OBASANJO HAS NO MORAL JUSTIFICATION TO CRITICIZE GOODLUCK JONATHAN NOT TALKING OF OPPOSING HIM TO CONTEST 2015 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. OBASANJO PART OF NIGERIA,S PROBLEMS - KALU Posted by: niyi on January 20, 2014 in INFORMATION NIGERIA. To buttress Kalu,s assertion, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo, first child of former president Obasanjo described her father in the 11-page letter dated 16th Dec. 2013 exclusively obtained by Vanguard as a liar, manipulator, two-faced hypocrite. In continuation, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo said Obasanjo and his cronies have left the country worse than they met it at their births in the 1930,s and 1940,s. Former Abia State governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu has called for the arrest and prosecution of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, whom he called part of Nigeria’s problems, alleging that he started active corruption in Nigeria’s political circle. Speaking yesterday at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Dr. Kalu pointed out that he wonders why former President Obasanjo was still walking the streets free, stressing that after the reply of his letter by President Goodluck Jonathan, he (Obasanjo) should have been arrested and prosecuted. Kalu noted that the $16billion power sector fraud was done by ex-President Obasanjo, affirming that he could not even show good leadership as President during his tenure, adding that he used his position to fight political enemies. “Well, let me tell you, Obasanjo is part of the problems of this country. The earlier he goes back to his farm the better. He caused all the problems that we are going through. He was worse than Jonathan and any other president of this country. “In 1999 when he was elected President, instead of giving leadership, he went to fight political war. The goodwill this country had, he squandered it, and this is what we are suffering from today because if he had given qualitative leadership without pursuing political enemies, we would have grown,” Kalu said. MILITARY TOGA, GREATEST FAILURE OF OBASANJO,S ADMINISTRATION - EZEKWESILI. January 18, 2014 by Success Nwogu A former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, has said that using military approach to solve national developmental needs is the greatest mistake of the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. THIRD TERM AGENDA OF OBASANJO How can Oluṣẹgun Mathew Okikiọla Arẹmu Ọbasanjọ, GCFR who ruled Nigeria as a military ruler from 13 February 1976 to 1 October 1979 (3 YRS, 7 MONTHS & 17 DAYS)..., ruled as a democratically elected president from 29 May 1999 to 28 May 2003 first term, then ruled for second term from 29 May 2003 to 29 May 2007 and fought desperately to rule for third term but was disappointed, now kick against and oppose Jonathan,s second term? Senator Iyabo Obasanjo also accused her father of orchestrating a third ter agenda for himself as president and that Obasanjo was the brain behind the third term debacle though his outward attitude to Nigerians was that he was not interested in the third term and that it was others pushing it. In 1999 when IBB, ABDUSALLAM and ATIKU invited him to contest, he did promise to rule for one term as he was just from prison. Obasanjo did not rule for one term but contested and ruled for second time and lobbied seriously for third term but failed. Obasanjo should not sabotage Jonathan,s intention to contest 2015 Presidential elections because he is eligible and legally qualified to contest. OBASANJO IS THE MOST CORRUPT NIGERIAN - LATE CHIEF GANI FAWEHINMI Posted: June 1, 2007 To me, Obasanjo is the most corrupt Nigerian. Obasanjo,s regime will go down in history as the most corrupt regime in the history of this country in the sense that no regime ever made so much money as was made under Obasanjo’s regime. It got to a point that the price of one barrel of crude oil was fetching $70 and Nigeria at that time was producing 3,150,000 (three million, one hundred and fifty thousand) barrels per day. As we talk, the Federal Government is making more than N200,000,000 (two hundred million dollars) everyday, including Sunday. The more money the Obasanjo regime made the poorer the Nigerian people became. And the more money the Obasanjo regime made, the richer a few people became, including Mr. President himself. OBJ IS A FAILURE. Ebun Adegboruwa, a Lagos-based lawyer, in an interview with OLUSOLA OLAOSEBIKAN brands President Olusegun Obasanjo a failure. Obasanjo,s administration between 1999 - 2007, came to fritter the resources of Nigeria, an administration that came to squander the confidence of Nigerians, an administration that came to impose a culture of violence and lawlessness, a culture of official corruption. But I think on the other hand too, economically, it was a regime that came to empower its own friends, captains of industry whom he promoted to appropriate the collective wealth of the people in the name of commercialisation, privatisation and all the rest. OBASANJO INSTITUTIONALISED CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA - YAKASSAI Sunday, 14 November 2010 The maniac for corruption in government in a massive scale started from Murtala/Obasanjo’s regime. Fortunately or unfortunately for this country, it has never witnessed massive stealing of the highest magnitude