1995, Abacha announced the commutal of 13 of the death sentences to various terms of imprisonment. Obasanjo’s life sentence was reduced to 15 years while Yar’Adua’s death sentence was reduced to 25 years. This was in response to pressure from to a coalition of journalists, human rights activists, pro-democracy campaigners and the international community, including the Pope.

I visited Kirikiri as often as I could to see Yar’Adua with Inua Baba, the Plateau State-born personal assistant to Yar’Adua. In detention, Yar’Adua was more concerned about the future of the country than about his own life. He feared that Abacha would throw the country into chaos. He was later transferred to Port Harcourt and Abakaliki Prisons.

Abacha was not satisfied keeping Yar’Adua in jail and intimidating me. He was determined to cripple our businesses as well. He seized our most lucrative business, NICOTES, and renamed it INTELS (Integrated and Logistics Services). Yar’Adua and I were removed from the company as shareholders.

My residence in Kaduna was attacked by unknown gunmen in May 1995. Six policemen and one guard died in that attack. It is still a miracle to me how my wife, Titi, our son, Adamu, and I escaped unhurt.

GOING INTO EXILE

Following the bloody attack in Kaduna, family and friends persuaded me to leave the country for a while. Abacha’s security agents trailed me everywhere in their unmarked cars and trademark dark sunglasses.

My telephone lines were bugged. I had to sneak out at night to meet people. My life under Abacha was horrible. I used to remain in my house for a month without going anywhere.
The State Security Service (SSS) seized my international passport just as I was making plans to travel outside the country to cool off and to seek the support of some political and business leaders in Europe and the United States for the democratic struggle in Nigeria.
I obtained another passport in the name of Atiku Kojoli. With the assistance of friends within the security forces at the airport, I was smuggled into a London-bound flight directly from the tarmac.

I arrived London late 1995. I made several unsuccessful efforts to reach the British Foreign Office. The government of Prime Minister John Major was, as usual with the British, a bit too cautious in its dealings with the Nigerian opposition.
From London, I linked up with Jackie Farris who had worked as a consultant on polling and political strategy with the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua presidential campaign in 1992. Through her I was able to re-establish contacts with former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young. He promised to talk to his contacts at the State Department in Washington, DC to get me an appointment.

While in the United States, I also re-established contact with Jennifer Iwenjiora, the television journalist I had known as a friend in Lagos since 1982. She was then living in Maryland. Jennifer and I later married and had Abdulmalik, Zahra and Faisal.
Jennifer took me to some of the contacts Young and Farris had arranged for me in Washington, D.C. USA.

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Susan Rice, received me warmly in her office. I briefed her on the political situation in Nigeria and commended the Clinton Administration for supporting the democratic struggle in Nigeria.

I pleaded with the Administration to press Abacha to free political prisoners, such as Yar’Adua and Obasanjo, and restore democratic rule. Rice expressed delight in seeing me and promised the Clinton Administration’s commitment to the restoration of democracy in Nigeria. She noted that I was the first Northern politician to seek the assistance of the U.S Government to free political prisoners and end military rule.

YAR’ADUA’S DEATH

I wept like a baby on December 8, 1997 when I was informed that Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua had died in Abakaliki prison. He was just 54 years old. Yar’Adua had transformed Nigerian politics with his organizational skill, analytical mind and his uncommon gift as a strategist. I lost a brother, a mentor, a confidant and a friend in Yar’Adua.

He remains one of the few people in this world who have made a lasting impact on my life. I admired his simplicity, meticulousness and patriotism. I initially kept away from the Abacha transition programme. Then late in 1997, Lamido Aliyu Musdafa made an urgent call to me in the United States. He wanted me back in the country. He said Abacha had assured him that I would be safe. Abacha needed credible politicians to participate in his transition programme.

I initially joined the National Centre Party of Nigeria (NCPN). I was ordered by Abacha’s agents to join UNCP, the government-sponsored party. I went with thousands of my supporters. On February 5, 1998, I declared my intention to vie for the UNCP governorship ticket.

DEATH OF ABACHA & ABIOLA

Then, on June 8, 1998 Abacha died suddenly of a heart attack in Abuja at the age of 54. Many Nigerians were relieved that his corrupt and brutal five-year rule had ended. Abacha was laid to rest in Kano on the same day. Chief of Defence Staff, Abdulsalami Abubakar, became the new Head of State. One month after Abacha’s death, Moshood Abiola also died suddenly in detention.

The new Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar read the national mood well. He released political detainees and announced a short transition to civil rule programme. He also began to look into previous rights violations. I petitioned him about the seizure of INTELS from Yar’Adua and I. He set up a committee to look into it and the committee promptly recommended that the company be returned to us as the rightful owners.

FROM GOVERNOR TO VICE PRESIDENCY

As soon as the military government announced its transition programme, the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), as the Yar’Adua group came to be known, immediately reconvened in Lagos. We resolved to liaise with other political associations with the hope of
setting up a strong national party that would promote unity and stability and serve as a bulwark against military incursion into politics.

On August 19, 1998, the PDM and other groups came together to form the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as “a credible, nationwide, people-oriented and principled political party, enjoying the widest support throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
I led a small group to identify a presidential candidate from the South-west that we could support. The Abubakar government sent an emissary to inform us that they wanted Olusegun Obasanjo. In the end, our group agreed to support Obasanjo’s candidacy. A contact team was set up with Lawal Kaita, Sunday Afolabi, Ango Abdullahi, Titi Ajanaku and I as members.

We knew Obasanjo was respected internationally. He had retired long enough for him to be trusted by civilians and he was trusted by the military as one of their own. We were convinced that Obasanjo would make a good President. After Obasanjo agreed to contest the PDP presidential primary, I went back to Adamawa to realize my long-time dream of governing my state. I was unanimously picked as the PDP governorship candidate for Adamawa State. Boni Haruna was my running mate. I won the January 9, 1999 governorship election, defeating my perennial rival, Bala Takaya of the All Nigeria People’s Party.

The PDP held its national convention in Jos in January 1999 and Obasanjo defeated former Vice President Alex Ekwueme to become the party’s candidate. He chose me as his Vice Presidential candidate. I was quite surprised as I had not shown any interest in the position. I wanted to govern my state but that was not God’s will.

Our ticket was sold to the electorate as a team of two great personalities, the convergence of two generations and the bridging of the South/Christian and North/Muslim gulf. Obasanjo went on to win the February 27, 1999 presidential election, defeating former Secretary to the Government, Olu Falae, who ran on the AD/ANPP joint ticket.

When I became the Vice Presidential candidate, some people felt that Boni Haruna could not automatically take my place as the Governor-elect of Adamawa State. However, on May 14, 1999 the Supreme Court upheld Boni Haruna as Governor-elect. Haruna then named Bello Tukur as his deputy. Obasanjo and I were sworn into office as President and Vice President respectively at a colourful ceremony in Abuja on May 29, 1999.

Chapter 10

Reinventing Nigeria

For eight years, our administration worked assiduously to deepen our young democracy, unite our diverse people, professionalize the armed forces, re-establish our country as a great and respected member of the international community, and reform our economy to become more productive, diverse and globally competitive.

We introduced a wide range of ambitious programmes aimed at promoting growth, boosting non oil revenues, reducing poverty, creating jobs, providing stable power supply, rebuilding collapsing infrastructure and promoting quality education, healthcare and gender equality.
Our reform package included fuel price deregulation, low and stable interest and inflation rates, privatization of inefficient government-owned enterprises, enthroning a culture of transparency and accountability, monetization of the benefits and entitlements of public sector workers, setting up a new pension scheme and growing the revenue base of the government through a fair and equitable, more efficient and easier-to-comply tax system.

In 2001, our administration successfully auctioned mobile phone licenses and by the time we left office in 2007, more than 70 million Nigerians had phones compared to the 400,000 landlines that the state-owned Nigerian Telecommunication Company Limited (NITEL) paraded throughout its existence. The telecommunication industry had also attracted over $20 billion in foreign investment and created millions of jobs within the same period.

In one of the most courageous and ambitious privatization programmes ever embarked upon in recent times, we sold off scores of unprofitable and inefficient public enterprises, such as banks, insurance companies, hotels, newspapers, cement, oil and petrol chemical and fertilizer companies. Thus, we relieved the federal government of the unnecessary burden of running businesses. We then refocused government’s attention on making laws and good policies and creating a conducive atmosphere for businesses to flourish.

Most of the privatized firms are today being run profitably and efficiently by their new owners, creating more jobs and delivering quality products and services.
One important achievement of our administration was the banking sector reform. In 2005, we raised the minimum capital base of banks from N2 billion to N25 billion in order to make the Nigerian banks stronger, healthier and globally competitive. The policy saw the number of banks operating in the country drop from 89 to 25.

