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news
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Corruption: I’m ready
for trial – Obasanjo
Friday, 20 Mar 2009 |
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By Emeka Madunagu, Hamed Shobiye and Segun
Olugbile
Culled from Punch |
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday said
he would be willing to stand trial for corruption if
invited.
Speaking on the British Broadcasting Corporation’s
Hard Talk programme monitored in Lagos, he
challenged those accusing him and his family of
corrupt acts to provide the evidence.
Obasanjo, who was visibly agitated at the
interviewer’s reference to links made to him and his
family in various probes at the National Assembly,
the Nigerian media and in the United States,
described the allegations as “nonsense.”
Asked if he was ready to face trial for corruption
and alleged kickbacks, Obasanjo replied, “Very, very
much so. Very much so.”
He added, “And if you have any evidence, please show
it to me and I will defend myself anywhere in the
world. It is absolute nonsense, with all due
respect.
“I am the only leader in Nigeria that has been
examined and reported upon by the anti-corruption
bodies in Nigeria. I am the only one.”
At a point during the interview, Obasanjo accused
the host of making personal allegations against him
and said he was taking undue advantage of the
setting of the interview.
In response to a question that his successor,
President Umaru Yar’Adua, had accused the Nigerian
elite of sustaining endemic corruption in the
country, Obasanjo said the President should also be
held liable since he was part of the elite.
The former president said that under his
administration, top officials linked to corruption
were brought to trial while some were convicted.
However, he stated that a glaring instance was the
alleged link of his former deputy, Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar, to the corruption probe of an erstwhile US
Congressman, Mr.William Jefferson.
He said he would not take responsibility for the
alleged involvement of his eldest daughter, Senator
Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, because she was old enough to
answer for herself.
The former President also rejected the notion that
Nigeria had failed to utilise its oil wealth and
other opportunities to attain true greatness.
He acknowledged that there had been lapses in
governance, but noted that they would be corrected
in time to come.
Obasanjo said he fought corruption by setting up two
anti-graft agencies, a unique feat worldwide,
according to him. He said his administration’s hard
stance on corruption attracted commendation from the
London Metropolitan Police.
He, however, declined to assess Yar‘Adua, saying it
was too soon to do so.
Pressed further, Obasanjo said, ”I know that this
man (Yar‘Adua) to the best of my knowledge, for now,
is a good person. But he himself knows that being a
good person alone does not make you an effective,
successful and great president. You need much more
than that.”
Below are excerpts from the interview:
Let us talk about justice and accountability in a
more personal setting. And let’s bring the
conversation to Nigeria. I’ve looked across the
Nigerian press, I’ve listened to people from the
National Assembly and I’ve also looked at some
records coming out of the courts in your country and
America as well and they are serious allegations
concerning you and your family on corruption and
kickbacks. Are you prepared to face those charges
and to give a full account…
Very, very much so. Very much so. And if you have
any evidence, please show it to me and I will defend
myself anywhere in the world. It’s absolute
nonsense, with all due respect. I am the only leader
in Nigeria that has been examined and reported upon
by the anti-corruption bodies in Nigeria. I am the
only one.
When your successor (Yar’Adua) took over, he
described corruption as very endemic and he said it
was the country’s elite that was responsible.
He (Yar’Adua) is one of them.
One of what?
He is one of Nigeria’s elite.
Of course, he is. And he said that as he took over
and looked at what was happening inside government,
there is corruption to the very top. It doesn’t
reflect well on you.
If he said that, did he mention Obasanjo? Did he
mention Obasanjo?
But, you were the President?
I am (was) the President.
You were the President and you were responsible for
the governance of your country.
But I am not responsible for the corruption of every
Nigerian.
Not every Nigerian but you were in the end, the
chief executive of a country which your successor
said was endemically corrupt.
Please, please, please, you have made strong
allegations against me personally and against my
family…(Almost rising out of his seat in anger and
pointing his fore finger at the interviewer).
I’m coming to that…
…and you have no way to substantiate it.
Substantiate it. And if not that this is something
where you are taking undue advantage, I would have
even said that I would go beyond here.