as we have witnessed during the second coming of Obasanjo. I’m talking of 1999 to 2007. If you listen to the revelation of colossal amount of money that was wasted or stolen as was revealed in the power probe of the House of Representatives and also the stealing in the Education Trust Fund that nobody would ever dream that people can commit such crimes and go away with it. Come down to the state governors, you would hear that a governor misappropriated billions of naira from the state. Look at the Halliburton incidence. CORRUPTION WAS MORE PRONOUNCED UNDER FORMER PRESIDENT OLUSEGUN OBASANJO THAN UNDER THE LATE MILITARY DICTATOR, GEN SANI ABACHA - MALLAM NUHU RIBADU Former Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, said corruption was more pronounced under former President Olusegun Obasanjo than under the late military dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha. In one of the US embassy cables released by whistleblower, WikiLeaks, Ribadu reportedly said this during a four-hour discussion he had with a former US Ambassador to Nigeria, Robin Sanders, on December 29, 2007. The meeting was said to have been held at Sanders’ residence in the wake of the transfer of the then EFCC helmsman to the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, near Jos in 2007, for further studies. “Although he created the EFCC and understood its importance for him with the international community, Ribadu explained, that by far and even more than the Abacha days where he (Abacha) was the sole thief, corruption under Obasanjo’s eight years was far worse, because everyone stole. COL UMAR ON OBASANJO AND CORRUPTION - Politics - Nairaland All the promises of Obasanjo in his May 29 1999 inaugural speech have been observed in the breach. It is said that Nigeria earned more revenue in Obasanjos eight year reign than all the remaining period of its existence since amalgamation in 1914. In spite of this none of his 18 point agenda has been successfully completed. The only evidence of this stupendous national wealth is the presence of a few bunch of billionaires created by the Obasanjos economic reform policies. Those who rose from rags to scandalous riches through cronyism. It was through a business environment which enabled them to steal public assets, win contracts without recourse to due process and evade payment of taxes. The evidence is also seen in Obasanjos metamorphosis from a near bankrupt farmer to the richest African living or dead and one of the richest persons in the world with an estimated personal fortune of over S20 billion, a far cry from the N20)000 he declared on the eve of his first election in 1999. To verify the above claims Nigerians should consider the following assets owned by the former president. Ota farm worth billions of Naira. Obasanjo is the proud owner of Bells secondary school and University. Obasanjo has many other farms in many parts of the country. Obasanjo is a major share holder in many companies including the largest company in Africa, TRANSCORP, where he owns 200 million shares worth billions of naira. Ownership of large shares in Banks. Ownership of palaces in many parts of the country. Ownership of many landed properties in Abuja including a palace currently under construction by an Italian company. Ownership of five star hotel under construction in Abeokuta: Ogun State. Chief Orji Kalu had testified to Obasanjos ownership of a huge foreign account. The Federal Government may wish to search in the Carribean countries where it is believed, he maintains such accounts. It is instructive that the Carribean was his first place of visit soon after leaving office. As far as the country is concerned president Obasanjos eight year malevolent dictatorship has resulted in its near collapse. His personal gain and those of his cronies have thrown the nation into socio economic and political mess. Nigeria bequeathed to the Yaradua administration can be defined as a failed state. Obasanjos conquest, as it were, has had the following negative impact. ECONOMIC IMPACT. All the huge investments intended to create a conducive environment for meaningful development have been mismanaged and wasted. Nigerias infrastructure have been further degraded. Over $16 billion invested in the power sector has resulted in decreasing its generation capacity from 2600mw in May 1999 to 2300mw in May 2007. Both transmission and distribution have also suffered similar decline. Our transport infrastructure has also worsened, Such infrastructure decay continues to militate against the growth of the real sector. For example over 60% of our industries have been forced to shut down with the remaining operating below 45% installed capacity. Inflation rate has been galloping at an annual rate of over 20% in the eight years. We can only speak of employment in the crime industry. Our educational system is facing imminent collapse due to the administrations failure to adequately invest in the sector. Less than 10% of the total annual budget has been allocated to this sector in eight years, far less than the 26% recommended by UNESCO. There is also serious decline in private sector investment in education which drives the elite to seek alternatives abroad including places like Malaysia, Ghana. Togo and Benin republic. POLITICAL IMPACT One of the true tests of democracy is the level of observance of the rule of law by its