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Tag: Yar’Adua

  • Jonathan eulogises Yar’Adua on death’s anniversary

    Jonathan eulogises Yar’Adua on death’s anniversary

    Former president Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday  hailed his predecessor, the late Umaru Yar’Adua as a democrat, peacemaker and gift to Nigeria.

    Jonathan, in a tribute on the seventh anniversary of Yar’Adua’s death, said the late President “left  this world leaving behind a legacy of detribalized leadership and a soil that was fertile enough to grow trees.”

    The tribute was posted on the social media.

    His words: “Seven years ago, you left this world, leaving behind a legacy of detribalized leadership and a soil that was fertile enough to grow trees whose shade you would never enjoy.

    “As a peacemaker, you helped bring peace to the Niger Delta and that singular act brought manifold benefits to Nigeria.

    “As a democrat, you promoted due process in government and equity in public administration.

    “Umar Musa Yar’adua, a friend and brother, a great gift to the nation and people of Nigeria. Seven years gone but never forgotten.

    “May you rest in peace even as we hope and believe that you made al-Jannah firdaus. Miyetti Allah for the life of service you lived and May Almighty God care for the family you left behind.”

    Jonathan served as Yar’Adua’s deputy between May 29, 2007 and May 5, 2010.

    His death paved the way for Jonathan to be sworn-in as President.

  • Yar’Adua, a detribalized leader – Jonathan

    Yar’Adua, a detribalized leader – Jonathan

    Former president Goodluck Jonathan on Friday hailed his predecessor, the late Umaru Yar’Adua as a democrat, peacemaker and gift to Nigeria.

    Jonathan, in a tribute on the seventh anniversary of Yar’Adua’s death, said the late President “left this world leaving behind a legacy of detribalized leadership and a soil that was fertile enough to grow trees.”

    The tribute was posted the social media.

    He said: “Seven years ago you left this world leaving behind a legacy of detribalized leadership and a soil that was fertile enough to grow trees whose shade you would never enjoy. As a peacemaker, you helped bring peace to the Niger Delta and that singular act brought manifold benefits to Nigeria. As a democrat, you promoted due process in government and equity in public administration. Umar Musa Yar’adua, a friend and brother, a great gift to the nation and people of Nigeria. Seven years gone but never forgotten. May you Rest In Peace even as we hope and believe that you made al-Jannah firdaus. Miyetti Allah for the life of service you lived and May Almighty God care for the family you left behind.”

    Jonathan served as Yar’Adua’s deputy between May 29, 2007 and May 5, 2010.

    His death paved the way for Jonathan to be sworn-in as the country’s President.

     

  • $1.6b Malabu Oil deal: Adoke names Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan, others

    $1.6b Malabu Oil deal: Adoke names Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan, others

    Former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice Mohammed Bello Adoke has said that three former Presidents endorsed the Settlement Agreement on the controversial $1.6billion Malabu Oil Block.

    They are Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the late Umaru Yar’Adua and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

    Adoke said none of the three Presidents has disowned the agreement.

    He listed ex-ministers who played key roles in resolving the conflict on the oil block. They are a former AGF and Minister of Justice Bayo Ojo,  former Minister of Petroleum Resources King Edmund Daukoru; ex-Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and former Minister of Finance  Olusegun Aganga.

    He said the recent actions of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) tended to impugn the Settlement Agreement.

    He insisted that the Ministry of Justice, which he superintended, only facilitated the Settle Agreement.

    The EFCC has filed charges  against Adoke,  a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Chief Dan Etete, a businessman, Aliyu Abubakar and eight others over alleged $801million bribe in respect of the auctioning of Malabu Oil Block.

    The others are Shell Nigeria Exploration Production Company Limited;  Nigeria Agip  Exploration Limited; ENI SPA; Malabu Oil and Gas Limited; Ralph Wetzels(ex- Director of SNEPCO), Casula Roberto(Italian) whilst being the Director of AGIP; Pujatti Stefeno(Italian) while being the Director in AGIP; and Burafato Sebastiano(Italian).

    But  Adoke, in a March 6 letter to Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami (SAN), asked the AGF to determine whether he had committed any offence for carrying out presidential approvals.

