Wikileaks and our clay-footed moral giants
Appalled by the widening distance between our so-called democratically elected leaders and the brazen hypocrisy in the war against corruption, Nigerians are rapidly losing faith in the system, leading to a state of anomie. Former President Obasanjo who seemed to have fought corruption with so much razzmatazz is now being revealed in his own true […]
Appalled by the widening distance between our so-called democratically elected leaders and the brazen hypocrisy in the war against corruption, Nigerians are rapidly losing faith in the system, leading to a state of anomie. Former President Obasanjo who seemed to have fought corruption with so much razzmatazz is now being revealed in his own true colours by his own formidably loyal former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu.
Wikileaks, which has now become like a wasp in the pants of our leaders, said the former EFCC chairman had told the former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Robin Sanders, that General Obasanjo was “clever” enough to cover up his tracks while his administration was railroading other people to jail. By this account, Ribadu was admitting that he was privately convinced that the former president was not whiter than white as he appeared in the eyes of many gullible Nigerians.
Despite his misgivings, however, Nuhu Ribadu couldn’t have openly called Obasanjo a thief, as he did to former President Babangida and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. At the instigation of Obasanjo, Nuhu Ribadu and the EFCC operatives invaded the offices of former Bank PHB in Lagos and Abuja in search of Atiku’s “stolen” billions. In fact, Ribadu was also a member of the so-called administrative panel established by Obasanjo to drive a nail into Atiku’s political coffin over his alleged corruption at the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF.
As it turned out, however, as is the case with anything founded on insincerity, the PTDF was Pandora’s Box that exposed the cloven hooves of Obasanjo’s cronies who had used the resources of the funds outside their intended purposes. It is also interesting that until he left office, rather unceremoniously, Nuhu Ribadu didn’t tell Nigerians these findings after his gung-ho invasion of former Bank PHB to “recover” Atiku’s “stolen” billions. Any damaging finding as a result of that barbarian invasion of the bank’s premises could have been readily used by Obasanjo in his determination to jail Atiku Abubakar.
It is, therefore, ironic that the same Nuhu Ribadu that once stuck his neck for Obasanjo’s impregnable incorruptibility could turn around to admit that Obasanjo was covering his own tracks. General T.Y. Danjuma once told the Guardian newspaper in an interview that Obasanjo was “stone broke” when he came out of jail as a sorry, broken figure, who had to be financially rehabilitated by friends. Atiku Abubakar and Otunba Fasawe saved Obasanjo by the bell when they paid his debt of two million naira. That bankruptcy baggage could have led to Obasanjo’s disqualification to contest election in 1999. According to record, former President Obasanjo had only N20, 000 in his assets declaration form at the Code of Conduct Bureau. And just recently, a report written by former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. John Campbell, alleged that Obasanjo’s chick farm was making more than 250,000 USD monthly after Obasanjo became a president. If we can recall, Chief Femi Fani –Kayode, former President Obasanjo’s Special Adviser on Public Communication, himself publicly admitted that his boss was making N30million naira monthly. He didn’t, however, reveal the secret behind his sudden and unbelievable profitability by Otta farms. Obasanjo’s businesses were struggling to survive while he was in jail and for General Danjuma to describe Obasanjo as “stone broke,” many Nigerians cannot be convinced by any explanation for this stupendous wealth.
In contrast, Atiku Abubakar did not come into office as Vice President as a bankrupt politician who had to be propped up on the crutches of friends’ good will to find his feet. He had been managing his businesses successfully. Yet, he became the main target of Obasanjo’s anti-corruption crusade because he refused to endorse the third term agenda of his boss. Atiku Abubakar is arguably the most investigated politician to the best of our recollection. As Ribadu’s Wikileaks admission revealed, Obasanjo is like a king that decreed against sleeping but was caught snoozing! Considering the badge of corruption, which former President Obasanjo had hung on Atiku’s neck, Nigerians would not have expected Atiku to survive the recent revelations of corruption and abandonment of due process into the privatization exercise. Privatization is the biggest open day robbery against Nigerians. Atiku was removed as the chairman of the privatization council to apparently “clean up” the process. On the contrary, however, his removal paved the way for corruption and disregard for due process, including a bidder offering bribes to under-value a public enterprise. In fact, some acquired public assets with fake papers and at throw-away prices.
With the kind of dirty image of corruption deliberately built around Atiku by Obasanjo, one would have expected the former Vice President to dominate corruption scandals in the Wikileaks dossier. Ribadu’s confessions about Obasanjo’s methods of covering his tracks is a revelation to gullible Nigerians who were misled into the belief Obasanjo and his men were in government to serve but Atiku “was there to steal”. The smear campaign against the former vice president is so deep-rooted that many could have him expected to be exposed in the Wikileaks accounts of dirty secrets of leaders around the world. General Obasanjo is a multibillionaire today and it remains incredible to many Nigerians why he refused to declare his assets while leaving office. Is his newfound wealth so incredible that he finds it difficult to reconcile it with his financial status before becoming a president in 1999? Hypocrisy has a short life span; it has incredible ephemerality. Atiku came up the way, struggling to pull himself to become financially independent. Surviving the vilification of corruption is a feat under a stubbornly vindictive boss. Wikileaks may lack accuracy for details but the substance of its revelations will go a long way to explain why hypocrisy may undermine the anti-corruption crusade.
Zanna wrote from Abuja