Also, our administration cleaned up Abuja, restored its Master Plan, computerized the land registry and halted uncontrolled developments in the federal capital territory. By the time we left office in 2007, Abuja had become the pride of the nation as a beautiful, clean, safe and efficient world class city. Nigeria’s broken and mismanaged pension system also got our attention. We introduced a contributory, fully funded pension scheme that guarantees every public or private sector worker his or her retirement benefits as and when due.

Another major plank of our economic reforms programme was restructuring the tax system to yield more revenue, stimulate economic growth and redistribute income between the rich and the poor. At the end of our eight years in office, our tax revenue had grown substantially.

To ensure that the increased revenue accruing to the government benefitted the greatest number of people, the Obasanjo administration set up the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) the Economic and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Both the ICPC and EFCC waged a vigorous and sustained war against corruption, money laundering, advanced fee fraud and other economic and financial crimes. Our aggressive anti-corruption drive received commendations at home and abroad and received financial and technical support from foreign countries and organizations.

In a related development, our administration also introduced new procurement system with emphasis on due process, open and transparent conduct of government business as well as adherence to public service rules and financial regulations. Under the new policy, government contracts and procurements were checked diligently to ensure that they were within the budget, had been advertised, bidded for, fairly and reasonably costed, and could be implemented on time and on target. We later enacted a public procurement law to entrench in the public sector the values of probity, openness and accountability.

In October 2005, our administration successfully negotiated a deal with our external creditors that saw Nigeria pay off a total of $14.48 billion in return for the cancellation of our remaining $18 billion debt. Also, we set up the Debt Management Office (DMO) to review and restructure Nigeria’s debt.

Our government worked hard to achieve universal primary education, eliminate hunger, reduce child and maternal mortality, protect the environment and combat HIV/AIDS and malaria as contained in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

Our economic reforms led to massive growth in both the formal and informal economy. By the time we left office in 2007, our economy was ranked 31st in the world in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which was estimated to be about $500 billion (estimate included both formal and informal economy). It became the second biggest economy in Africa.

Chapter 8

Political Life 

MEETING YAR’ADUA

While in my office one day, I was informed that Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, the retired Major- General and former deputy to Obasanjo, was waiting to see me. Yar’Adua wanted a license to import beans from Niger Republic for sale in Nigeria.
I told him that he would have to write an application to President Ibrahim Babangida for the license. Yar’Adua thanked me and left.

Babangida approved his application. Yar’Adua imported the beans from Niger Republic, sold them and made good money. He felt he needed to show his appreciation to me for assisting him. I was happy to see him again when he visited me and happier still to know that his business had gone well. He offered me a token of appreciation, but I declined, saying it was unnecessary. I said I was just doing my job. Yar’Adua was highly impressed. 

In an organization known for its endemic corruption and unethical deals, he was happy to find one decent officer. From that day, a friendship developed between us.
As our friendship grew, Yar’Adua briefed me about his own efforts to build a grassroots political movement that would be the vanguard of a new Nigeria with a common sense of purpose. He said only a strong, national party could end military dictatorship and create a united, stable, prosperous and progressive country. He wanted me to work with him to realize that vision, saying Nigeria needed a new generation of leaders like me.

GOING INTO POLITICS

When I joined the Customs 20 years earlier, I had drawn a graph anticipating my career progression from Cadet to Director of Customs by age 40. I told myself that if by the time I was 40 years old I did not head the organization, I would quit.
I retired at 43 as a Deputy Director on April 30, 1989. I paid the mandatory three months salary in lieu of notice to the government.

“All Government property in my possession shall be duly returned to the stores whilst my gratuity is to be used to settle the balance of my housing loan”, I wrote.
“I hereby convey my sincere gratitude and appreciation to the Government of the Federation and in particular the Department of Customs and Excise for giving me an opportunity to serve for 20 years. I assure you of the availability of my services as and when I may be called upon to serve the nation”, my letter read.
A year before my retirement, I had started attending political meetings at Shehu Yar’Adua’s house in Ikoyi, Lagos. “Look, you are good, you relate well with people. I think you will make a good politician. Why don’t you join me in politics”, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua said to me one day. That was how it all started. The Yar’Adua Group, as we came to be known, wanted to build a bridge across the old fault lines of ethnicity, religion and region.

In May 1989, the Babangida administration finally lifted the ban on party politics. The Yar’Adua group immediately unveiled its political association, the People’s Front of Nigeria (PFN), which had “the pursuit of justice, peace, and service” as its motto and “People First” as its slogan. At its first national convention in June 1989, Farouk Abdul Azeez, a medical doctor from the then Kwara State, was elected Chairman while a woman, Titi Ajanaku, was elected National Secretary.
Six of us represented the then Gongola State at the convention. I was elected one of the National Vice Chairmen of the party. I was also in charge of setting up party structures in the South-East where I already had a network of friends and business associates. Yar’Adua and I paid the initial expenses of the PFN.

I took PFN to Gongola State. It was the first political association to be launched in the state when the ban on party politics was lifted. I was the party’s sole financier in the state. My contributions to my immediate community had earned me a lot of goodwill and support.
Of the 13 political associations formed at the time, the PF was the most organized and disciplined. Yet, on October 7, 1989, President Babangida announced that his Armed Forces Ruling Council had decided not to register any of the associations because, as he put it, “the associations were set up by the same old discredited politicians who must never be allowed back in power”. He disbanded the 13 associations and created and funded two new parties – the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC).

The SDP, he said, was a little to the left in terms of its ideological orientation while the NRC was a little to the right. He asked politicians to join either of the two. We in the Yar’Adua group decided to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the party considered closer to the PF in ideological orientation. The parties were formally launched in Abuja on October 7, 1989. I was one of the delegates from Gongola State. I was elected to the 1989 Constituent Assembly.

TO BE GOVERNOR

When I joined partisan politics in 1989, I had a clear idea that I wanted to be Governor of Gongola State. I made a formal declaration of my intention at a press conference on September 1, 1990 during which I also unveiled my plans for the state.
I wanted an opportunity to use the modest resources of the state to provide social amenities and attract investments. I wanted to raise the standard of living for the majority of the people through improved agricultural production, quality education, and well-developed infrastructure in both urban and rural areas. I wanted to make the state a model for other states.

On August 27, 1991, the Babangida administration created nine new states. Gongola State was broken into Adamawa and Taraba States. My new state of Adamawa consisted of the old Adamawa Province and the defunct Numan and Ganye Divisions.
The SDP governorship primary in Adamawa State was held in November 1991. Six people contested with me, including Bala Takaya, a former political science lecturer at the University of Jos.

The primary took place amidst allegations that the state party executives were solidly behind Bala Takaya. Voting was relatively peaceful and orderly. The result was however disputed. I was declared winner but Bala Takaya and his supporters protested.
It was amidst this chaos that in December 1991, the Babangida administration announced the cancellation of nine state primary election results, including that of Adamawa. Takaya and I were also disqualified from contesting the upcoming governorship election.

The former state Chairman of the party, Boss Mustapha, emerged the winner of a fresh governorship primary. He had just two weeks to convince the people of Adamawa State to vote for him. Apart from the short time available for campaign, Mustapha’s chances were also weakened by the unresolved internal bickering in the party. So it was not surprising that the candidate of the rival NRC, Saleh Michika, won the December 14, 1991 governorship election.

TO BE PRESIDENT

Yar’Adua and 12 other so-called banned politicians were arrested and detained on December 2, 1991 for participating in politics despite having been banned. He was released on December 20, 1991 after 17 days in detention. He was free to participate in politics again, the government said.

We, his associates, persuaded him to join the race for the presidency. He declared his interest on February 25, 1992 at City Hall, Lagos. He promised to create a united, stable and progressive Nigeria with a common purpose and vision. He was one of the 50 presidential aspirants of the two parties that participated in the six-zone presidential primaries from May 2 to June 20, 1992. I was Yar’Adua’s campaign coordinator.
I really wanted to see him become the President of this country. I had no doubt in my mind that he would have made a good President. He had a vision and he knew how to bring good people together to achieve his goals.

A three-stage party primary was introduced, beginning in September 1992. By the end of the first round, Yar’Adua had emerged the front-runner, beating prominent politicians in their strongholds. The Babangida administration cashed in on the unfounded allegations of rigging, thuggery and bribery and cancelled the primary results on November 17, 1992.
All 23 presidential aspirants were also banned. The executives of the two parties were dissolved. A new system of presidential primary was announced. The handover date from military to civilian rule was extended to August 17, 1993.

