And Mr President fires back (1)

Aliyu Musa

In the concluding part of my commentary titled “2019 and Obasanjo’s threat” last week, I commended President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling APC for not publicly joining issues with former President Olusegun Obasanjo. I reminded that responding to Obasanjo’s similarly provocative attacks was one of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s major miscalculations in the run up to the 2015 election.

Despite repeated attempts to provoke a dirty fight, the president impressively avoided it, until earlier this week, when he charged at not only Chief Obasanjo but also Obasanjo’s immediate successor, the late Umar ‘Yar’adua and his (Buhari) immediate predecessor, Mr Jonathan. So, the dirty fight I warned of has just begun.

In his comment at the Presidential Villa while receiving members of the Buhari Support Organisation, the president said that a former president bragged about spending $16 billion on power projects during his (the former president) tenure, yet there’s nothing to show for the huge spending. Although the president did not mention any name, it was obvious that he was referring to Obasanjo.

In 2008, a House of Representatives committee probing power projects had indicted Obasanjo and recommended that he should be held to account for the reckless spending of $16 billion in the power sector during his tenure as president. The committee further recommended the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate him.

In the report the committee also indicted Chief Obasanjo’s minister of power and steel, Liyel Imoke, for over-costing the project and recommended him for investigation too. Also named in the report and recommended to EFCC and ICPC for further actions were: Alhaji Abdulhamid Ahmed, a minister of state (energy) in Obasanjo’s government; Dr Olusegun Agagu, who had served as minister of power and steel; Engineer Joseph Makoju, a former managing director of PHCN (Power Holding Company of Nigeria), among others.

Following the release of the report, as is typical of Nigeria and Nigerians, citizens across the country seemed furious, especially as it emerged that some prominent Nigerians, including former presidents/heads of state were among the beneficiaries of what was termed “fruit of mischief”. But the anger eventually fizzled out and the matter was laid to rest.

This was why, perhaps, President Buhari used the opportunity to hit back at Obasanjo, his former boss and backer in the 2015 election. In fairness to the president, Obasanjo’s attacks had become too frequent and ferocious. But, like I opined in my commentary last week, he should have been ignored, at least for now.

Predictably, the president’s statement drew Chief Obasanjo’s feral response within hours. His spokesman, Kehinde Akinyemi, dismissed President Buhari’s allegation by describing it as one “rooted in ignorance”. And in an attempt to debunk the president’s claim that there is nothing to show despite spending the amount, Obasanjo stated: “The answer is simple: the power is in the seven National Integrated Power Projects and eighteen (18) gas turbines.”

He also pointed the president “and his co-travellers” in the direction of his autobiography, My Watch, where he said he had cleared the allegation in some chapters, including 41, 42, 43 and 47. And, further spoiling for a fight, Chief Obasanjo offered to “inform the uninformed” (presumably Buhari) that he did not brag about spending $16 billion on power, arguing that it was a mere allegation against his regime.

The statement by the former president again dismissed the claim as an allegation that was started by his successor, the late Umar Yar’adua, whom he accused of failing to clear from the ports the gas turbines purchased with some of the money.

Chief Obasanjo concluded by daring anyone who doubted the outcome of the EFCC and the Hon. Aminu Tumbuwal ad hoc committee’s probing of the matter to initiate another investigation. With that, he threw the ball in President Buhari’s court.

Whether the president will take on the challenge now or at some point in the future, remains to be seen. But what is obvious is that power supply in Nigeria has continued to be embarrassingly erratic despite several claims, by different governments, of spending humongous amounts to fix the numerous problems. What is also certain is that former president did not completely deny spending any money on power during his tenure.

Another political ally and spokesman for the Obasanjo-led Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM), Akin Osuntokun, also staunchly defended the former president. Osuntokun, like Obasanjo, accused the late Yar’adua’s government of concocting the ‘rumour’. But in the same breath, the CNM spokesman admitted the Obasanjo government actually spent $6 billion on the power sector.

So, with a consistently erratic or often non-existent power supply, what has happened to the money?

(To be concluded)

This article was also published in the Blueprint newspaper of Saturday, May 26, 2018.