operators. Unfortunately, Obasanjo showed total disregard to this guiding principle. He refused to recognize or respect the separation of powers between the three arms of government, He, as the president and chief executive, usurped the powers of both the legislative and judicial arms. He defied the courts by refusing to accept and implement their judgments. He treated the legislature as an appendage of the executive. He exercised full oversight function on the legislature to the extent of deciding its leadership. We cannot talk of the existence of democracy when the freedom of choice through the regular conduct of free and fair election is absent. Most elections under Obasanjos eight year rule were characterized by fraud and rigging. It is a measure of the perversion of our electoral system under Obasanjo that the elections of seven state governors, eighty six members of state and national assemblies including that of the Senate president have so far been overturned by election tribunals and appeal courts. The worst act of subversion occurred when president Obasanjo attempted to have the constitution amended so as to perpetuate himself in office. Most of those patriotic and courageous legislators who voted against that amendment were prevented from being re-elected either through illegal disqualification or rigging. This has deprived the nation of the services of some of the most distinguished and honourable politicians. It has also stunted the growth of our democracy. NNPC. Nigerians vigorously questioned the rationale of a president choosing to add to his burden by taking over the direct control of the busiest Ministry, that of petroleum, and refusing to give it up despite persistent insinuations and innuendos regarding his selfish motives. REFINERIES The Obasanjo administration inherited refineries that were largely unserviceable, operating much below their 450,000 barrels per day installed capacity. The president promised to reverse the trend. Repair contracts worth hundreds of millions of Dollars were awarded for this purpose. It was money thrown down the drains as the refineries continued to loose their refining capacities, which fell from 250,000 barrels per day as at May 29, 1999 to about 150,000 barrels per day by 2001. No explanation was given for this. No one was held accountable. In a surprising move the government directed an increase in the crude allocation to NNPC, for local refining and use, from 300,000 barrels per day to 450,000 barrels per day as if the refineries are functioning at full capacity. What could be the reason behind this? Well, the NNPC was supplied crude for local consumption at a heavily subsidized rate. For example, by 2001 when president Obasanjo decided to increase the local allocation, a barrel of crude was selling at $35 per barrel on the international market. NNPC was being charged $18 per barrel. Now since the refineries had a refining capacity of 150,000 barrels per day, NNPC had excess of 300,000 barrels at the subsidized rate which was exported making a profit of 300,000 barrels per day multiplied by $17 per barrel which comes to $5,100,000 profit for NNPC. The crude allocation was paid in local currency, the Naira. For some inexplicable reason, NNPC paid the CBN at the rate of N110 to the Dollar instead of the prevailing forex rate of N135 to the Dollar. Again, there has not been any explanation for this under payment. a) How was the $5,100,000 per day utilized? b) What informed the decision to discount the Dollar by about N25 and who authorized this? NNPCs explanation to the first query that the profit was used for import of petroleum products is unconvincing because the expenditure is an appropriation matter that needed to be approved by the National Assembly and there is no evidence to prove that such approval was ever sought or obtained. The contracts were never a subject of Federal Executive Council consideration and approval therefore lacking transparency. When the RMAFC raised queries, the president felt intimidated enough to set up a committee to investigate allegations of impropriety. One of the findings of the committee was that NNPCs benchmark prices were in some cases higher than the ones quoted by major trading companies. The report was so damaging to the president and NNPC that he quickly suppressed it. Business as usual continued. CRUDE OIL CONTRACTS No where has president Obasanjo shown so much disdain for due process and displayed greed and crass opportunism as in the management of crude oil contracts. The nation was defrauded tens of billions of Dollars in the most opaque and criminal contract process, which was handled between the president and his willing accomplice, the GMD NNPC. It will interest Nigerians to know that all crude oil lifting contracts signed by the Obasanjo administration were only advertised once. All subsequent awards were done through a roll over. This was achieved through an arranged delay in notification of the expiration of the ongoing contracts. The GMD NNPC writes to the president seeking his approval to roll over the contracts citing lack of time to adhere to a proper procedure and the president willingly approved. In this way due process was circumvented. It is safe to say that NNPC contracts were not subject to due process verification, The president decided on the terms. So also were winners and losers decided by president Obasanjo. In some cases, the