Fall of Bode George, other Obasanjo men
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- Written by Daniel Ochenelu
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The conviction of Chief Bode George, a leading PDP figure in the Southwest and the former Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) along with some key board members, including his Managing Director, Alhaji Aminu Dabo, has once again exposed the level of hypocrisy under former President Obasanjo in his so-called commitment to eradicate corruption in Nigeria. Bode George and key members of his board were sentenced to 28 years imprisonment each for stealing public funds to the tune of N85 billion through illegal contract inflation and splitting.
In fact, former President Obasanjo once attempted to frustrate the NPA corruption investigation against Bode George and others. When former EFCC Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu investigated Bode George and others and found them culpable, former President Obasanjo dismissed the findings as inconclusive.
Consequently, he ordered Ribadu to carry out another investigation, which apparently was intended to let Bode George off the hook. And as suspected, the second report automatically cleared Bode George, which gave him the impunity to even sue a newsmagazine for libel after it published the original report of his indictment.
Considering the efforts made by Obasanjo to frustrate any investigation that might exposedthe clay feet of Bode George, it was clear to most Nigerians that his anti-corruption crusade was a mere hot air. Nuhu Ribadu himself started to read Obasanjo’s body language and drew a line of how far he could go after high profile criminals. If Obasanjo had been in power to this point, nobody could have dared to arrest Bode George, Fani Kayode, Chief Babalola Borishade and Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello. Such was the level of hypocrisy that characterized the leadership of former President Obasanjo.
While he was in power, Obasanjo acted like a moral champion Emeritus who condemned corruption with the deepest level of anger and disdain. For example, he frequently attacked the late Gen. Sani Abacha for corruption and embarked upon his so-called recovery of the money he allegedly stole while in office. Billions were said to have been recovered yet Nigerians cannot tell where all these looted funds went into! And nobody asked Obasanjo to account for these funds. Obasanjo was a double tragedy for Nigerians because it was a case of large-scale stealing and non-performance at the same time.
The level of corruption under Obasanjo was unprecedented and despite the incredible oil revenues that came to his administration, the performance of his government was below average. Poverty, unemployment, insecurity, public infrastructure collapse, hunger and disease got worse under him.
Not a few Nigerian can fail to recall the level of double standards under Obasanjo. Corruption became a trillion naira language under him and the former ICPC Chairman, Justice Mustapha Akanbi said he didn’t want a second term because apparently he was not ready for the frustration and insincerity involved in the war against corruption.
During his eight-year tenure, former President Obasanjo was the de facto Minister of petroleum with absolute control over the NNPC where transparency was regarded as a dirty word. He frustrated every effort by the National Assembly to carry out its oversight functions over the NNPC. The NNPC and Customs are Siamese twins of corruption but nobody dared asked questions about how the oil corporation activities were being run.
With the emergence of Yar’adua as President, the National Assembly has now recovered its voice and courage by exposing the dirty deals in the activities of the NNPC. The power contracts scandal, which is now dragging Nigerian’s efforts to achieve regular power supply, is another shocking evidence of the level of hypocrisy of Obasanjo’s anti-corruption crusade. Corruption assumed such a big scale under Obasanjo that one billion naira no longer excites thieving public office holders. It is now a multi-billion naira business in which one man will see nothing wrong in stealing N17 billion!
What remains surprising to most Nigerians, however, is the fact that nobody has the guts to call Obasanjo to account over NNPC and the power contracts scandal. Apart from protecting corrupt officials in his good books, the former President has many questions to answer about his own conduct in office. Does the code of conduct Bureau mean to tell us that Obasanjo’s current incredible wealth is consistent with his near bankruptcy status after leaving prison in 1998? Why should a former President who introduced the war against corruption be afraid to declare his assets in public when he was leaving office? Even if the constitution didn’t require him to do so, Nigerians would have expected him to go the extra mile of setting a precedent for public declaration of assets as a moral imperative. He was afraid to do so because he himself would be hard put to convincingly to explain the sources of his current unbelievable wealth.
Can President Yar’adua afford to risk his own reputation by over-protecting Obasanjo from scrutiny? Former President Obasanjo must be subjected to the same moral standard he held others. He no longer enjoys immunity and it will be a great scandal to let the level of corruption perpetrated under him to go unpunished. It is not enough to jail Bode George and others unless the EFCC takes the bull by the horns to treat the petition written against Obasanjo with all seriousness.