With Yar’Adua banned, the group needed someone that its members could rally round. My influence, hard work and selfless contributions to the Yar’Adua group as well as my loyalty to Yar’Adua and my youthfulness (I was then 46 years old) counted in my favour.
The task before me was daunting. My closeness to Tafida (as I used to call him) also meant that I would inherit both his goodwill and his ill-will. I knew that those who did not want Yar’Adua to become President could also stop me. But I was not deterred. I decided to run on the same ideas and vision that Yar’Adua had espoused during his candidacy – a strong, united, democratic and prosperous Nigeria.
Babagana Kingibe, a former member of the Yar’Adua group who became SDP Chairman because of the group’s support, was also vying for the party’s presidential ticket. So was newcomer Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, a wealthy businessman and newspaper publisher.

I contested and won the SDP presidential primary in Adamawa State in March 1993. Moshood Abiola, 55 years old, and Babagana Kingibe, 48, had also won in their respective states. Altogether, 27 of us from various states converged in Jos in March 1993 to contest the SDP Presidential ticket at the national convention of the party.
I campaigned on the need for a strong economy with agriculture as a top priority. I promised Nigerians that their collective interest would count first when far-reaching economic decisions were being taken. I said I would run a true federalism if elected President.

To stop Kingibe, whom we all believed had betrayed our group, the Yar’Adua group resolved to negotiate with Abiola. We would support Abiola’s candidacy for the presidency in return for making me his running mate. We met Abiola and his key advisers and agreed to go to the Jos convention to push for an Abiola-Atiku ticket. Thereafter, we would harmonize our campaign structures and finances.

At the end of the first ballot, Abiola came first with 3,617 votes. Kingibe came a close second with 3,225 votes. I came third with 2,066 votes.
We met again with Abiola. We agreed that I should step down for Abiola in the final round of voting. I agreed to subordinate my personal ambition for the sake of democracy. I was ready for any personal sacrifice that could end military rule in Nigeria.
In the two-way race between Abiola and Kingibe, Abiola triumphed with 2,683 votes to Kingibe’s 2,456 votes. 

However, Abiola refused to honour the agreement to make me his running mate. He picked Babagana Kingibe. Yar’Adua was angry over Abiola’s betrayal. I knew it would be difficult to persuade him to support Abiola again. I was concerned about our party. Without the support of the Yar’Adua group, the SDP could lose the presidential election to the NRC whose Bashir Tofa, then 46, was generally thought to be inexperienced.

Knowing that Shehu Yar’Adua’s father and former military ruler Olusegun Obasanjo were the two people in the world that Yar’Adua could not refuse, I went to see Obasanjo at his Ota farm to ask him to convince Yar’Adua not to withdraw his support for Abiola. I said the Yar’Adua group needed to work closely with Abiola to defeat the reactionary forces in the upcoming election and to get Babangida out of office.

Obasanjo promised to talk to his former deputy. He did. And the Yar’Adua group went on to support Abiola who won the June 12 election. But the Babangida administration annulled the election midway into the vote count. We were all sad and angry about the annulment. We were tired of the endless transition. But we could not leave the ship of state adrift. We began consulting other political groups. In the end, a compromise was reached to form an Interim National Government (ING) with corporate chieftain Ernest Shonekan as Head.

The ING was sacked three months later by General Sani Abacha, the Defence Minister. Nigeria once again returned to full military rule. It was in the midst of this challenging political situation in 1994 that I received news of the death of my aunt, Hajiya Fatima Isa, popularly known as Azumi. She was about 68 years old. She died exactly a decade after my mother, Hajiya Aisha Kande.

Chapter 5

Making Money

I recognized very early in life that I have a good nose for business. In 1974 I applied for and obtained a Federal Staff Housing Loan. The loan, which amounted to 31,000 Naira, was the equivalent of my salary for five years. I was granted a plot of land by the Gongola State Government at Yola Government Reserved Area (GRA). I hired a foreman and began building my first house. With close personal supervision, the bungalow was completed on time and to my taste. I rented it out immediately.

The rent I collected in advance on the house was substantial enough for me to purchase a second plot. I built my second house there and rented it out. I continued to plow back the rent into the building of new houses and within a few years I had built eight houses in choice areas of Yola. I also built a new house for my mother and rebuilt the old mud house I bought for her in Ganye when I was a 15-year-old student.

Property investment can be very rewarding. It is safe and the returns are high depending on the location. Kaduna, for instance, was a good place to invest in property before the emergence of Abuja. I built my first house in Kaduna with rent from other property. I bought six more plots and built residential houses and rented them out to individuals and institutions.
I was nominated in 1978 for a three-month senior officers’ course in Finland. Innocent Okoye and O. O. Bassey and I joined participants from other developing countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Kenya. While in Finland, we visited neighboring Sweden and Norway.

I was still in Maiduguri when the historic peaceful transfer of power from the military to an elected civilian administration took place on October 1, 1979. Military ruler Obasanjo handed over power to elected President Shehu Shagari.
I returned to Kaduna in 1980 as an Assistant Area Administrator of a much bigger command. With a growing family and increasing responsibilities, I decided to set up a commercial farm. I started the Gesse Derdirabe Farm in 1981 on 2,500 hectres of land off Yola - Numan Road with a bank loan. I grew maize and cotton.

The farm did very well initially. I became the largest maize farmer in the whole of Gongola State, producing over 10,000 bags of maize a year for sale within the country. But changes in government policies led to a sharp increase in the cost of production. A number of large farms closed down, including Gesse Derdirabe Farms in 1986.

Of all the businesses into which I would venture, the most successful and the most lucrative would be a small oil services company I established with an Italian business man in the early 1980s. I met Gabriel Volpi when he was working at Apapa Ports in 1982. The Genoa, Italy-born Volpi was a director in MED Africa, a shipping company.
Volpi suggested we go into oil and gas logistics. He knew Nigeria’s future was in oil and gas. We registered the Nigeria Container Services (NICOTES), operating from a container office at Apapa Ports. I was not involved in the running of the company.
NICOTES relocated later to the Federal Lighter Terminal in Port Harcourt when the business began to grow. The company, now known as INTELS (Integrated and Logistics Services), has grown into a multi-billion Naira business providing over 15,000 jobs in Nigeria and other African countries and paying hefty dividends to its shareholders.

Chapter 6

Turaki Adamawa

While serving in Maiduguri, I was introduced to Lamido Aliyu Musdafa by one of his adopted sons, Jamilu Lamido. I started visiting Lamido Musdafa whenever I was in Yola. The Lamido began to like me and started treating me like a son. I admired the Lamido for his liberalism and pragmatism. He understood the complexity of the environment in which he operated. His ability to hold together such a diverse emirate was marvelous. I admired his willingness to accept change. As an orphan, I had always cherished a father figure in my life. The Lamido became the father I lost at age 11.
On November 19, 1982, Lamido Aliyu Musdafa turbaned me as the Turaki of Adamawa at his palace in Yola.

The Turaki in traditional Fulani society is a prince in charge of household matters. It is a title usually reserved for one of the Lamido/Emir’s favourite sons. It is seldom given to an outsider or a commoner. To ensure that I met the “blood tie” requirement for the title, the Lamido decided to give me one of his daughters, Princess Rukaiyat, to marry. She is the 13th child of the Lamido. Although a son from that union will not be in the line of succession, he could be appointed a “Waziri”, the traditional “prime minister”. 
The Turaki turbaning ceremony was held with pomp and pageantry. All roads led to Yola on that day. As many as 40 aircraft brought guests to Yola to witness the event. I did not realize that I had made so many friends across the country.

For my mother, it was the highest point of our lives. She never expected or imagined that there could be such a dramatic change in our lives. She never imagined that her son would become a member of the royal family in Adamawa.
Lamido Aliyu Musdafa was a very perceptive person. I think he saw in me the promise of the future. I was popular and had wide contacts and tremendous goodwill. This was why he gave me the title.

After our marriage, Princess Rukaiyat stayed back in Yola where she raised our children - Aisha, Hadiza, Aliyu, Asmau, Mustafa, Laila and Abdulsalaam. She kept herds of cows, rams and poultry/fish/crocodiles on my old Gesse Derdirabe farm along Yola - Numan Road. I was becoming influential in the four major towns in our area: Jada, Ganye, Toungo and Mayo Belwa. I assisted individuals and groups with jobs, money and other material gifts. I sponsored people with life-threatening medical problems for treatment in and outside the country.

I assisted those who wanted to start small-scale businesses. I built and equipped schools and mosques. I honoured invitations to weddings, birthdays, funerals, graduations, and so on. All these made me very popular among the different ethnic and religious groups. I did not discriminate. I had Fulani and non-Fulani among my legion of friends and associates.
I have always been attracted to people. I shared whatever I have with people. This earned me a lot of goodwill. This was how I built a strong network of supporters particularly in Jada, Ganye, Toungo and Mayo Belwa, and other parts of Adamawa and Taraba.