winners were companies with dubious profiles. They won huge contracts on account of their close relationship to the president or members of his family. For example, Petrodel Resources Ltd which got one of the highest allocations of 90,000 barrels per day was initially not known to NNPC consultants based in London. On further inquiry, it was discovered to have been registered in Isle of man as a one man registered company. This fact was made known to the president by the investigative panel which he set up to probe the crude oil contracts in September, 2003. Once again, no action was taken to correct the system. OIL BLOCK ALLOCATIONS The allocation of oil blocks was preceded by the usual Obasanjo deceptive maneuvers intended to give the process some semblance of credibility. The real allocations were concluded long before the blocks were advertised. Some of the oi blocks that were allocated by previous administrations and which were found to be highly productive were revoked and reallocated to preferred bidders on the flimsiest of reasons. Over 70% of all blocks allocated by the Obasanjo administration were cornered by him and his business associates through this dubious process. LPG SCAM If the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) popularly referred to as cooking or domestic gas is beyond the reach of the average Nigerian because of its exorbitant cost, it is thanks to the nefarious activities of the Obasanjo business clique. On the instructions of the president, the NNPC allocated the bulk of LPG produced locally to a select group of LPG marketers. Some of these marketers were allowed to use NNPC storage facilities at concessionary rates. It is to these facilities that they shipped their allocations and sell at international market price on the false claim that the product was imported. In this way, the price rose sharply from N38,000 per metric tonne as at May 1999 to N98,000 in 2007. That is to say that government subsidy was only enjoyed by the favoured marketers. Such market manipulation continued to drive the prices skyward. A tonne of cooking gas is currently being sold for N250,000. It is so painful to remember that a tonne of LPG sold at the subsidized rate of N4,000 during the much vilified Abacha administration . AGO The Automobile Gas Oil scam took a similar pattern to that of the LPG. The only difference being that in this case, only one company was given monopoly of marketing the product. The evidence of the rip-off could be seen in the stupendous wealth being displayed by the Executive Chairman of the company. A man of very humble means at the beginning of the Obasanjo administration soon became scandalously rich. He is currently the proud owner of many choice properties in London. He once bought a living house i for over £10 million but discovered later that it lacked parking space for his large fleet of Rolls Royces, BMWs, Porches and Mercedes. Whereupon, he decided to purchase the neighbouring house for £7 million and had it demolished so he might have adequate parking space for his cars! So close was he to President Obasanjo that he often kept him waiting for hours in the office to discuss business. He was a major contributor to Obasanjos pet projects. In eight years, this chap has succeeded in building a business empire which has a daily turnover running into hundreds of millions of Naira all thanks to his close link with President Obasanjo. NIPP PROJECTS. In actual fact, the Obasanjo administration planned the NIPP project and succeeded in achieving its principal aim, which was to enrich the president and his business associates through those dubious contracts. No one could fail to realize the non-viability of the NIPP projects in view of the epileptic supply of Gas from the crisis ridden Niger Delta. If not for selfish interests, why would the government pay fully for the supply of turbines when civil works had not commenced in most of the sites. The civil works will take at least two years to complete. In the meantime, the turbines are wasting at the ports. Some of them may never reach their destinations due to lack of accessibility to the sites. Why did the government not consider repairing the many existing unserviceable thermal stations and their expansion? Why were the repairs and expansion of the Hydro-stations not considered? The only explanation is that the NIPP contracts were comparatively more lucrative. It was all about personal interest and wickedness. After an expenditure of over $3billion, the NIPPs will almost certainly turn out to be mere white elephant projects. The nation has once again been duped by a man who claims to have direct communication link to God Almighty. The federal Government must review the NIPP contracts just as it must review the Gurara and Mambilla hydro contracts awarded about a week to Obasanjo:s departure. WATER RESOURCES The plan of the Obasanjos Administration to deploy huge resources for the provision of drinking water and irrigation was welcomed by Nigerians. Over N400 billion was spent on the various water resources projects in the eight years of Obasanjo administration. Unfortunately less than 20% of such projects were completed. Federal Government may wish to probe the Gurara to lower Usuma Dam water transfer project and the Azare water scheme to have an idea of the fraudulent nature of the ministrys contracts. It will interest Nigerians to