Ochenelu writes from No. 18B, Otukpo,
Benue State
Articles
Fall of Bode George, other Obasanjo men
Category: Comments Written by Daniel Ochenelu Hits: 959
The conviction of Chief Bode George, a leading PDP figure in the Southwest and the former Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) along with some key board members, including his Managing Director, Alhaji Aminu Dabo, has once again exposed the level of hypocrisy under former President Obasanjo in his so-called commitment to eradicate corruption in Nigeria. Bode George and key members of his board were sentenced to 28 years imprisonment each for stealing public funds to the tune of N85 billion through illegal contract inflation and splitting.
In fact, former President Obasanjo once attempted to frustrate the NPA corruption investigation against Bode George and others. When former EFCC Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu investigated Bode George and others and found them culpable, former President Obasanjo dismissed the findings as inconclusive.
Consequently, he ordered Ribadu to carry out another investigation, which apparently was intended to let Bode George off the hook. And as suspected, the second report automatically cleared Bode George, which gave him the impunity to even sue a newsmagazine for libel after it published the original report of his indictment.
Considering the efforts made by Obasanjo to frustrate any investigation that might exposedthe clay feet of Bode George, it was clear to most Nigerians that his anti-corruption crusade was a mere hot air. Nuhu Ribadu himself started to read Obasanjo’s body language and drew a line of how far he could go after high profile criminals. If Obasanjo had been in power to this point, nobody could have dared to arrest Bode George, Fani Kayode, Chief Babalola Borishade and Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello. Such was the level of hypocrisy that characterized the leadership of former President Obasanjo.
While he was in power, Obasanjo acted like a moral champion Emeritus who condemned corruption with the deepest level of anger and disdain. For example, he frequently attacked the late Gen. Sani Abacha for corruption and embarked upon his so-called recovery of the money he allegedly stole while in office. Billions were said to have been recovered yet Nigerians cannot tell where all these looted funds went into! And nobody asked Obasanjo to account for these funds. Obasanjo was a double tragedy for Nigerians because it was a case of large-scale stealing and non-performance at the same time.
The level of corruption under Obasanjo was unprecedented and despite the incredible oil revenues that came to his administration, the performance of his government was below average. Poverty, unemployment, insecurity, public infrastructure collapse, hunger and disease got worse under him.
Not a few Nigerian can fail to recall the level of double standards under Obasanjo. Corruption became a trillion naira language under him and the former ICPC Chairman, Justice Mustapha Akanbi said he didn’t want a second term because apparently he was not ready for the frustration and insincerity involved in the war against corruption.
During his eight-year tenure, former President Obasanjo was the de facto Minister of petroleum with absolute control over the NNPC where transparency was regarded as a dirty word. He frustrated every effort by the National Assembly to carry out its oversight functions over the NNPC. The NNPC and Customs are Siamese twins of corruption but nobody dared asked questions about how the oil corporation activities were being run.
With the emergence of Yar’adua as President, the National Assembly has now recovered its voice and courage by exposing the dirty deals in the activities of the NNPC. The power contracts scandal, which is now dragging Nigerian’s efforts to achieve regular power supply, is another shocking evidence of the level of hypocrisy of Obasanjo’s anti-corruption crusade. Corruption assumed such a big scale under Obasanjo that one billion naira no longer excites thieving public office holders. It is now a multi-billion naira business in which one man will see nothing wrong in stealing N17 billion!
What remains surprising to most Nigerians, however, is the fact that nobody has the guts to call Obasanjo to account over NNPC and the power contracts scandal. Apart from protecting corrupt officials in his good books, the former President has many questions to answer about his own conduct in office. Does the code of conduct Bureau mean to tell us that Obasanjo’s current incredible wealth is consistent with his near bankruptcy status after leaving prison in 1998? Why should a former President who introduced the war against corruption be afraid to declare his assets in public when he was leaving office? Even if the constitution didn’t require him to do so, Nigerians would have expected him to go the extra mile of setting a precedent for public declaration of assets as a moral imperative. He was afraid to do so because he himself would be hard put to convincingly to explain the sources of his current unbelievable wealth.
Can President Yar’adua afford to risk his own reputation by over-protecting Obasanjo from scrutiny? Former President Obasanjo must be subjected to the same moral standard he held others. He no longer enjoys immunity and it will be a great scandal to let the level of corruption perpetrated under him to go unpunished. It is not enough to jail Bode George and others unless the EFCC takes the bull by the horns to treat the petition written against Obasanjo with all seriousness.
Ochenelu writes from No. 18B, Otukpo,
Benue State