Former President Olusegun
Obasanjo has yet again opened up
over the estranged relationship
between him and his former
deputy, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,
saying that despite the fact that the
latter was corrupt during their
regime, he (Obasanjo) had to take
him along for his second term in
office in 2007 due to expediency.
“At that time, politically, I needed
to carry him (Atiku) along but then
to put him in check,” said
Obasanjo.
Obasanjo, who said that he was
unaware of Atiku’s activities until
law enforcement agencies in
America alerted his government,
however, confessed that he could
not in good conscience ask that his
deputy be investigated then.
He, however, said he could not
ignore the calls by the Americans
to investigate the ex-vice president,
which the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) did
then.
The ex-president added that the
allegations by the Americans were
justified since Atiku is a fugitive in
United States.
“I don’t know if he can go to
America…He travels? Travels to
where? To Dubai? Let him go to
America and return to Nigeria”.
He also took a swipe at the same
EFCC, saying that the commission
had lost its original vision of a bold
and fearless agency capable of
fighting economic and financial
crimes in the country.
Obasanjo made this criticism in an
interview published in the current
and special edition of Zero
Tolerance magazine, a publication
of the anti-graft agency to mark its
10th year anniversary.
Obasanjo also denied ever
prompting Ribadu to investigate
anybody for political reasons but
he was quick to admit that Ribadu
went haywire.
The ex-president also faulted the
choice of Mrs. Faridi Waziri to
head the commission after its
pioneer chair, Nuhu Ribadu, was
unceremoniously removed by the
late Ptresident Yar’Adua, saying she
did not have the cognate experience
and connection needed for the
position.
Talking about Nigeria’s position on
global corruption index before and
now, he said: “There was a lot of
work that was done to achieve that
feat (moving from position number
2 to 45). I think we have come
down to only being above 34
countries; that shows that there
must be a lot that the EFCC should
be doing that they are not
doing.When you have gone that far
down, it becomes very difficult to
climb again.”
“I had the vision of an EFCC that
will be fearless, bold, untied to the
apron strings of the executive,
legislature or anybody for that
matter, and Ribadu was bold,
fearless. I never told him this is the
one you should pursue and
investigate.
“When I was personally accused, I
sent the mail to EFCC and to ICPC. I
asked him to carry out clinical
investigation, leave nothing out,
and they did. And EFCC of my
dream carried it out; that is the
type of EFCC that I want,” said the
ex-president.
Also recalling events leading to the
build-up to the 2007 general
elections, Obasanjo said: “He
(Ribadu) brought a report to me
and said these people are corrupt;
how can I, in my position, receive
a report that said these people were
corrupt.
“I didn’t ask him to carry out an
investigation. He even came out
and said he had found 28 governors
as corrupt and later on,
unfortunately, Ribadu hobnobbed
with one of the governors he had
found corrupt and that is where
things started going haywire,”
Obasanjo said.
He, who said Ribadu did very well
until he lost his direction when he
(Obasanjo) left, however, faulted
the way he was kicked out of office
and declared if given the
opportunity he (Obasanjo) would
re-appoint Ribadu as EFCC chair
and warn him to desist from
corrupt company.
“He did so well that he became a
threat even to the incoming
administration; that’s what
happened. He was so successful that
his success began to be a problem
for him,” he added.
On why Ribadu’s successor was a
wrong choice, Obasanjo said he
learnt that it was a now convicted
governor who scouted for her for
the late Yar’Adua administration.
“I know that the woman they
brought to replace Ribadu (Farida
Waziri) was not the right person
for that job, because I understood
that one of those who head-hunted
her was James Ibori. If James Ibori
who is now in a UK Prison for
fraud head-hunts somebody who
will fight corruption in Nigeria,
then you can understand what
happened,” said the ex-president.
Waziri, however, in the same
edition of the magazine, denied
ever knowing ex-governor Ibori
until she met him after her
appointment at the presidential
villa during one of her routine
visits to President Yar’Adua.
“I never knew him. I never knew
James Ibori. When I was appointed,
I went to the Villa very often
because the president called his
staff and told them Farida has free
access to him 24/7, whether in the
office or villa. So I went there very
often and I met Ibori; he was
always there,” Waziri said.
She said the Ibori toga probably
stuck to her through a former
minister of justice, Michael Kaase
Aondoka, who she called her
“younger brother” on account of
hailing from the same local
government area in Benue State
who, she said, was close to Ibori.
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