A plan by some executive members of the government-sponsored Nigerian In Diaspora Organization (NIDO) to adopt former military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida, as the presidential candidate of the group at their annual conference in Minna, Babangida’s hometown, is ripping the hardly representative group apart. Saharareporters is in possession of a series of correspondence between the UK-based "leader" of the group, the owner of BENTV in London, Alistair Soyode, and otherof its leaders who are raging over last-minute shift of the annual meeting of the group to Minna. Mr. Soyode is accused of working with the ex-husband of Iyabo Obasanjo, the daughter of Nigeria’s former president, Akeem Folajimi Bello and one lady known as Folashade Arowoselu.Alistair is a well-known hustler who transverses Nigerian state capitals paying solidarity visits to corrupt public officials .
Mr. Folajimi Bello has had a fair share of ethical troubles too. In 2005, as a result of his engaging in securities malfeasance, Bello was fined about $26,000 by the National Association Of Securities Dealers (NASD), which also suspended him for one year. NASD claimed unethical practices on the part of Bello, saying he “made unsuitable recommendations to public customers and engaged in outside business activities for compensation without providing prompt written notice to his member firm.”
Bello’s suspension began on May 16, 2005, and should have concluded at the close of business on May 15, 2006. However, he left that job to run a political party in Nigeria known as New Democrats under whose banner he ran as a candidate in 2007 elections.
In 2008, NIDO was embroiled in a major land scandal involving a so-called “Diaspora Village” carved out for the organization in Abuja. There is still a series of petitions by some members who claimed the leaders of the organization duped them over the land allocated to the organization by the Obasanjo regime.
In 2007, the president of NIDO-Europe, a prominent Nigerian dentist, Dr. Femi Olojugba, was jailed for 18 months in the United Kingdom for perpetrating medial fraud.
On the subject of holding the annual meeting in Minna, two leading members of the organization have now called for a major campaign against the move by Soyode and his group to sell “NIDO” to Babangida. The members are Benson Osawe and Nweke Collins. In several emails to other members, they have waged a strong battle against Mr. Soyode and his cohorts, insisting that the Diaspora Day event, which is aimed at marking Nigeria’s 50th Independence anniversary, remain in Abuja.
Babangida’s campaign to return to the presidency has attracted widespread condemnation by Nigerians. Based on the high level of rejection of his candidacy, IBB, as he is widely known, had by last week began to jettison the idea, but sources told Saharareporters that he sees an interview held by Soyode’s BENTV outfit to whitewash IBB’s horrendous record is seen as a ray of hope. His minions also calculate that if Nigerians in the “Diaspora” led by Mr. Soyode endorse him, he would use that as a basis for re-igniting his suffocating campaign.
