A new episode in the saga of underhand dealings between senior Nigerian officials and Pfizer over the battle to get justice for children in Kano who suffered physical and mental impairment when the pharmaceutical company administered a trial drug on them continues with the release of some US diplomatic cables related to the incident by Wikileaks.
NEXT had published several reports on the challenges facing the Trovan victims and their families in their quest to receive compensation from the multinational drugs company, as well as the involvement of senior members of government and others determined to deny them their due.
A cable posted by Wikileaks has detailed how Pfizer officials sought to blackmail former Attorney General of the Federation, Mike Aondoakaa, into dropping the Federal Government’s lawsuit against the company over the 1996 Trovan clinical trial in Kano.
Mr Aondoakaa faces several allegations of corruption. A team of government lawyers, Pfizer, and the Ministry of Justice has so far refused to disclose the terms of the secret agreement finalised in October 2009, saying the settlement was covered by a confidentiality clause.
In an April 20, 2009 cable, then U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Robin Sanders, informed Washington that Pfizer hired investigators to uncover Mr Aondoakaa’s corruption and then discreetly passed the results of the investigations to the local media for publication.
She said the former minister buckled and agreed to withdraw the case after the unceasing damaging reports on him became too much for him to bear.
The cable said, in parts: “In follow up to the April 2 meeting, EconDep (Department of Economic Affairs at the US embassy) met with Pfizer Country Manager Enrico Liggeri in Lagos on April 9. (Note: Liggeri has years of experience in Nigeria because his family operated a business in Lagos from the early 1960s to the late 1980s. He spent most of his childhood in Lagos. End Note.) “Liggeri said Pfizer was not happy settling the case, but had come to the conclusion that the $75 million figure was reasonable because the suits had been ongoing for many years costing Pfizer more than $15 million a year in legal and investigative fees.
According to Liggeri, Pfizer had hired investigators to uncover corruption links to Federal Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa to expose him and put pressure on him to drop the federal cases.
“He said Pfizer’s investigators were passing this information to local media. A series of damaging articles detailing Aondoakaa’s “alleged” corruption ties were published in February and March.
“Liggeri contended that Pfizer had much more damaging information on Aondoakaa and that Aondoakaa’s cronies were pressuring him to drop the suit for fear of further negative articles.”
Dealing of heavyweights
The pharmaceutical giant in its reaction to the leaked diplomatic cable dismissed the claim that it hired investigators to uncover evidence of corruption against Mr Aondoakaa, saying it is ‘preposterous.’ The company claimed “it negotiated the settlement last year with the federal government of Nigeria in good faith and its conduct in reaching the agreement was proper.”
However, contrary to Ms Sanders account, NEXT has learnt that the decision to drop the charges was based more on greed and insensitivity to the plight of the victims by all the parties involved in the negotiation, than on any fear that Mr. Aondoakaa’s dirty deals would be exposed.
Sources also explained how some eminent Nigerians participated in the sharing of what was described as “blood money” by late president Umaru Yar’Adua, in the name of collecting legal fees.