    He asked Malami to tell Nigerians whether his predecessors in office from 2006 to May 2015 acted in the national interest when they brokered and implemented the Settlement Agreement.

    He urged Malami to clarify to Nigerians the import of Section 5 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) with respect to the vesting of all the Executive powers of the Federation in the President to exercise by himself and or through his Ministers and appointees.

    He said: “It will be recalled that the Terms of Settlement encapsulating details of the Settlement between the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and Malabu Oil & Gas Limited (Malabu) was executed on 30th November, 2006.

    “The Terms of Settlement, which was later, reduced into a Consent Judgment of the Federal High Court; Abuja was brokered by our predecessor in office, Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN and signed on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria by the then Honourable Minister of State, for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    ”When I assumed office on 10th April 2010, I inherited a Consent Judgment, which had undergone the scrutiny of three Presidents and Attorneys General. I was therefore restricted to the implementation of the Settlement as the issue of ownership of OPL 245 had already been resolved in favour of Malabu by the Terms of Settlement dated 30th November 2006 and the Consent Judgment of the FHC, Abuja.

    “I also inherited an on-going Investor/State Arbitration at the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Dispute (ICSID) in which SNUD had initiated arbitral proceedings against the FGN claiming damages in excess of $2billion for taking back OPL 245 re-awarded to them when Malabu’s title was initially revoked by the FGN. SNUD’s claims were also premised on the fact that they had substantially de-risked the Block.

    “Malabu also instituted Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/420/2003, before the Federal High Court (FHC), Abuja to enforce its claim to OPL 245. Although, the suit was struck out by the FHC, Malabu lodged Appeal No. CA/A/99M/2006 before the Court Appeal, Abuja, Division.

    “During the pendency of the Appeal, an amicable settlement was entered into between Malabu and the Federal Government and in compliance with the Terms of Settlement executed by the Parties on the 30th of November 2006, OPL 245 was fully and completely restored to Malabu in consideration for its withdrawal of the Appeal. (Copy of the Terms of Settlement dated 30th November is attached as Annexure ‘A’)

    ”Apparently dissatisfied with the Terms of Settlement between the Federal Government and Malabu, SNUD commenced arbitral proceedings against the decision of the Federal Government to restore/re-allocate OPL 245 to Malabu at the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington DC, and made representations to government on the impending arbitration. It is instructive to note that SNUD’s claim before ICSID was in excess of US$2billion. It also commenced a suit against the Government before the Federal High Court, Abuja

    “Although, several meetings were held between the Presidency, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, SNUD and Malabu, to resolve the dispute, no satisfactory outcome was achieved. Attempts were also made in 2007 to resolve the dispute by a Committee comprising the Honourable Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Minister of Energy, Group Managing Director, NNPC and DPR, during the administration of Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, without success

    “ To resolve all the contending claims in a satisfactory and holistic manner, due regard was given to the Terms of Settlement of 30th November 2006 which had been reduced to Orders of the Court, the underlying policy of encouraging the participation of indigenous oil and gas companies in the upstream sector of the oil industry and the fact that Shell had substantially de-risked Block 245.

    “To accommodate all these interests, a Resolution Agreement dated 29th April, 2011 was executed wherein the FGN agreed to resolve all the issues with Malabu in respect of Block 245 amicably and Malabu also agreed that it would settle and waive any and all claims to any interest in OPL 245. (Copy of the Resolution Agreement is attached as Annexure ‘D’).

    “ In furtherance of the Resolution Agreement, SNUD and ENI agreed to pay Malabu through the Federal Government acting as an obligor, the sum of US$ 1,092,040,000 Billion in full and final settlement of any and all claims, interests or rights relating to or in connection with Block 245 and Malabu agreed to settle and waive any and all claims, interests or rights relating to or in connection with Block 245 and also consented to the re-allocation of Block 245 to Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited (NAE) and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCO).

    Adoke insisted that the Federal Government and its agencies and officials only served as facilitators of the Settlement Agreement.