Now, let’s talk specifically, then.
Yes.
Halliburton and various Halliburton subsidiaries
have paid vast amounts of money in fines in the US
because of bribes paid out to Nigerian officials. If
one takes the testimony…
Are those Nigerian officials, am I one of them?
(Pointing at the interviewer).
Let’s talk about that. Albert Jack Stanley confessed
last year to bribing, and this is according to US
court documents and quote, “three successive holders
of a top level office in the executive branch of the
Nigerian government. He negotiated with these
executive office-holders’ representatives regarding
the amount of bribes. Now, if one cross-checks that…
Who are they? Who are they?
I’m coming to that. If one cross-checks that with
the testimony before a French prosecutor, Jeffrey
Tesler, another Halliburton agent involved, I’m sure
you know these names…
Yes, yes…
He named you as one of three Nigerian successive
heads of state who had been involved in negotiations
with the Halliburton subsidiaries which were later,
in a US court, found guilty of bribery and
corruption on a massive scale.
Tesler would never say that.
It’s in the French records.
Let Tesler bring that out. By the time you say that
somebody is guilty of corruption, there must be the
giver, there must be the taker and there must be the
evidence.
Did you have any communication with Jeffrey Tesler?
No.
Never?
No, absolutely not. Not me personally.
As you know, he has been arrested and the US is now
seeking his extradition. Are you worried about what
he may say in a US court?
I am not worried. He will bring evidence. I am not
worried. I am very, very sure of my position and my
stand. Alright. I do not say that people in my
government were not corrupt but I am not corrupt.
Let me stop you just there. Are you saying that
people in your government were corrupt?
Of course. Are you saying that the people in the
government of any country are not corrupt?
I’m talking about senior people. I’m talking about
ministers, I’m talking about your closest allies. Do
you now believe that some of them were corrupt?
Well, my then vice-president (Atiku Abubakar) had
something to do with Jefferson, which is part of the
case in America. I don’t know whether corruption has
been proved or not but he had questions to answer.
Isn’t this a terrible failing? Well, leave aside,
perhaps, the courts to decide whether you personally
can be held for all this. But do you accept that it
was a terrible failing for you as president to see
inside your government, at the very top of your
government, according to your own successor, that
there was rampant corruption?
I do not accept that. If in any government somebody
is found to be corrupt, the onus lies on the head of
that government to bring that man to book. When I
was the head of government, there was no case of
corruption against any minister, any high government
official that…
But that sort of system doesn’t work?
No, I don’t agree with you.
But corruption was prevalent inside your country
when you were President and yet, not one senior
official inside your government has been convicted
of serious corruption.
I do not agree with you. You don’t have your facts
right. In my government, three ministers were
charged to court. In fact, one died in the process.
The (former) Inspector-General of Police (Mr. Tafa
Balogun) was charged and convicted. The then
President of the Senate, in my own party (Adolphus
Wabara) was charged to court. A minister of
education was charged to court.
However, allegations against Obasanjo and those of
some of his family members are many. They include
his purchase of 200 million shares in Transcorp
through a blind trust, landed property in Abuja, and
the use of executive powers to organise a fundraiser
where about N7bn was realised for the construction
of the controversial Presidential Library located in
Abeokuta, Ogun State.
His government was alleged to have sold off assets
of the Federal Government to his cronies as well as
expended over $13bn on the power sector without
consumerate result.
Obasanjo’s daughter, Iyabo, is currently facing
trial for her involvement in a N3.5bn power project
involving an Austrian firm, M.C Schneider and for
her role in a N10m unspent budget fund in the
Federal Ministry of Health.
Some Nigerians, political parties, and
non-governmental organisations had stridently called
on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and
the Indepenent Corrupt practices and Other Related
Offences Commission to probe Obasanjo and his
administration.
At the forefront of the call is the Coalition
Against Corrupt Leaders which had last year filed a
petition before the EFCC demanding the probe of the
former President.
But the anti-graft agencies and the Federal
Government had insisted that they needed ‘concrete’
facts before they could carry out such a task.
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