MOTHER’S DEATH

My mother, Aisha Kande, died suddenly of a heart attack in 1984. I was in Lagos where I had been posted as the Customs Area Administrator in charge of Murtala Muhammed Airport in Ikeja. Lamido Aliyu Musdafa summoned me home and broke the sad news to me in his palace. I wept like a child. She was hale and hearty when we last saw a week earlier.
On the day she died, my mother had attended a wedding with her sister, Azumi. at a village near Mayo Belwa. The food they ate there must have been salty. She was hypertensive and diabetic. So was Aunt Azumi. Their doctor, Arabi Tukur of Matco Clinic in Yola, had warned them to avoid too much salt. I had registered her and Azumi as well as their brother, Kawu Ali, at the clinic for regular check-up.

As they were returning from the wedding that day in the Peugeot 504 Station Wagon I gave them, mother suddenly called out to her sister, Azumi. “My sister, my chest is paining me”, she said with her hands on her chest. Shortly after, she slumped. She died on the way to Yola where they had hoped to seek medical attention. She was no more than 58.
Mother was laid to rest at Jimeta Cemetery. After the burial rites, I stayed home for the third and seventh day prayers. Several people came to sympathize with me and to pray for the repose of mother’s soul and for Allah to give me the fortitude to bear the loss. I felt sad and lonely after mother’s death.
Sometimes, I wondered if I had repaid her enough for all that she did for me in life. I built houses for her, sent her and Aunt Azumi on Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, made a car available to them and ensured they lacked nothing. I wished she had lived a little longer to enjoy more of the fruits of her labour.

Chapter 7 

A Matter Of Principle

A few months before my mother’s death, soldiers had overthrown the civilian administration of Shehu Shagari on December 31, 1983. Major-General Muhammadu Buhari became the new Head of State.
As part of its monetary policies, the Buhari government had introduced new Naira notes in April 1984. The policy was aimed at halting the illegal speculative trading of the Naira outside the shores of Nigeria. A time limit was imposed within which old notes could be turned in for new ones. Government agencies at the nation’s borders, sea and air ports were instructed to screen all bags and containers entering the country to ensure old Naira notes were not being smuggled into the country.

A first class traditional ruler and a returning Nigeria diplomat had arrived from Saudi Arabia with several bags. My officers at the Airport in Lagos were not allowed to search the bags. The duty officers reported the incident in writing. I did not know how a newspaper got wind of it. The Guardian, a Lagos-based newspaper, reported on its front page on June 10, 1984 that “Passenger with 53 suitcases leaves airport unchecked”.
The incident became a scandal and the government was forced to set up an administrative panel of inquiry to determine why due process was not followed. The government was clearly embarrassed by the incident and rather than punish those who flouted its directive that all baggage be searched, it began to look for scapegoats. They mounted pressure on me to deny that the incident ever happened. I was threatened and intimidated. I vowed to surrender my uniform and quit the Customs rather than lie.

The federal government would later declare that the controversial 53 suitcases contained the personal effects of the traditional ruler, the returning ambassador and members of their families. The government added that those who intimidated and threatened the Customs officers on duty on that day at the airport had been reprimanded.
Some government officials wanted me sacked for not covering up their mess. But Finance Minister Onaolapo Soleye, who supervised the Department of Customs and Excise, said I should be left alone. Soleye did not know me. He acted on the basis of the facts before him. He said it would be unfair to punish me for doing my job and for standing by my officers. He was also swayed by my impeccable service record. No queries. No sanctions. My file was filled with commendations for meeting and exceeding revenue targets at the different posts I had headed.

FIGHTING DRUG TRAFFICKING

On July 22, 1986, I married the former Fatima Shettima in Maiduguri. We met in Lagos while she was attending the Nigerian Law School. She settled in Lagos, running her own business and raising our children - Amina, Mohammed and the twins Ahmed (named after businessman Mai Deribe) and Shehu (named after Shehu Musa Yar‘Adua) as well as Aisha and Zainab).

While still in Lagos, the Department of Customs and Excise sent me on a month-long course on Drug Law and Enforcement at the Police Academy in Cairo, Egypt. The United States Drug Enforcement Agency (USDEA) sponsored the course for drug enforcement agencies from several African countries.

The USDEA was worried that many African countries were becoming transit points for illegal drugs such as cocaine and heroin produced in South America and South-East Asia and consumed in wealthy countries in Europe and the United States.
The USDEA officer in Lagos, John Pope, had been so impressed with my drug interdiction efforts at the airport that he organized for me to attend a two-month Executive Programme on Drug Enforcement in the United States in 1985.

The programme took me to Washington, DC, Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, the Texas - Mexico border and the California - Mexico border. I even accompanied USDEA officers on drug interdiction mission. Shortly after I returned from the course, the Department of Customs and Excise set up the Enforcement and Drugs Unit to co-ordinate its anti-drug smuggling activities throughout the country.

In 1987, I was appointed Deputy Director of Customs and Excise in charge of Enforcement and Drugs. As one of the first officers to be trained at home and abroad on drugs and enforcement, I was a natural choice to head the unit. I coordinated Customs’ anti-drugs smuggling and interdiction activities throughout the nation’s land borders, airports and sea ports.

A PASSION FOR LEARNING

I have always had a passion for education. In 1988, my second wife, Ladi and I registered a limited liability company called ABTI-ZARHAM (formed from the first letters of the names of our children: Abba and Atiku Jnr = ABTI and Zainab, Rukaiya, Hauwa and Maryam = ZARHAM). We established ABTI Nursery and Primary School in Yola in 1992.

We later set up ABTI Academy, an elite high school with boarding facilities modeled after the British public school. It was followed by ABTI-American University (now American University of Nigeria, Yola). It provides American-style university education to students. Nothing gives me more joy and fulfillment in life than my modest contributions to the improvement of education in Nigeria.

Chapter 3

Yola, Kaduna, Kano & Zaria

After completing my primary school in Jada in 1960, I was admitted into Adamawa Provincial Secondary School in Yola. I joined 59 other young boys from Adamawa and beyond in January 1961 to begin a five-year high school journey. The school’s motto is Tiddo Yo Daddo, a Fulani aphorism for “Endurance is Success”. It reminded us daily that success in life would only come to those who worked hard and persevered.

Adamawa Provincial Secondary School, like others in the region, belonged in the second category of post-primary institutions in Northern Nigeria. The most prestigious schools were the Government Colleges in Zaria and Keffi. Pupils who excelled in the entrance examination went to the Government Colleges; those who did reasonably well went to the Provincial Secondary Schools; average students were sent to the Craft Schools in the various Divisions; and those who failed the examination were sent to Farm Centres which were established in all the Districts. It was a good system which took care of everyone irrespective of his or her level of intelligence.

The Native Authorities ran the schools as a social service. Students received free uniforms (white shorts and shirts for classes, khaki overall for manual work and white caftans over white trousers for visits to the town on Fridays and Sundays), free books, free boarding facilities, a weekly allowance of three to six pence, and transport fares for those traveling outside Yola and Jimeta at the end of every term. Some district councils would charter a commercial lorry to pick up their holiday-bound students from the school.

The school authorities, mostly British, were firm and strict, commending good conduct and academic excellence and sanctioning bad behaviour, sloppiness and poor academic performance. Refusal to do one’s homework, rudeness to a teacher or senior student, dirty uniforms and sloppiness attracted light punishment (caning or manual work) while serious offenses such as stealing, drinking, smoking, insulting or fighting a teacher could lead to dismissal or “detention”. “Detention” meant that such a student would not be allowed to visit the town on Fridays and Sundays with other students. Since we all looked forward to going into town, everyone tried to avoid committing offense that could lead to “detention”.
I belonged to Wazirawa House. I was not quite six months in the school when the school principal, Mr. David West, warned me that I would be expelled from the school if I did not stop fighting with people. I was quiet, but I would never run away from trouble. As a keen hockey player, I was always with my hockey sticks and did not hesitate to use them against any student who tried to bully me. In addition to hockey, I played soccer and did well in athletics too.

One important tradition at Adamawa Provincial Secondary School in the 1960s was the Friday visit to the Lamido of Adamawa. On the first and last Friday of every term, all the students would march in their white kaftan-on-white trousers from the school campus in Jimeta to the Lamido’s palace in Yola, a distance of about five kilometres, to pay homage to the traditional ruler and spiritual head of Adamawa Emirate.

Lamido Aliyu Musdafa, a former student of the school who had been installed in 1953 as the 11th ruler of the emirate founded by Modibbo Adama in the 19th century – for whom Adamawa Emirate and Adamawa State are named - had in 1841 selected Yola, located on a swampy plain near the Benue River, as his headquarters.
As soon as we were ushered into his presence, Lamido Musdafa would receive us, pray for us and counsel us to embrace the good old values of hard work, honesty and the fear of Allah.

