THE drama in Abuja between President Olusegun Obasanjo and his vice, Atiku Abubakar, is far from reaching the peak. Although the death of the 13 top military officers was supposed to bring a momentary stop to the firing of salvo by the two sides, events that occurred even while bodies of the departed generals were yet to touch the base of their graves showed that both sides had no intention of sheathing their swords until the final whistles are blown by the Independent National Electoral Commission. The political camp of Atiku was the first to break the cease-fire just as the Vice President was laying the wreath to bid the generals farewell into their journey beyond. He wrote the leadership of the National Assembly over the two reports which indicted him.
In the letter dated September 18, 2006, Atiku prayed the National Assembly to look at the reports laid before them by President Obasanjo, September 6, and mark out the fault lines so that the whole things could be consigned into the garbage of history. Although the letter was a lengthy one, the Vice President did not put in any new information other than what he had told Nigerians since the reports became public knowledge.
He particularly told the members of the National Assembly to take note of the growing desperation on the part of Obasanjo to stop him from the 2007 race. He stated that one of the reasons to back up this conclusion was the date of commencement of the EFCC investigations in contrast with when the US FBI requested for assistance from the commission in respect of the US Congressman Jefferson’s case.
He said, “The EFCC has again found itself in the unenviable position of being a willing tool in the hands of those whose sole agenda in life has become the quest to prevent Atiku Abubakar by all means possible (legal and illegal) from contesting the presidential elections in 2007. The EFCC claims in its report that its investigations are pursuant to a request for assistance that it received from the United States Government. Yet, this request for assistance is only dated 22nd June 2006.
All the investigations the EFCC has been carrying out (and all the arbitrary arrests and detention of my known friends and associates) predate the receipt of this request for assistance. It would appear, therefore, that the request for assistance is a convenient excuse for the EFCC. The agency had already been given the answer; it only needed to find a way to work itself to this answer.”
He continued, “As if these travesties were not enough, the EFCC report is based on an investigation which the agency itself states on page 37 is ‘still on going’, yet this report has formed the basis by which Mr. President purported to convoke an ‘Administrative Panel of Inquiry’ to review the said report and make recommendations to the Federal Executive Council, a flawed process, not in conformity with our laws, practice and procedure. It is also very curious to me that the very same Mr. President who has publicly accused his Vice-President of disloyalty now sees nothing wrong in appointing his own (loyal?) employees to sit in judgment over the supposedly disloyal Vice-President and expect that a fair hearing will be conducted therefrom.
“It is also pertinent to state my astonishment that all those who are now benefitting immensely from the success of the Obasanjo/Atiku Campaign Organization at the polls are now hastily retreating from the very machinery that brought them to power. Perhaps this is human nature but it does not make it less astonishing that the very officers and ministers who now occupy their offices/positions as a result of the victory at the polls of the Obasanjo/Atiku presidential ticket are the very ones now so quick to renounce the very people who worked tirelessly to help get them there.
“Finally, I cannot but end this letter without adding a note of caution. It would appear that in the quest by certain elements in our body polity to have their way by any means necessary, decorum, truth, due process, individual rights, and the sanctity and inviolability of our constitution, have all become casualties, sacrificed on the altar of convenience, all in the name of achieving the dastardly goals these agents of calumny have set for themselves. This is wrong. This is dangerous. This cannot be allowed to continue. “We must remember that power is bestowed by God and conferred by the dear citizens of this country. Atiku Abubakar is only one man. That he occupies the position of Vice-President today is by the grace of God. That he will occupy any position other than that which he holds today can only be, if it is bestowed by God and conferred by the citizens of this country.
“In the unrelenting quest to destroy Atiku Abubakar, we should be careful not to destroy the office he holds – that of the office of Vice-President, and all our other structures and our constitution, because the office does not belong to Atiku Abubakar and, one day, he surely will relinquish it. If we destroy all of these just because of Atiku Abubakar, what is the future for our democracy? What is the future for our country? What is the future for our children and generations yet unborn?”
Although the letter urged the National Assembly to not only throw the reports before them out, it also warned the members on possible trampling on the Nigerian constitution by those out to stop him. The intention of the letter has been the subject of discussion in Abuja weekend.
Balancing out impressions
While those loyal to his political cause saw the letter as the right step for him to balance out impressions at the National Assembly as the president had submitted indicting reports against him, part of the balancing must have resulted in the leaking of information concerning the five million naira allegedly collected by the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmadu Ali, to promote the professorial chair endowed in his name at the University of Markurdi.
The money was equally alleged to have been sourced from the controversial Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF an agency alleged to be with the big purse to oil every top politician’s personal fancies. Speaking on the five million scandal at the weekend, Alhaji Adamu Maina Waziri, the PTDF executive secretary, disclosed that the money was paid out for the purpose of supporting the Ali professorial chair but that the agency later realized the implication of the aid in view of the political office occupied by the national chairman and requested for the money to be refunded. He said that the money was returned to the purse of the organization, June 29, a month after it was paid out.
Basically, the Atiku letter and revelations so far made have shown that contrary to the advice being given by the Vice President against destroying the office which he occupies, both Obasanjo and himself seem to have been acting in a way indicating a complete compromise of the offices of the president and the vice. The only difference now is that while Obasanjo has used his office to expose official abuse of office on the part of the Vice President, the latter has been using the court of public opinion to do same on the part of his boss, whose aide, it was allegedly, last week, had bought the houses which they officially occupy within the Aso Rock grounds.
It was even alleged that one of the female aides had committed about N157 million to the renovation of her house. There is more to be disclosed given the spate of revelations made at the National Assembly during the public hearings. The OPL 245, the ALSCON sales, the Ajaokuta concessioning, the National Iron Ore Mining concession, the Aladja Steel problem and a whole lot which the House Committee had heard tales of official abuse of office and nothing concrete had been done. It is apparent in view of the disclosure so far that while the Vice President may be negotiating a soft exit from the web, Nigerians would need to be much more circumspect in the choice of next President and Vice at the next polls.