    He added: “It is therefore quite evident from the foregoing that the role played by the Federal Government, its agencies and officials in relation to Block 245 was essentially that of facilitator of the resolution of a long standing dispute between Malabu and SNUD over the ownership and right to operate Block 245.

    “At all times material to the resolution of the dispute, the Federal Government was not aware of any subsisting third party interest in Malabu’s claim to OPL 245 and neither did any person or company apply to be joined in the negotiations as an interested party.

    ”I wish to reiterate that the resolution of the lingering dispute over Block 245 was in furtherance of Government’s demonstrable commitment to attract investment in the oil and gas sector of the economy and encourage genuine investors (local and foreign) by creating the enabling environment for their business to thrive.

    “ The Office of the Attorney General superintended over the process to ensure that the implementation was holistic by ensuring:

    (a)  that the requisite Presidential Approvals were sought and obtained;

    (b) that all the relevant MDAs such the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Ministry of Finance, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) were involved in the resolution and final implementation of the Settlement;

    (c) that the relevant Agreements such as OPL 245 Resolution and Re-allocation Agreements were duly executed by line Ministers and Departments;

    (d) that the Signature bonus was duly paid to the Federal Government of Nigeria as required by law, and

    (e) that disbursements from the escrow account were jointly approved by the Federal Government and SNUD.”

    Adoke urged the AGF to find out why he was singled out by the Economic and Financial Crimes for prosecution.

    He said: “ In view of the foregoing, I anxiously want to know where I went wrong that I have been singled out by the EFCC for prosecution.

    ”I wish to use this medium to appeal to the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation to be mindful of his overarching powers over public prosecution and the need to ensure that state institutions do not become persecutors or instruments in the hands of those pursuing personal vendetta.

    “The Constitution and the traditions of our noble profession demand your oversight over public prosecution. Consequently, if you find that I had breached my Oath of Office or abused my office, please do not hesitate to bring me to justice.

    “However, if it is the contrary, as I strongly believe, that certain individuals who had vowed to even scores with me are now being aided by state institutions such as the EFCC; I deserve protection from these unwarranted attacks and dehumanising treatment that I am being subjected to merely because I chose to serve my fatherland.”

    Adoke faulted the filing of separate charges against him by the EFCC and asked Malami to speak out.

    He said:  “As the Chief Law Officer of the Federation, you have a public duty to speak on this matter so that Nigerians would know whether I acted mala fide or abused my office in the entire transaction leading to the final implementation of the Settlement.”

  • Buhari’s case different from Yar’Adua’s- Lai Muhammed

    Buhari’s case different from Yar’Adua’s- Lai Muhammed

    The Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has said that there is no basis for comparing the medical condition of President Muhammadu Buhari and Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

    Responding to reference to his past comments demanding for daily briefing on the health status of Late Yar’adua when the former President  was hospitalized in Saudi Arabia, Muhammed insisted that Buhari is not sick and hospitalised.

    Yar’Adua died in a Saudi hospital without transmitting letter to the National Assembly.

    Mohammed spoke with State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    “I think it was one of the newspapers that said when I was the spokesman of Action Congress (AC) I demanded for hourly bulletin of Yar’Adua’s health and that I ought to be giving hourly bulletin as minister of information on the health of the president. And I said you are comparing Apples and oranges. Mr. President is not ill, he is not in hospital, there will be no need to give anybody hourly bulletin about his health pure and simple.

    “I can assure you that Mr. President is well, is hale and hearty and no cause for concern. The Acting President speaks to him every day and he told you so,” Muhammed stated.

  • ‘Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan blew over N70trn oil money in 15 year’

    ‘Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan blew over N70trn oil money in 15 year’

    •NEITI boss seeks prudent expenditure

    Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) Executive Secretary Waziri Adio said yesterday that the administrations of Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan blew over N70 trillion earned from sale of crude oil and gas between 1999 and 2014.

    Adio said this in his office when the Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs visited him during an oversight function.

    He insisted that unless the country developed a prudent way of expenditure, it was likely to be in difficult times in years to come.

    The NEITI boss noted that it was unfortunate that despite the huge earnings from sales of crude oil over the years, the country was unable to account for over $100 billion in the excess crude account.

    Adio urged the Federal Government to develop a saving culture that would ensure a slash on government’s spending.