know that Obasanjo Holdings company, the former presidents company, was a major player in the ministrys projects. For example most of the borehoe hand pumps used by the Ministrys borehole contractors were supplied by Obasanjo Holdings. The collection point was Obasanjos farm in Ota. WORKS AND HOUSING In his first year alone, Obasanjo released over N300 billion for the emergency rehabilitation of roads. It was estimated that well over N900 billion was spent on road projects by the end of his administration in May 2007 with very insignificant improvement in the state of our roads. Obasanjo himself had cause to express dissatisfaction with the performance of the works ministry. So, what happened to all the money. Why will Nigerians be satisfied with Obasanjos hypocritical expression of dissatisfaction when, given his antecedents, we know that he is the main beneficiary of this scam AVIATION The neglect faced by this industry resulted in the high incidence of plane crashes which occurred between 1999 and 2006 with heavy loss of lives. To add to the nations pain President Obasanjo decided to capitalize on the aviation mishaps to enrich himself and his cronies. After the Bellview plane crash in 2006 which claimed over 100 lives including that of the Sultan of Sokoto, the president saw an opportunity to reward his most overzealous defender, Femi Fani Kayode. He appointed him the minister of aviation in a cabinet reshuffle. He handed over the sum of N11.5 billion unbudgeted to the new minister, to do as he pleased. And so he did. Since the National Assembly is currently investigating the utilization of the funds, the nation will have to wait for its findings, however want to say that most of this money was misappropriated. The then minister of finance Mrs. Nenedi Usman felt so concerned about the fraudulent manner with which the funds were being managed that she decided to complain to president Obasanjo. A meeting was convened by Mr. President with Mrs. Nenedi, Femi Fani Kayode and some senior aides of the president in attendance. The meeting turned out to be aimed at reconciling the Minister of Finance and her aviation counterpart. At the end of the meeting the president counselled Fani Kayode to abide by Obasanjos brand of due process and sin no more. Fani Kayode would not be deterred. He went back to business as usual. But he committed a serious error of judgment by offending one of the presidents daughters. This lady requested the Minister to approve a payment of N500 million to her boyfriends company which she claimed was for a job it performed for FAAN. The Minister refused her request on the ground that the contract didnt receive due process clearance. He remained adamant even after the company secured due process clearance. At the sendoff breakfast organized by Obasanjos aide and friends held at the Presidential Villa, Aso Rock, the president pulled Fani Kayode aside and lambasted him for what he termed as his greed and fraudulent character. He predicted his downfall on account of such traits. This was an apparent expression of his disappointment in the Ministers act of loyalty for not sharing the presidential bounty with his family members. The National Assembly probe will perhaps reveal how the largesse was shared. RAILWAYS. The Obasanjo administration embarked on the modernization of the nations rail system to the standard gauge. It is of course the right thing to do to ease the problem of land transportation in a large country like Nigeria. The plan was a welcome development to most Nigerians. The feasibility of the project was enhanced by the huge oil revenue that accrued to the government due to the astronomical rise in oil prices. But as in the power sector, that opportunity was lost to Obasanjos fraudulent motives. Two highly inflated contracts were signed with a Chinese firm CCECC for the construction of the Lagos -Kano standard gauge lines at the cost of $8.3 billion and the Maiduguri - Port Harcourt line at the cost of $9 billion. The projects were to be financed with a so called concessionary loan of $1.28 billion from China and illegal deductions from the Federation account. The Obasanjo administration has hurriedly released the sum of $250 million to the contractor before the take off of the project. The Federal Government must probe the contract pricing, procedure of award and the wisdom of financing the project with a non concessionary loan when the nation is said to have over $50 billion in its foreign reserve. MILITARY TOGA, GREATEST FAILURE OF OBASANJO,S ADMINISTRATION - EZEKWESILI. January 18, 2014 by Success Nwogu A former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, has said that using military approach to solve national developmental needs is the greatest mistake of the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Ezekwesili served in various capacities during Obasanjo’s civilian administration, which included being the Minister of Solid Minerals and heading the ‘Due Process’ office. Speaking on the Channels Television programme, ‘Genvoices telethon’ on Saturday, Ezekwesili stated that military approach was not the best strategy to address developmental issues in a democracy. Ezekwesili said, “the youths need to understand even the tenets of democracy.Reach 1
Posted on: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 06:06:17 +0000
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