I had friends from everywhere as a student. Some of my friends were non Fulani and non Muslims. As I grew older and more independent towards the end of my stay at Adamawa Provincial Secondary School, I used to spend part of my school holidays with my friends in different parts of the Adamawa Emirate. I wanted to be exposed to other cultures and experiences.

I have always worked for peace and harmony among the Fulani and the dozens of other groups in our area. When fellow students wanted to set up Jada Students Association only for the Fulani students and the Chamba Students Association for non-Fulani students, I addressed members of the two associations to form a central body devoid of ethnic labels. They booed and shouted me down. I was not deterred. I refused to join either of them. They later accepted my proposal and set up Ganye Students Association for all the students from the area.

 When I was 15, I spent my school holiday at home, working as a clerk in Ganye Native Authority. My boss was Adamu Ciroma, the then District Officer. From my holiday job earnings, I bought a house for my mother in Ganye, the headquarters of the local government council. The thatched mud bungalow had two rooms plus a kitchen and bathroom. It cost me about nine Pounds Sterling. My mother was very happy and proud of me. I had saved her from homelessness after her older brother sold the family house in Jada without her knowledge.

Chapter 4

Serving in the Customs

Before completing my Diploma in Law programme in June 1969, a team from the Federal Civil Service Commission came on a recruitment drive to the university. By chance one of the interviewers found in my file a report that I had once been found suitable to join the police force and had in fact received some training in 1966. This information was brought to the attention of the chairman of the interview panel who promptly ruled: “O.k., you go to the Department of Customs and Excise”.

That was how I joined the Department of Customs and Excise in June 1969. The invisible hand that has always shaped my life had once again steered me towards my destiny.
After my training at the Police College in Ikeja, Lagos and at the Customs Training School in Ebute Metta in Lagos, I was posted to Idi Iroko border station. My colleagues and I were tasked with collecting duties on imported and exported goods, stopping the entry and exit of banned items, and arresting and prosecuting smugglers.

 Following the end of the Nigerian Civil War in January 1970, Idi Iroko became a beehive of activities. Those who had fled Nigeria to neighbouring countries began returning in hundreds. It was our task to receive them back. It was at Idi Iroko in late 1969 that I met and fell in love with the then 19-year-old Titilayo Albert. Though she is Yoruba and I am Fulani, it never crossed my mind that that could be a problem. Titi’s mother was opposed to the relationship, constantly dredging up ethnic slurs and prejudices to convince Titi to back out. However, Titi’s father did not oppose us. Despite the strong opposition from her mother and sisters, I persevered because I was sure we were meant for each other.
We were married in December 1971 after receiving her father’s blessing. We rented a place in Lagos and began planning for a family. Our first child, Fatima, was born on October 26, 1972. Titi and I would have three more children: Adamu, Halima and Aminu.

I was posted in 1972 to Ikeja Airport in Lagos and later to Apapa ports in Lagos. In all the places I served, I never asked people for money. I never asked my subordinates to bring ‘returns’. I was aware that some officers connived with smugglers to make money. I never did. Corruption was rife in Customs, but I was not part of it.
I saw Customs not as a punitive institution but as a way of making money for the government. Instead of seizing goods and extorting money from their owners, I made money for the government. A lot of people tried unsuccessfully to induce me.
I was posted to Ibadan mid 1975 and promoted Superintendent of Customs. I was given a big official residence at Iyangaku Government Reserved Area. This was during the memorable days of General Murtala Muhammed, the nation’s new military leader who had electrified the nation with his campaign for discipline, probity, hard work, patriotism and dedication to duty.

I admired General Muhammed and tried to promote the same values and attitudinal change in our office. I was nick-named “Murtala Muhammed Junior” by my Customs subordinates in Ibadan because they said I was behaving like him. Although I was second-in-command in Ibadan, I used to order late-comers to be locked out of their offices.
I was sad to hear about General Muhammed’s assassination on February 13, 1976 during a failed military coup. Some of those who were later implicated in the coup and killed were well known to me. But I did not know they were involved in a coup plot.
Shortly after that failed coup, I was transferred to Kano in 1976. My immediate boss was Abubakar Musa, then Customs Area Administrator in Kano. We became friends. We shared many memorable moments together.

In Kano, I met and married the former Sa’adatu Ladi Yakubu, the dark and pretty daughter of a police inspector from Gombe. Ladi and I have six children together - Abba, Atiku, Zainab, Ummi, Mariam and Rukayatu
I have always wanted a large family to compensate for my lonely childhood. I felt extremely lonely as a child. I had no brother and no sister. I did not want my children to be as lonely as I was. My wives are my sisters, my friends and my advisers. They complement one another and enrich my life.

I was transferred to Maiduguri in 1977 as the Area Administrator. At 30, I was the youngest then to hold that position. I was promoted Assistant Comptroller and put in charge of the vast Northeast, which comprised of the states now known as Borno, Bauchi, Adamawa, Taraba, Yobe and Gombe. Maiduguri had always been an important administrative capital and a trading centre since the ancient Kanem-Borno Empire which stretched as far as the present Chad, Niger, Cameroon, Sudan, and Central Africa Republic. The old trade network continued to serve subsequent generations regardless of artificial colonial boundaries. Among the items traded were hides and skins, cotton, groundnuts, raw and processed food, textiles, petroleum products, electronic goods, household appliances, and vehicles.

The challenge for me then was how to formalize such commercial transactions for the benefit of all the countries involved, especially Nigeria. I introduced a Customs log-book where goods entering or leaving Nigeria were recorded and valued. Petroleum products constituted the bulk of the goods routinely smuggled out of Nigeria then. These products would be bought at heavily subsidized prices in Nigerian and then sold for a fortune in neighbouring countries.

I believe that the Department of Customs and Excise exists to facilitate trade between countries and not to block it.
In 1978, General Olusegun Obasanjo, who had succeeded General Murtala Muhammed as Head of State, visited the Customs Area Command in Maiduguri as part of his tour of the state. I briefed him about the Command’s anti-smuggling operations. Obasanjo was very impressed. He decided there and then to allocate eight Land Cruisers to the Command to facilitate its operation. That was my first encounter with Obasanjo.

My mission here is to splash this thread with a history of the man, Abubakar Atiku, Waziri Adamawa, GCON, former Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a seasoned business man, a civil servant with class and a political juggernaut par excellence. He had been misjudged in the past and still being misunderstood on what he stands for and believes in. He had seen it all right from his long years of foraying into politics since the late 80s till date, now seeking for my, your supports as he takes his shot at the exalted position of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, come February 2019. Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby present to you the story behind the story on Alhaji Abubakar Atiku. Happy reading......



My Life - Atiku Abubakar  (2013)

Author’s Note

The story of MY LIFE is told in greater detail in the biography titled Atiku: The Story of Atiku Abubakar by Adinoyi Ojo Onukaba (Africana Legacy Press, Abuja, 2006). MY LIFE is based largely on a series of interviews I granted the biographer.
The interviews covered the major events and milestones in my life and they have been distilled here and woven into a personal narrative of struggles and triumph with a hint about the vast unconquered territory that still lies ahead.

I want readers to take note of two points. One, my modest achievements in life have not come to me on a platter of gold. I have had to struggle against uncommon odds to get to where I am today. Success in life requires hard work and sacrifice. Two, personal achievements in life are meaningless in a country where the vast majority of our people still struggle daily to meet their basic needs.

There is, therefore, an urgent need to create a Nigeria of shared exertion and prosperity, a Nigeria where the majority of our people are fulfilled, happy and hopeful about the future.
I hope our young people will find the story of My Life inspiring. It is not the circumstances of our birth that truly count, it is what we make of life itself.
As for me, I will continue to devote the rest of my life to making Nigeria a strong, united, democratic and prosperous country.

Atiku Abubakar Abuja
July 2013

Chapter 1

Jada

My name is Atiku Abubakar. I was born on November 25, 1946 in Jada, Adamawa State, Nigeria. I was named after my paternal grandfather, Atiku Abdulkadir. It was the practice among the Fulani people to name their first sons after their paternal grandfathers.

My grandfather, Atiku, came originally from Wurno in Sokoto State. There, he had met and befriended Ardo Usman, a Fulani nobleman from what is now known as Adamawa State. My grandfather decided to accompany his new friend back to his hometown of Adamawa.
They settled in Kojoli, a small village in Jada Local Government Council of Adamawa State. My grandfather farmed, kept livestock and raised a family. He married a local girl in Kojoli and gave birth to my father, Garba Atiku Abdulkadir. He was their only child.
My father was an itinerant trader who traveled from one market to another selling imitation jewelry, caps, needles, potash, kola nuts and other nick-knacks which he ferried around on the back of his donkey. He also kept some livestock and cultivated guinea corn, maize and groundnuts.