    He said: “Let me inform the committee that we discovered that between 1999 and 2014, the country spent over N70 trillion it received from oil and gas alone. That is a whole lot of money. What is sad is that it was spent without the country being able to show anything for it. I think it is quite unfortunate.

    “For the sake of emphasis, however, I think if previous administrations had developed a culture for prudent management of resources, Nigeria ought to have over $100 billion saved in the excess crude account.

    “So, going forward, it is necessary for government to think about saving a lot more, and do all it can as well to cut down on wasteful spending, if the nation must make progress.”

    On the challenges confronting the agency, Adio told the committee that the country risked suspension from the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), if the agency failed to complete its audit report by a given deadline, which comes up in December.

    The NEITI boss decried the paucity of funds in the agency due to late releases by the Ministry of Finance.

    He blamed lack of funds for the inability of the agency to conclude work on its audit report to the EITI.

    He noted that should Nigeria be suspended from the world body as a result of the agency’s failure to meet the December deadline, the development would be an embarrassment on the image and reputation of the country.

    Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi (Kaduna North), noted that the committee would require the effort of NEITI to close the communication gap between the agency and the upper chamber with a view to ensuring effective collaboration.

    He said that NEITI is the second agency of government among other that has not received its capital releases adequately.

    He described the development as “a misnomer”.

  • Buhari, Jonathan, Yar’Adua in the eyes of Obasanjo

    Buhari, Jonathan, Yar’Adua in the eyes of Obasanjo

    In his typically sanctimonious manner, ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo early this week passed harsh judgements on his successors while speaking at an international conference organised by the Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State. There was nothing unusual about the judgements, for he had passed similar ones in the distant and recent past. And there is nothing in his behaviour and antecedent to indicate that his abrasive and dismissive characterisation of his friends and enemies will ever end. The purpose of his judgements is not only to offer frank opinion on their qualities, assuming he believes they have any, but to put them in perfect contradistinction to his own qualities as the incomparable palladium of correctness and leadership. In fact, the only new thing about his harsh dismissal of his presidential peers is the inclusion of President Muhammadu Buhari in the equation.

    President Buhari, he suggested condescendingly at the conference, knew little about economic policy and foreign affairs, but might be strong on security matters and, to some extent, anti-corruption war. Damning the president with faint praise, and speaking at length, Chief Obasanjo volunteered: “I will tell you what I know and I will tell you what I don’t know. I know General Buhari, he served under me in the military. His characteristics that I know, his behaviour that I know, he hasn’t deviated from it. He was not a perfect man and he would never be a perfect man and no leader would be a perfect human being. But if you really read my book ‘My Watch’, what I said about him is still correct. He is not a hot person when it comes to economy; he is not a very hot person when it comes to foreign affairs. But he will do well in the matters of military and he will do well in fighting Boko Haram.”

    He gloated on: “I’ve gone to Maiduguri, I have met the Theatre Commander, I’ve met the General Officer Commanding (GOC), and Buhari has got that right. That, yes, the final nail on the coffin of Boko Haram is not military, it will be socio-economic development, and to be able to do that, the security of the area must be taken care of. So, for me, if we have no hope, we would have no future, we would have no life. I’m an incurable optimist as far as Nigeria is concerned. If somebody doesn’t get it all right, for now, we would get somebody who would come on and get it. Whatever the situation is, the administration before this had no clue on how to deal with Boko Haram. There is no doubt about that. This one is dealing with Boko Haram. The administration before it was deep in corruption. This one says it’s fighting corruption; you may not like the way he is fighting it. I fought corruption. We recovered $1.25 billion, £100 million and about N30 billion from Abacha and his henchmen. We didn’t make noise.”

    This was a definitive and skewering impression of an imperfect President Buhari in the eyes of the all-rounder ex-president Obasanjo. Nigeria would struggle in economic policies, he suggested gloomily, and foreign affairs would continue to be shambolic. But even on the two achievements he grudgingly conceded to President Buhari, to wit, counterinsurgency operations and anti-corruption war, Chief Obasanjo clarified with an insinuation that he hoped everyone understood that what would knock Boko Haram into a cocked hat was not military action but ‘socio-economic development’. And on the anti-corruption war which he thought the president was waging somewhat admirably, Chief Obasanjo also insinuated it was accompanied by too much noise and publicity. Under his own presidency, the former president noted dryly, the anti-corruption war was effective, what with all the retrieval, and ‘we didn’t make noise’.

