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EFCC Begins Probe Of Obasanjo
Related to country: Nigeria

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

By Rafiu Ajakaye, Reporter, Lagos
Thu, 22 Nov 2007 00:00:00

Investigation may have begun on the eight-year reign of former President Olusegun Obasanjo as news emerged on Wednesday that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has opened a file on him.

This is probably connected with the rolling allegations of personal enrichment, and gross abuse of office made against the octogenarian by critics, among them Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, and human rights lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi.

It may also be coupled with a petition written last week by the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL), a non-governmental organisation committed to the recovery of money stolen from the public purse.

http://independentngonline.com/?c=117&a=5881

CACOL Chairman, Debo Adeniran, argued in the petition that judged by his financial status before occupying Aso Rock in 1999, Obasanjo’s income as President cannot allegedly justify his investments now worth billions of Naira.

A source in the EFCC, who sought anonymity, confirmed that a "file has already been opened to accommodate petitions against Obasanjo, aside underground investigations already going on, which I cannot tell you for security reasons."

On Tuesday, the EFCC summoned Adeniran to make a ‘written statement in person’ to back the petition which contended that Obasanjo’s investments far exceed his income.

The statement Adeniran made included his own biography.

He was summoned by the Economic Governance Unit of the EFCC where a file bearing Obasanjo’s name was unveiled.

CACOL listed Obasanjo’s investments to include Bell University of Technology, Badagry, Lagos (worth N40 billion); Presidential Library, Abeokuta (N6.5 billion); shares in Transcorp (N200 million) – all acquired between 1999 and 2007 – plus the now computerised multi-billion Naira Ota Farm.

Soyinka and Fawehinmi, among others, have also denounced the library project as "executive extortion and abuse of office" which need be probed.

"We are aware that the annual salary of Nigeria’s President is not up to N38 million. But even if (Obasanjo) earned N60 million per annum for 70 years he would not have up to N5 billion. But (he) is currently worth about N70 billion by conservative estimate," Adeniran alleged in the petition.

"For eight years, while he was in power, Obasanjo sustained a devilish desire to strengthen his own hand as a chicken farmer while exploiting the power of his office to mortally destroy his competitors. He forcibly reclaimed leased farms from an Israeli company, Agrited.

"He single-handedly gave Obasanjo Farms the licence to monopolise the import of grand parent stock of chicken. He masterminded the deportation of one Roger Abdjaude, the Managing Director of Zartech, after he had denied them the right to import the special breed chicken."

CACOL demanded that the EFCC revisit the report of the probe panel, headed by Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, which indicted Obasanjo of "gross financial mismanagement and corruption" in the running of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), alongside former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.

The group demanded also that the EFCC probe the several billions of Naira pumped into the power sector, which still remains a national disaster, as well as the allegation that Obasanjo overshot the budget for ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs), as stated in the report on Budget Performance issued by the House of Representatives in 2005.

CACOL maintained that a probe of Obasanjo’s administration would build confidence in the anti-graft crusade now spearheaded by President Umaru Yar’Adua.



November 22, 2007 | 5:53 AM Comments  0 comments

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