When it was time for him to marry, my father chose a young girl from nearby Jada town whose parents had migrated from Dutse, now the capital of Jigawa State. My mother, Aisha Kande, was born in Jada. Her father was also an itinerant trader who was known in Jada as Adamu Dutse, using his town as his last name - a common practice in Northern Nigeria.

My father was not rich, but he was able to build his own house and took care of his immediate family. He was well-known in Kojoli and surrounding villages and towns as a tall, well- built man who was generous to a fault. People remembered him as someone who could part with his last possession. Both my father and paternal grandfather were learned men. They gave free Islamic classes to adults and young people in Kojoli during their spare time.

As a young boy growing up in Kojoli, my parents doted on me. They tried their best to provide for me and to ensure that I grew up in a wholesome environment of love and spirituality. My father saw me as a rare gift, a child of destiny. He always prayed to Allah to protect me, guide me and to make me successful in life. I honestly believe that I owe my modest achievements in life to him. There is power in prayer, no doubt about it.
My parents tried unsuccessfully to have more children. My father even took another wife but she too did not have a child.

I was said to have been a quiet, sensitive boy while growing up. I assisted my father on the farm and with the livestock. When I was old enough, I would take the cows and sheep to the
fields to graze and bring them back home at sunset. I also fetched firewood for cooking and for night-time illumination. Kojoli, like most Nigerian villages then, had no electricity or running water.

Sometimes, it was my duty to feed the animals with hay or to give them water to drink or potash to lick. I enjoyed these chores and considered them real fun. I learned to ride horses and donkeys which my father used to transport goods to the various markets.
I spent my free time playing soccer on improvised fields with neighbourhood boys. Sometimes we made bows and arrows and went hunting for birds.

My parents were devout Muslims. Every night after dinner, we had Koranic studies around a bonfire. My father or any other learned person in the village would teach us. My parents – just like other parents in Kojoli – tried to build a strong spiritual foundation for their young ones through these nightly Koranic lessons.
People say that I look like my father, but that he was even more generous than me. I took my mother’s dark complexion. I am also quiet and reserved like her.

Chapter 2

Going To School

My father, Garba Atiku Abdulkadir, was fond of me. He wanted me to become an Islamic scholar, herdsman, farmer and trader _ just like him. He was a deeply religious man who was suspicious of Western education which he believed could corrupt the impressionable minds of young people.

My father did not want me to go to school. He tried to hide me from the prying eyes of Native Authority officials who had embarked on compulsory mass literacy campaign in the region. My father soon discovered that he could not resist the wind of change that was blowing through the area at the time.

My mother’s older brother, Kawu Ali who had received a little education through adult literacy classes, registered me at Jada Primary School in January 1954 as Atiku Kojoli.
For trying to stop me from going to school, my father was arrested, charged to an Alkali court and fined 10 Shillings. He refused to pay the fine. He said he had no money. He spent a few days in jail until my maternal grandmother, who made local soap for sale in the community, raised the money to pay the fine and father was released to her.
But my father was not a happy man. He was sad and angry that his only child had been taken away from him to be exposed to a strange world. He saw Western education as a threat to their cherished values and way of life.

Father was responding typically with fear and anxiety to the onslaught of change in Nigeria. People often feel safe in the world they know. They see change as a harbinger of evil and as being disruptive to the normal order of things.
Jada Primary School was bare and rudimentary. The school consisted of small round huts with thatched roofs. Classes were sometimes taught under the tree. Some school buildings had no doors or windows. There were class rooms without chairs or desks. We spent the first two years writing on the floor. No wooden slates or exercise books. It was only in Primary Three that exercise books were given to us.

The school was made up of junior and senior primary schools. Pupils spent five years in junior primary school and two years in senior primary school. Junior primary school closed every day at noon, giving the pupils time to assist their parents in taking the animals out for grazing or to join in weeding, planting or harvesting in the farms.
A boarding facility was provided at the senior level. We slept on wooden beds covered with locally made straw or palm fibre mats. Meals included rice, guinea corn, beans cake (kose in Hausa), yam and a custard-like drink known as kunu which is made from guinea corn flour. The food was prepared by cooks employed by the school and served to the pupils in small bowls in the dining hall.

It was an all-male school built and run by the Native Authority. No tuition was charged. Uniforms and other school materials were provided free. The teachers too were men and they came from the community. We began each day with early morning chores, such as cutting the grass, sweeping the school compound and watering the garden. Through these chores, the values of hard work and of the dignity in labour were being inculcated in us.
After about half an hour of work, the bell would ring for the commencement of the morning exercises to prepare us physically and mentally for the day’s tasks. We would then go for breakfast. Breakfast was followed by “fall-in”, the assembly of all pupils. The teachers would inspect us, looking out for sloppy appearance and listening to complaints about those who did not do their chores or participate in the physical exercises. The offending pupil would be brought out, tried and punished. Canes were liberally used to correct such offenders.

Lessons resumed soon after in arithmetic, English language, literature, geography, science, religious studies and handicraft. The rest of the day was taken up by lunch, siesta, dinner, private studies (using kerosene lanterns for illumination) and bed-time.
I started learning to read and speak Hausa in that school. It was taught at the school to the predominantly Fulfulde-speaking pupils. Like other pupils in the school, I grew up speaking only Fulfulde. I realized later that Hausa is the lingua franca in most parts of Northern Nigeria. It was both the language of commerce, administration and every day interactions in many parts of the region.

FATHER’S DEATH

Three years after I started school, tragedy struck in December 1957. I was then 11 years old. I was just about to begin the Senior Primary School in Jada as a boarding pupil. My father drowned while trying to cross a small river known as Mayo Choncha on the outskirts of Toungo, a neighbouring town. The river was in high tide following a heavy rainfall.

Father’s body was recovered the following day and buried in Toungo according to Islamic rites. He was less than 40 years old when he died. I built an Islamic primary school at his burial site years later to immortalize him. He was a simple, hard working, kind, honest and God-fearing man. I miss him a lot.
After my father’s death, the task of raising me fell on my mother, Kande, and her childless sister, Azumi, as well as my father’s extended family members in Kojoli. Although people were generally kind and caring towards me, it was difficult for relatives to fill the vacuum left by my father. As such, I was often sad and lonely. Father’s death pained me greatly.
I resolved to work hard, remain focused and be successful in life to make my father proud. I was sure that he was somewhere watching over me. I did not want to disappoint him. I wish father had lived long enough to see the benefits of Western education in my life.

HisSexcellency:
Why can't we have better choices for president in Nigeria. Must it be buhari or Atiku for 2019, out of 180million people we can't find credible and intelligent vibrant young man as president. Such a shame

Make no mistake about our choice for Atiku, we are not saying he is the best out of the pack but trust me, as much as this coming elections Favour a Northern candidate, Atiku remains the only Northerner that can face Buhari squarely, money for money, influence for influence, power for power, logistics for logistics, clout for clout. PDP as a party also remains the only party available in opposition that can face APC for now.

Whatever it will take I will personally make sure that what we have been seeing through these online polls are replicated across the Nation during the time of physical elections in February. Buhari must be sent back to Daura

lereinter:
i stand for a right cause

go collect your pvc to allow buhari stay, you will not have problems

I respect your matured response to that Buharist

babasolution:
freemason stooge,he introduced cultism to nigerian youths and was reward with a doctored nobel laureate

Tell us what we don't know please. You mean all his literary works were doctored too?

Behold our own Wole Soyinka seated like a Don, any Nairaland with more radical pictures of this great Nobel Laureate can share.

Finally, here are the two different results from J.J Omojuwa just to make sure Buhari wins in one.

lereinter:
the only reason i got my pvc is to vote out buhari, the tyrannt and agent of suffering...

Please inform your friends and close associates too.

lereinter:
the only reason i got my pvc is to vote out buhari, the tyrannt and agent of suffering...

Please endeavour to disciple as many as possible of your friends and close associates to do the same

To those saying it doesn't matter, below is a screenshot of what J.J. Omojuwa commands on Twitter;

Jasen1:
Where did those stupid 35% came from


It's obvious they don't know what is happening in Nigeria



How come no Igbo name there

I still dey wonder where those miserable 35% came from too but what is important here is that Atiku is flogging Buhari and APC to their own games

Ladies and Gentlemen with *31,185 votes* so far and less than *13 hours (meaning votes end by 4pm today, Tuesday June 5th between a sitting President, Muhammadu Buhari and his most feared challenger at the coming 2019 Presidential Elections, Abubakar Atiku)* I hereby present to the house the results so far from a Twitter page of a popular Buhari Apologist, *J.J Omojuwa* on the percentage of votes garnered so far. Could this be the likely results to expect from the Southwest? As J.J. Omojuwa is largely followed by *Southwesterners*��������


Follow the link ������ and vote
https://twitter.com/Omojuwa/status/1001518814339715072?s=19

*Useful information*
�������

1. *PAN*
Permanent Account Number.