    President Buhari should not rejoice at Chief Obasanjo’s qualified endorsement. The former president is notorious for putting down his foes and friends alike, regardless of how well they are performing. With a natural and unabated fondness for his own person, which some see as narcissism, he believes he is a matchless leader. If a friend or opponent betters him, he is scurrilous and unrelenting; and if the same friend or opponent is unable to match him, he is contemptuous. It is indeed impossible for anyone to satisfy him, no matter how hard they try. Had it not been impolitic of him, going by the almost universal manner he condemned his predecessors as military head of state, and his successors as elected president, he would have given Murtala Ramat Mohammed, the late military head of state who took him as deputy, the full length of his acerbic tongue. To continue to receive qualified endorsement in the eyes of so impatient a man, President Buhari would have to struggle valiantly to retain the admiration and goodwill of his countrymen. This will not be easy.

    Chief Obasanjo saw nothing good in ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, whom he dismissed hideously as tactically incompetent and a cipher who initiated another ‘spate of corruption’ rather than build on what he (Obasanjo) did. But since he had said more than enough on Dr Jonathan in the past few years, he reserved his most cynical and sarcastic condemnation of any of his successors for the late ex-president Umaru Yar’Adua. Describing the late president as a revisionist, he added that instead of recognising the failures of successive Nigerian leaders, analysts were distracted by what they erroneously suggested were the failings of the constitution. “There is no constitution that is bad,” sneered Chief Obasanjo. “If I am given opportunity to write a new constitution for Nigeria today, there are aspects of our constitution that I would change. But in all seriousness, it’s not a matter of constitution that we are to worry about. If you remember, Yar’Adua (may his soul rest in peace) campaigned on the slogan of continuity. That was the content of his campaign. When he got there, he jettisoned continuity and began discontinuity. After his death, I asked one of his close associates. I said tell me what really happened. He said as soon as we left, some people got hold of him (Yar’Adua) and said ‘look, you will never succeed unless you run down Obasanjo’. He believed that. So, that is what he believed and that is what he did.”

    Then, vaingloriously, he added the clincher against Mallam Yar’Adua: “Some of the things that we put in place that would help the country  I’ve talked about agriculture, I talked about debt; in fact, if debt relief was possible to be reversed, Yar’Adua would have reversed it. ” In short, none of his successors could pass muster. In Chief Obasanjo’s conceited opinion, he was nonpareil, and he should be hoisted aloft as the lodestar of leadership. Yet, it never occurred to him he was the architect of the misfortune he so acerbically and eloquently enunciated at the Covenant University conference. Not only was he the sole architect of that misfortune, he bears sole responsibility. He singlehandedly foisted Mallam Yar’Adua on Nigeria, knowing full well he was almost an invalid. And he rested the fulcrum of that government on the outmanoeuvered Dr Jonathan whom he thought could not call his soul his own. Chief Obasanjo in fact believed the pair of an invalid president and a docile vice president would enable him, out of government, to exert as much influence on the presidency as he would like, in addition to cleverly achieving the secondary goal of producing successors who could not hold the candle to him. Failing in both, he has become hysterical, gruff, peevish and inconsolable. The country is consequently still subjected to the periodic eruptions of his searing truculence.

    Neither Mallam Yar’Adua nor Dr Jonathan had the physical or mental capacity to manage the affairs of Nigeria wholesomely. Nor was Chief Obasanjo himself able to give anything extraordinary beyond his piddling capacity and accomplishments. What is even worse is that the country is yet to rid itself of the deleterious effects of the chain reaction he triggered in 2007. Much more than the incapacity of his successors, what is indisputably evident about his successors is that Chief Obasanjo is a poor mentor, someone so wholly incapable of following anyone, let alone anyone following him. He belongs to no school of political or economic thought, and he has no expansive vision of anything, including of Nigeria and Africa. It was, therefore, out of the injurious limitations of his constricted worldview that he sought out his enfeebled successors and foisted them on a country enervated by its own ethnic and religious contradictions and structural weaknesses. Chief Obasanjo should not complain, for even if he were to get another chance in government, he would still be incapable of remedying the great moral wrong he committed against the nation. Indeed, there is nothing in his few books to indicate he is capable of the reflection and mortifying hindsight great leaders permit themselves after retirement.

