Who will arrest President Olusegun Obasanjo for corruption? He has reportedly returned N50 million to the EFCC, part of the kickback disbursed from the Plateau State ecological fund by Governor Joshua Dariye, who screamed out about the deal to ward off alleged victimization by the Obasanjo administration.
Fresh facts have emerged on the genesis of the battle for supremacy between President Olusegun Obasanjo and his deputy Atiku Abubakar.
The latest exposure is the unearthing of how the duo refunded to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) N100 million, part of the N1.6 billion Plateau State ecological funds .
A member of the House of Representatives, Bashir Idris Nadabo, (ANPP, Katsina) told Sunday Independent, that the Vice President, confirmed to him and two other members of the House ,Albert Sylvanus Atiwurcha and Gabriel Yakubu Bwan (Plateau) two months ago inhis office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja that indeed the money, which was part of the Plateau State ecological fund was donated to the Obasanjo/Atiku Campaign Organisation, and that he refunded N50 million of the fund when the deal was exposed on the prompting of Obasanjo.
Obasanjo, the Vice President allegedly disclosed, also refunded the balance of N50 million, but only when his attempt to pin the entire scam on him (Atiku) failed.
Atiku, Nadabo stated ,said he refunded the money through his banks with the instruction that it must not be traced to him.
He said Atiku told the mat the meeting that why he spilled the bean was because it was no longer a big deal for him to become the president of Nigeria saying what was important was to get their support to ease Obasanjo out of government in 2007.
“So I think, the reason why I decided to expose this was because Atiku told us that it is not a big deal for him to become the president of this country and that the most important thing is to get our support in order to ease this man out. And for this information to be divulged, I think Atiku wants it to be exposed because like he had said, it is not a big deal to become president of this country; the most important thing is to expose Obasanjo and ease him out and this is very, very important.
“If Atiku wanted to keep the information close to his chest, he would have done so, but telling this kind of story to about three people, I think what he meant according to my own understanding is for this story to be told to the public, simple and clear.”
However, Nadabo who called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to revisit the case in order to establish the facts wants Obasanjo and Atiku to resign immediately since both of them were involved in the deal.
Nadabo known as a whistle blower in the House because of his penchant for squealing on sundrys cams agreed to speak on tape and insisted that nothing must be shielded from the public.
In his narration he said; “About two months ago, I was invited to see the Vice President by Hon. Albert Sylvanus Atiwurcha; he came here to pick me up; from here we went to Hon. Gabriel Yakubu Bwan (Plateau) who we also picked up, then we went to the Vice President’s residence and after some minutes in the waiting room we were ushered in, and we saw him. We had a very lively discussion. He started by telling us the genesis of his problems with President Olusegun Obasanjo .That was after 2003 elections. That he called him and told him about this third term agenda, that he wants him to support him. But according to what Atiku told us, that he told Obasanjo categorically that he should count him out. So according to him, that was where the problem started.
“He also went onto tell us certain stories especially about this N100 million in respect of Governor Joshua Dariye, which he gave to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).Actually Atiku said that it is true that Dariye gave N100 million. But before then let me tell you something, he said apart from the N100 million Dariye is being charged of certain irregularities, but Atiku told us that he advised the president that this is not how to go about it, that to hand over Dariye to EFCC or ICPC to investigate him is not the best thing since he is a governor on the platform of the PDP and he (Obasanjo) is a president on the same platform, that the best thing was to invite him to tell him what we have against him, and that the best thing was for him to go and refund the money.
“This was the advice Atiku told us he gave to the president. Then coming back to this N100million to Obasanjo/Atiku Campaign Organisation, he told us that the money was given, he confirmed it. He said even as at the time the money was given PDP was in deficit of N400 million in the account, that is the Obasanjo/Atiku Campaign Organisation, and when Dariye gave that N100 million the deficit was down to N300million.
“He went further to say that when this problem came up, he said Obasanjo called him and asked ‘What do we do? Then he said ‘I think what we should do is that you go and refund the N100 million. Atiku said he asked him why he (Atiku) should go and refund N100 million when he didn’t even have a budget. He asked me (Nadabo) if I’d ever seen the budget of his and I said no.
“He said ‘why should I refund N100 million when even the fueling of my cars, I do that from my pocket.? I said okay, I will pay N50 million and you go and refund the balance of N50 million.’ Atiku told us that about two or three days later, he went back to confirm whether the money was paid, Obasanjo said yes, that he had refunded the money and Atiku said yes I also refunded, because I went and told my bank that they should go and refund the money and that how it is refunded must not be traced back to him.
“He went further to tell us that Obasanjo went out of his way to ask people to take pictures of his house in Adamawa, and even the one in Washington DC, but he told us that Obasanjo knows that the house was not new, that he even took him to the house during the 1999 campaigns, he slept there and that he was even the first person who made N100 million contribution to PDP. He said even Obasanjo was surprised how he got the money ,and said that was not a problem. He said he told him that it was just a matter of being a party person. He said about the house in Washington, that he bought it before he became the vice president of this country and that the house was too small for him, so he instructed his company in America to make additional funds available so that he could buy another one; that was what happened.
But you know he challenged Obasanjo for making that statement. He said what of his house in his village that was a dilapidated house, but is a palace now and what of his farm that was even in debts and everything in shambles,. What is it now?
“It is a clear case of corruption because the giver has given and the receiver has received. Since he said he is fighting corruption and since he is involved in this he should resign immediately as president of this country, because this is sheer hypocrisy.
“I became furious when I read the story that Lamorde of EFCC said two companies refunded the money, but would not mention the name of the directors. That was not the true story and that was why I called you to give you the actual story. Let me tell you, since Atiku was also involved both of them should go.
But an aide of the vice president, in his explanation, told Sunday Independent that it was Atiku who actually walked up to Obasanjo and asked him to refund the money, since the president authorised the funds used for the 2003campaigns.
The aide said that it was when the president said he could not pay up the N100 million alone that Atiku agreed to pay half of the money in the hope that the matter would have been effectively resolved.
“The President paid his N50 million before the VP paid the balance”, he added.
When contacted, however, the president’s spokes person ,Mrs. Oluremi Oyo, said she had no comment.