2. *PDF*
Portable Document format.

3. *SIM*
Subscriber Identity Module.

4. *ATM*
Automated Teller Machine.

5. *Wi-Fi*
Wireless Fidelity.

6. *GOOGLE*
Global Organization Of
Oriented Group
Language Of Earth.

7. *YAHOO*
Yet Another Hierarchical
Officious Oracle.

8. *WINDOWS*
Wide Interactive Network
Development for
Office Work Solution.

9. *COMPUTER*
Common
Oriented Machine.
Particularly United
and used under Technical
and Educational Research.

10. *VIRUS*
Vital Information
Resources Under Siege.

11. *UMTS*
Universal
Mobile Telecommunicati ons
System.

12. *AMOLED*
Active-Matrix Organic Light-
Emitting diode.

13. *OLED*
Organic
Light-Emitting diode.

14. *IMEI*
International Mobile
Equipment Identity.

15. *ESN*
Electronic
Serial Number.

16. *UPS*
Uninterruptible
Power Supply.

17. *HDMI*
High-Definition
Multimedia Interface.

18. *VPN*
Virtual Private Network.

19. *APN*
Access Point Name.

20. *LED*
Light Emitting Diode.

21. *DLNA*
Digital
Living Network Alliance.

22. *RAM*
Random Access Memory.

23. *ROM*
Read only memory.

24. *VGA*
Video Graphics Array.

25. *QVGA*
Quarter Video
Graphics Array.

26. *WVGA*
Wide video Graphics Array.

27. *WXGA*
Widescreen Extended
Graphics Array.

28. *USB*
Universal Serial Bus.

29. *WLAN*
Wireless
Local Area Network.

30. *PPI*
Pixels Per Inch.

31. *LCD*
Liquid Crystal Display.

32. *HSDPA*
High Speed Down link
Aacket Access.

33. *HSUPA*
High-Speed Uplink
Packet Access.

34. *HSPA*
High Speed
Packet Access.

35. *GPRS*
General Packet
Radio Service.

36. *EDGE*
Enhanced Data Rates
for Globa Evolution.

37. *NFC*
Near
Field Communication.

38. *OTG*
On-The-Go.

39. *S-LCD*
Super Liquid
Crystal Display.

40. *O.S*
Operating System.

41. *SNS*
Social Network Service.

42. *H.S*
HOTSPOT.

43. *P.O.I*
Point Of Interest.

44. *GPS*
Global
Positioning System.

45. *DVD*
Digital Video Disk.

46. *DTP*
Desk Top Publishing.

47. *DNSE*
Digital
Natural Sound Engine.

48. *OVI*
Ohio Video Intranet.

49. *CDMA*
Code Division
Multiple Access.

50. *WCDMA*
Wide-band Code
Division Multiple Access.

51. *GSM*
Global System
for Mobile Communications.

52. *DIVX*
Digital Internet
Video Access.

53. *APK*
Authenticated
Public Key.

54. *J2ME*
Java 2
Micro Edition.

55. *SIS*
Installation Source.

56. *DELL*
Digital Electronic
Link Library.

57. *ACER*
Acquisition
Collaboration
Experimentation Reflection.

58. *RSS*
Really
Simple Syndication.

59. *TFT*
Thin Film Transistor.

60. *AMR*
Adaptive
Multi-Rate.

61. *MPEG*
Moving Pictures
Experts Group.

62. *IVRS*
Interactive
Voice Response System.

63. *HP*
Hewlett Packard.

*Do we know actual full form of some words*

64. *NEWS PAPER =*
North East West South
Past and Present
Events Report.

65. *CHESS =*
Chariot,
Horse,
Elephant,
Soldiers.

66. *COLD =*
Chronic,
Obstructive,
Lung,
Disease.

67. *JOKE =*
Joy of Kids
Entertainment.

68. *AIM =*
Ambition in Mind

69. *DATE =*
Day and Time Evolution.

70. *EAT =*
Energy and Taste.

71. *TEA =*
Taste and Energy
Admitted.

72. *PEN =*
Power Enriched in Nib.

73. *SMILE =*
Sweet Memories
In Lips Expression.

74. *ETC. =*
End of
Thinking Capacity.

75. *OK =*
Objection Killed.

76. *Or =*
Orl Korec
(Greek Word)

77. *Bye =*♥
Be with You Everytime.

78. *PIN =* Personal Identification Number

*Share these meanings as majority of us don't know*

Wiseandtrue:
How manage How did Buhari get 36%

5 days ago on this same page when NgeneUkwenu was dancing around with this same page, Atiku had 18% to Buhari's 41% but now Nigerians are wiser and this is why NgeneUkwenu is dying inside with rage but pretending to be happy.

NgeneUkwenu:
Because of this:

https://www.buytwitterpollvotes.com

I know you are dying inside with rage on seeing this but just pretending 6 days ago when Buhari was leading I could see the way you were dancing shoki up and down but now you are saying something else. Funny funny identity

Results so far from a poll on whom to vote for in 2019 from the Twitter page of a prominent die hard Buharist

Follow the link ������ and vote
https://twitter.com/Omojuwa/status/1001518814339715072?s=19

abokibuhari:
Don't be surprised Adams won't be the chairman of APC

I think Adams is the necessary evil to destroy Tinubu just watch it, Oyegun is in Oshiomole's camp as a unified force to teach the not too clever but over-hyped Tinubu a lesson he will never forget for the rest of his life!

I knew it that Oyegun will play the spoiler on anything that will Favour Tinubu in APC and from the look of things, a big drama is about to unfold which may likely sink Tinubu's ill-gotten dynasty in the not too far distance. I am laughing in Akproko

Bayo Akinloye's Interview with Atiku In February 2018!

Bayo to Atiku: If elected in 2019 what will be your first action as president? 

Atiku: That is a hypothetical question because I have not declared any ambition to run for president in 2019. However, if what you are proposing should happen, my focus would be on jobs. I have ideas on how to make jobs for all a reality and in God’s good timing, I shall make this public. For now, let me just say that I strongly believe that a man who has no hair cannot lend you a comb. It is wishful thinking to expect a man who is unable to create wealth in his private businesses to create wealth for the public. I have been creating jobs in the private sector for over 30 years. Modesty is my nature and is the tradition with which I was brought up. But personally, the employees in my firms number in the tens of thousands. There is no state in Nigeria that is not represented on our payroll. In essence, my first action would be to remove the impediments that militate against job creation. The budgeting process would be disrupted. No more would recurrent expenditure attract the lion’s share. I would reverse this. We would have a budget heavy on capital expenditure. Roads will be built in every state. Mass housing schemes would pop up in every local government area. Railways will be extended to every state capital. Rivers would be dredged to open up the hinterlands of the North. Licences would be given to state governments to begin immediate exploitation of resources in their jurisdictions. I would turn Nigeria into a massive construction project. I will not be doing this for fun. The purpose would be to get Nigerians working again. If our youths are busy building roads, mass housing, power stations, dams and schools, they will not have time to be Boko Haram, kidnappers and militants. Our youths are some of the most intelligent and innovative youths on planet earth. But if we do not give them positive outlets to express their innate intelligence, we can be sure they would express them negatively. 

Bayo to Atiku: You have been at the forefront of calls for restructuring. Do you really believe in it or you merely see it as a vote-getter in 2019? The truth is: many are skeptical about your position on this. How do you convince them that you are serious about it?

Atiku: I have been a consistent advocate for restructuring since 1995 when I was a member of the National Constitutional Conference. My brother in arms in the push for restructuring was the late Dr. Alex Ekwueme. The idea for the six geopolitical zones is a fruit of our restructuring advocacy from that conference. Rotational presidency was another fruit. If I have been consistent about restructuring since 1995, which is 23 years ago, the question cynics should ask is this: Is it possible for a man to pretend for 23 years? I am passionate about restructuring. I believe in it.

Restructuring does not mean the dismemberment of Nigeria. Rather, it would lead to a more perfect union for all of us. It does not matter what tribe you come from, you have got the identity of a Nigerian. We must get rid of the unhealthy rivalry that exists amongst our people and create in its place pure harmony. But for this to happen we must build true unity with fidelity to the principles espoused by our founding fathers which were the ground upon which Nigeria was built. The reason we have been having these negative disruptions and periodic chaos is because we have drifted away from those ideals that ensured that between 1957 and 1966, Nigeria was one of the most stable and economically prosperous nations in the world.