  • Turai Yar’Adua regains groove

    Turai Yar’Adua regains groove

    Fame, they say, is temporary and power transient. But Turai Yar’Adua, widow of former President Umaru Yar’Adua, would seem to be defying the age-long aphorism. Those who were privy to the overwhelming influence she wielded while she held sway as the nation’s First Lady would swear that nothing on earth would sweep her off the social radar.

    But the ex-First Lady has been largely anonymous since her husband died and was succeeded by Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. After many years of absence from the social space, the dark and lovely woman was one of those that added colour to the high society wedding of Oyindamola Oyinlola, daughter of former governor of Osun State.

    Turai was cool, calm and collected at the event. She exhibited a degree of confidence that only women of power are capable of. But the once powerful woman has mellowed down as she is being taught by life itself about the transient nature of power.

  • $1b loan, $466m jets top as Buhari probes arms deals

    $1b loan, $466m jets top as Buhari probes arms deals

    Panel of generals to examine Yar’Adua, Jonathan govts contracts

    some likely contracts

    •$466.5m contract to weaponise six Puma helicopters by the Jonathan administration

    •N3b contract for the supply of six units of K-38 patrol boats to the disbanded Presidential Implementation Committee on Maritime Security (PICOMSS)

    •Theft of over 200m Euros at PICOMMS and the purchase of two private jets

    •$9.3m seized by South Africa

    •$1b loan approved by the 7th Senate for arms purchase to fight Boko Haram

    •Un-accessed N7b military budget

    •Rehabilitation of the Military Reference Hospital in Kaduna

    The panel members

    •AVM J.O.N. Ode (rtd.) – president
    •R/Adm J.A. Aikhomu (rtd.)
    •R/Adm E. Ogbor (rtd.)
    •Brig.-Gen. L. Adekagun (rtd.)
    •Brig.-Gen. M. Aminun-Kano (rtd.)
    •Brig.-Gen. N. Rimtip (rtd.)
    •Cdre T.D. Ikoli – member,
    •Air Cdre U. Mohammed (rtd.)
    •Air Cdre I. Shafi’i 
    •Col. A.A. Ariyibi
    •Gp. Capt. C.A. Oriaku (rtd.)
    •Mr. I. Magu (EFCC)
    •Brig.-Gen. Y.I. Shalangwa  – secretary

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday approved a 13-man committee, which will examine the procurement of arms and ammunition for the Armed Forces from 2007 to date.

    The period covers the administrations of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    But the committee of former military chiefs may face a major obstacle – arms, ammunition and military hardware are not subjected to vetting by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).

    Such purchases, The Nation learnt last night, are over 350 in the last eight years. Some of them sparked crises between Service Chiefs and political authorities.

    But many retired top military officers are believed to be prepared to testify before the panel, which got no deadline for its job.

    For “security reasons”, arms purchases by the military do not go through the BPP – the office that examines government procurements to ensure cost-effectiveness and others.

    Before the President raised the panel, there had been some petitions before the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), among others, on some shady deals; in arms procurement.

    Some of the controversial issues are

    • $466.5m contract to weaponise six Puma helicopters by the Jonathan administration;
    • N3billion contract for the supply of six units of K-38 patrol boats to the disbanded Presidential Implementation Committee on Maritime Security (PICOMSS);
    • Theft of over 200m Euros by PICOMMS including the purchase of two private jets;
    • $9.3m cash seized by South Africa;
    • Whereabouts of $1billion loan approved by the 7th Senate for arms purchase to fight Boko Haram;
    • Contract scam over rehabilitation of the Military Reference Hospital in Kaduna

    The $466.5m weaponize contract was awarded to a financier of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2014 by the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, leading to a protest by one of the immediate past Service Chiefs.

    About two years ago, a businessman blew the lid open on N3billion contract for the supply of six units of K-38 patrol boats to the disbanded Presidential Implementation Committee on Maritime Security (PICOMSS).

    The businessman alleged that one of the officials of PICOMSS converted N620million down payment for the contract into personal use.

    Besides, PICOMSS was enmeshed in the theft of over 200m Euros.

    One of the contracts which drew national ourtrage was the seizure in South Africa of $9.3m said to have been meant for the purchase of arms.

    President Buhari  directed the National Security Adviser, Babagana Munguno to convene the investigative committee on the procurement of hardware and munitions in the Armed Forces from 2007 till date.

    According to a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the investigative committee’s mandate is to identify irregularities and make recommendations for streamlining the procurement process in the Armed Forces.

    To this end, the statement said that the National Security Adviser has constituted the Investigative Committee as follows: AVM J.O.N. Ode (rtd.) – president, R/Adm J.A. Aikhomu (rtd.) – member, R/Adm E. Ogbor (rtd.) – member, Brig.-Gen. L. Adekagun (rtd.) – member, Brig.-Gen. M. Aminun-Kano (rtd.)  – member, Brig.-Gen. N. Rimtip (rtd.) – member.

    Others are: Cdre T.D. Ikoli – member, Air Cdre U. Mohammed (rtd.) – member, Air Cdre I. Shafi’i – member, Col. A.A. Ariyibi – member, Gp. Capt. C.A. Oriaku (rtd.) – member,

    Mr. I. Magu (EFCC) – member and Brig.-Gen. Y.I. Shalangwa – secretary.

    The establishment of the investigative committee, the statement said, is in keeping with President Buhari’s determination to stamp out corruption and irregularities in Nigeria’s public service.

    It reads: “It comes against the background of the myriad of challenges that the Nigerian Armed Forces have faced in the course of ongoing counter-insurgency operations in the Northeast, including the apparent deficit in military platforms, with its attendant negative effects on troops’ morale.

    “The committee will specifically investigate allegations of non-adherence to correct equipment procurement procedures and the exclusion of relevant logistics branches from arms procurement under past administrations, which, very often resulted in the acquisition of sub-standard and unserviceable equipment.”

     

  • Between late Yar’Adua phone call and Moroccan King

    In describing Nigeria recently I was told—”Big nation, great people, but equally BIG problems.”

    Let me take us back a little, in December 2009, a certain Mallam Tanimu Yakubu, and economic guru lied to an entire nation that the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua called key government officials, including the then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, on phone and spoke with them for five minutes.

    We are in March 2015, and after denials and counter denials by officials, Nigeria’s President Jonathan has said he is “highly embarrassed” that his officials said he had spoken to the Moroccan King when he had not.

    Earlier last week, Morocco recalled its ambassador over the affair after the Nigerian foreign ministry insisted the two heads of state had spoken by phone.

    President Jonathan did confess that he had been trying to speak to various African leaders to seek their support for Nigeria’s candidate for the position of African Development Bank (AfDB) president.

    The President’s spokesperson Reuben Abati released a statement saying President Jonathan was “shocked, surprised and highly embarrassed by the controversy that has erupted” and that he had ordered the foreign affairs minister to find out how it had occurred.

    “The regrettable furore that has developed over the matter is due entirely to misinformation as President Jonathan has neither spoken with King Mohammed or told anybody that he had a telephone conversation with the Moroccan monarch,” the statement said.

    The Nigerian foreign ministry had said “both leaders spoke extensively over the phone on matters of mutual interest and concern.”

    In 2009, the Yar’Adua call was coming after 44 days, of ‘no speech’, ‘video call’ or ‘photograph’ from Jeddah, where the President was hospitalised. It was yet another spin…in a long drawer of plenty spins during that era, including that staged BBC interview too.

    In that period we witnessed the mysteriously signed budget, Nigeria on terror list, sackings in the banking sector, fuel crisis and a nation practically on autopilot.