Harmony does not mean uniformity. This nation is too large and heterogeneous to adopt a one-size-fits-all approach. Rather than force all of our ethnic nationalities to have a uniform voice, I believe that the mark of a true leader is the ability to craft a blend of the various voices within Nigeria into a harmonious tune that produces pleasant music that is conducive to unity. Any forced unity that is not founded on justice is a unity of oil and water. They will never mix. But justice is the bonding agent. The glue, if you will, that binds many pages into one book, and if I were to title that book, I would call it ‘Great Nigeria’.
This is the only motive behind my consistent call for the restructuring of Nigeria. I vividly remember the healthy rivalry that existed amongst the three regions in early pre-independent Nigeria. Unity founded on justice was the reason for that healthy interplay amongst the three regions.

The Western Region was allowed to exploit its resources and they set the pace which was followed and sometimes surpassed by the other regions. Those saying that we should forget our differences and just forge ahead as if they (the differences) do not exist need a reality check from Sir Ahmadu Bello, the late Sardauna of Sokoto. The Right Honourable Nnamdi Azikiwe had told the Sardauna thus: ‘Let us forget our differences’ to which Sir Ahmadu Bello responded as follows: ‘No, let us understand our differences. I am a Muslim and a Northerner. You are a Christian, an Easterner. By understanding our differences, we can build unity in our country’. It is this ‘understanding’ that I am championing, using restructuring as the only vehicle that can bring it about. Without this understanding, we will continue taking one step forward and two steps backwards as our very recent history attests to.

Atiku Abubakar (2018)!

Coming To America: Atiku Visits U.S. This Week …NewsmakersNG’s Exclusive Report

Dupe Olaoye-Osinkolu/

After much ado about Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s avoidance of American trip over the years, the former Vice President of Nigeria and current presidential aspirant is set to visit the United States (U.S.), this week, in a bid to silence his political opponents.

For years, political opponents have dared Atiku to visit the U.S. where they claimed that law enforcement agents are waiting to arrest him over alleged money laundering and other financial crimes.

NewsmakersNG’s Managing Editor in Atlanta Georgia, Mrs Dupe Olaoye-Osinkolu, has however sent a report that preparations are in top gear by various groups and organisations to receive Atiku in the American city this week.

There is no known indictment filed against Atiku in any U.S. court, eight years after a Senate Report in the country detailed money laundering activities against him, including being a recipient of a bribe by Siemens.

The U.S. Senate Permanent sub-committee on Investigations was chaired by Senator Carl Levin.

But U.S. diplomats in Nigeria have said nothing negative about Atiku’s status.

Atiku was not the only foreign Politically Exposed Person (PEP) probed by the committee. Others on the list included Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, now the 48-year-old son of Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mbasogo, the President of Equatorial Guinea, late President of Gabon, Omar Bongo and three Angolan PEP accounts, involving an Angolan arms dealer, an Angolan government official, and a small Angolan private bank.

The committee submitted its report on February 4, 2010; three years after Atiku had left office.

The report allegedly revealed violations of U.S. laws by Atiku and his fourth wife, Jennifer Douglas. It also included revelations about Siemens bribe paid into one of the accounts.

After being taunted for years, Atiku told the Publisher of The Boss Newspapers, Mr Dele Momodu in an interview last December, that he was unable to visit the U.S. because the embassy denied him visa.

The question came up again in a BBC Hausa Service interview in April.

Atiku was asked how he intended to be Nigeria’s president without visiting the U.S.

He told the interviewers that it is not a constitutional provision that one must visit the United States of America before becoming the President of Nigeria.

Atiku, who was Vice President to former President Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999 to 2007, had confirmed that he was denied a U.S. visa when he wanted to travel to that country.

He said that the embassy had told him that his application for visa was denied because it was passing through administrative process.

He also spoke about a mansion linked to him in the U.S., which was allegedly seized and auctioned by the American government.

He said that the house belonged to his wife, Jennifer, adding: “All my wives own houses, and that particular house is not mine. It belonged to one of my wives. She sold the house and it was never auctioned as it was reported.”

The luxury mansion is in the neighborhood of Potomac, Maryland, United States.


The controversial mansion.
The property came into the limelight in 2005, when it was searched by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in connection with a bribery scandal involving a former U.S. Congressman, William Jefferson.

Reports say the seven-bedroom cream-colored single family brick house on 9731 Sorrel Ave, Potomac, Maryland, was originally listed for $3.25 million on Zillow and other online real estate websites on January 25, 2018. It was eventually sold for a pending offer of $2.95 million on February 26, 2018 after an online auction.

Atiku had also caused controversy, when he said that President Muhammadu Buhari was unable to enter the U.S., as well, for 15 years due to ‘religious considerations’.

When Dele Momodu asked him what offence he committed that made him to “run away from the US”, he replied: “It is the sole prerogative of America to determine who they want in their country or not. I’m not running away from America. I applied, but wasn’t issued a visa.”

He said the US did not “categorically” deny him visa rather, “they’ve only said my application is going through administrative process”.

He added, “This is not peculiar to me. For about 15 years, Buhari could not enter America on account of religious considerations.”

Atiku had also cited the case of Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who he said was also unable to enter the US “for years”.

“Today, he (Modi) is being treated to red carpet treatment in America. I fly to different parts of the world, including Europe, if America wanted me, it would be so easy for them to reach out to their allies,” he said.

When contacted, the coordinator, Atiku Campaign Organisation (ACO), Otunba Gbenga Daniel said that plans on the visit had not been concluded because Atiku went on Lesser Hajj – Umrah.

http://www.newsmakersng.com/coming-to-america-atiku-visits-u-s-this-week-newsmakersngs-exclusive-report/

"Are the writings of the Apostle Paul inspired (see 1 Corinthians 7:12)?

The bulk of conservative evangelical Christianity believes in what is called the verbal plenary inspiration of Scripture, meaning that every single word of the Bible is “breathed out” by God (2 Timothy 3:16). If biblical critics can claim that 1 Corinthians 7:12 is not inspired, but rather Paul’s opinion, what other passages could they claim to be the opinion of the human author and not the commands of the divine Author? This strikes at the very heart of biblical authority.

Paul wrote this first letter to a group of Christians dwelling in the city of Corinth, a very corrupt city. Part of that corruption was due to the temple of Aphrodite, which was home to over 1,000 temple prostitutes who plied their trade on behalf of their deity. It was in this setting that Paul founded the church at Corinth. In fact, many of the congregation came out of the immoral Corinthian lifestyle. The church of Corinth was made up of ex-fornicators, ex-idolaters, ex-adulterers, ex-homosexuals, ex-thieves, and ex-drunkards.

With that as a backdrop, when Paul gets into chapter 7 of his letter, he is answering a question the church had regarding sexual relations between men and women. Given the social climate in Corinth, the Corinthians thought it would be a good thing for everyone to remain celibate. Paul agrees that celibacy is a good thing and even states that he wishes more people could be celibate as he was. Paul is not down on marriage. All he is doing is stating the obvious benefits that singleness affords for ministry opportunities. However, Paul mentions that singleness is a gift from God, and not all have the gift (v. 7). For those who are currently married, Paul tells them to remain so, and in v. 10 Paul says “not I, but the Lord.” This means that what Paul is telling the Corinthians is a direct command from Jesus. This command comes from Jesus’ teaching in the gospels, in particular, Matthew 5:32. 

Finally, in v. 12, Paul addresses “mixed marriages”—those between a Christian and a non-Christian. Given the prevailing environment, Christians might be tempted to divorce their unbelieving spouses, thinking that somehow by doing so they are purifying themselves. Paul tells the believing spouse to remain with the unbeliever, with the comment that the command comes from him, not Jesus. But Paul is not offering his own opinion here. What he is saying is that Jesus never addressed this issue directly during His earthly ministry. If we search the Gospels, we will not see any direct teaching of Jesus that addresses the situation of a believing spouse married to an unbelieving spouse. But Jesus did give only one legitimate reason for divorce (Matthew 5:32; 19:19), and being married to an unbeliever was not it. 

So the best answer is to see Paul as providing new revelation regarding an area that Jesus did not specifically address. That is why Paul says, “I, not the Lord.” In other words, I, not Jesus, am giving you this command, although it is based on the principles Jesus taught. As extensive as Jesus’ ministry was, He did not articulate everything regarding the Christian life. That is why He commissioned the apostles to carry on His ministry after His ascension, and that is why we have a God-breathed Bible, “so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:17). Paul was responsible for much new revelation, although ultimately those revelations came from the Holy Spirit. In many of his epistles, Paul reveals to us “mystery.” The word “mystery” is a technical term that signifies some previously unrevealed truth that is now revealed, such as the church being made up of both Jews and Gentiles (Romans 11:25) or the rapture (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). Paul is simply giving us additional revelation regarding marriage that Jesus didn’t elaborate on.

Apostle Paul said so many things that seems to go against some established order especially on the issue of "Women Preaching in Church", God used Debirah, Naomi, Martha, Mary etc in place of leaderships and I keep wondering why Paul the Apostle will go against women to be silent in Church when God dowsn't discriminate.

Opinions and robust contributions please