    It was in that mood that Tanimu told us that the president called xyz, it was the era, the president could govern from anywhere, when some kitchen cabinet or cabal clerks flew kilometres around the globe to have him sign the supplementary budget.

    Then some ‘goons’ just jet in and out to everywhere and anywhere and tell us they just came in from Jeddah. Nobody told us till date, how much Yar’Adua’s absence cost Nigerians in travels, estacode, medical bills and the cost of all the lies.

    Laughable cock and bull story.

    Every issue that is raised in respect to moving our nation forward is narrowed down to north south, Christian-Muslim, however when our leaders steal, it has no coloration. My take is that the leaders of the country are only united in looting the state treasury. And then we fight across our naïve idiosyncrasies, while they watch us.

    Why are we always looking for other countries approval, and acceptance, why are we a timid people, why are we never doing the right things at home?

    It’s our failure at home that has made U.S and Europe so relevant to us. We have to send our children there because the universities at home have failed. We have to look for jobs there because there are none at home. Some people even feel inferior to them and will rather live abroad at all cost- in their minds, by doing so, they’ve become superior human beings.

    We keep allowing our leaders make the wrong call, for how long—Only time will tell.

     

    •By Prince Charles Dickson

  • Fayose’s denigration of Yar’Adua’s memory

    SIR: It would be unusual for President Jimmy Carter to make an unkind remark about President John F. Kennedy : they both were members of the Democratic Party. What might be offbeat is to hear a president mention in a feature interview that another president from the opposite camp is his best friend. Carter so described Gerald Ford even though both were of different political camps.

    Real statesmen rise above petty-mindedness, they conquer self, consider the feelings of other people and desist from demeaning the dead.

    Whilst it is in order for the electorate to worry about a presidential candidate’s (and other office-seekers) state of health and mental well-being to direct the wearisome day-to-day affairs of state, it is improper, and ill-advised to have statesmen make derisive statements about the health of these contenders in a discourteous  manner to score cheap political point, in this case, the fitness of  Buhari to run for office as credited to the Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose to the “effect that General Muhammadu Buhari does not enjoy good health.”

    Worse yet, mischievous, if a passing reference is made to a deceased statesman, particularly with the comparison between, the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and General Buhari.

    This linkage calls for concern: Nigerians do not speak ill of the dead especially if that person was a good leader.

    The late president who by the way belonged  to the same party as Fayose (PDP), was his national leader and should be celebrated, not otherwise. The late President was not arrogant, overly-humble, nationalistic in his views, never, religiously opinionated. Yar’Adua was prudent enough to understand his ally and political rivals, he reasoned with several, saw situations with them and, not about them, and negotiated an armistice that saw the end of militancy because he understood what most leaders do not know: situational awareness.

    Great countries are celebrated because of the power of collaboration; he was wise enough to know that all people, of differing faith matter. He embraced alliance, the same way most middle-eastern countries do with western industrialists leading to their vibrant economies, one imagines how unfledged these countries would have been without western involvement despite their insularly partisan religious orientation.

    He was never weak and refused to be despoiled by the frills of power and was ready at a point to submit his office to the opposition if it became clear that his ascendancy to the office was rigged in. He almost turned Nigeria into Ghana where incumbents lose elections.

    He was not known to scapegoat the opposition and tried to disrobe some people duplicitously robed by the establishment.

    Under him, there were shadowy (faceless) cabals who tried to hijack his presidency, but they remained just that: faceless because they lacked guts. But in our day, we have assemblages gutsy enough not to wear veils, who have chosen to daringly make scathing pronouncements promoting ill-will.

    Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had a directorial belief which made him a man of exceptional sterling quality, “I think people should know that you derive the greatest satisfaction from serving others, rather than serving yourself, I would want more and more Nigerians to define themselves also in this light of service to the nation and service to humanity,” he said.

    It is incumbent upon the PDP to polish the image of Yar’Adua by carrying out his programmes perceptively the same way Lyndon Baines Johnson did after the assassination of President J.F Kennedy.

    Could the governor of Ekiti State show democratic-sportsmanship by not joining issues with the dead?

     

    • Simon Abah.

    Port Harcourt, Rivers State.