Probe me and leave my aides,Obasanjo tells Fed. Govt

The cold war between former President
Olusegun Obasanjo and the Goodluck
Jonathan Administration came again to
the fore on Sunday at a thanksgiving
service held in honour of a former
Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, in
Abuja.
At the service that had many eminent
Nigerians, including a former Head of the
Service of the Federation, Steve
Oronsaye, and ex-Attorney General of
Federation and Minister of Justice, Kanu
Agabi, in attendance, Obasanjo said if the
Goodluck Jonathan administration was
keen on probing his government, it
should come after him instead of people
that served under him.
He also flayed the plan by the Federal
Government to set up a pipeline
protection agency, saying it was another
avenue for corruption.
But Obasanjo's comments drew the ire of
the Presidency which said no past
administration, either past or present,
should be afraid of probe. It also advised
the former President to allow Jonathan to
do his work.
The former leader had at the 50th
birthday thanksgiving service for
Ezekwesili, said, "I have always said this,
whatever you want to blame in my
government, blame me; don't blame any
of those people who assisted me. If there
is any credit to dispense, we share it. But
for anything you want to say is wrong, I
was the one in charge and I was in
charge."
Obasanjo, whose comments were
necessitated by the war of words
between Ezekwesili, and the Presidency
over the $67bn the Jonathan
administraion inherited from his
government, said he had absolute trust in
those that worked under him, especially
as ministers.
Ezekwesili's claim that the Federal
Government squandered the sum was
described by the Presidency as reckless.
Turning to the former Education minister,
Obasanjo said he was sure nothing would
be found against her because of her
integrity and commitment to public
service.
He said, "Actually those who wanted to
probe you (Ezekwesili), you should have
asked them to go ahead because if they
are honest, they would find out that the
government should give you money for
what you have done for this country
without stealing money."
Obasanjo, who is the immediate past
Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party
Board of Trustees, then faced Oronsaye,
Agabi, a former Central Bank of Nigeria
Governor, Charles Soludo; and ex-
Minister of Information, Frank Nweke Jnr.,
and said, "When I look at you, I thank
God for making you available to serve in
my administration, to serve Nigeria and
serve God at the time you did."
But he faulted Agabi's earlier call at the
service for the establishment of a
National Commission for Integration,
saying it was not necessary. According to
him, the entire 1999 Constitution is for
integration.
"What else do you need. You have a
constitution that is intended to integrate
the country. You have the Federal
Character Commissiom for instance. What
is that one meant to do? It is for
integration. The entire constitution is all
about integrating this country. If at all we
failed to use it, it can even be said that
we have breached the constitution. You
don't need a commission for integration,"
Obasanjo added.
On the planned agency for pipeline
protection, the former President said it
would be another avenue for corruption.
"This (Sunday) morning, I was travelling
from Abeokuta and I was listening to a
radio station when I heard that they
(government) are going to set up an
agency for pipeline protection. Now, what
are the police for? What are all the
security agencies that we have doing? This
is another chop chop .
For those advocating change in Nigeria,
Obasanjo said they must be prepared to
take insults.
"I just hope that we will get it right. We
have no choice, we have to get it right.
Let us decide individually that 'I would do
what I have to do to bring about change
in Nigeria.' If you do that, let me assure
you, you will be called names; you will be
abused; some people are hired to do
that. But like Oby (Ezekwesili) say what
you believe is right and stand by it.
But the Special Adviser to the President
on Political Matters, Dr. Ahmed Gulak,
responded to Obasanjo's comments,
saying that any administration could be
probed.
Gulak, in an interview with one of our
correspondents, argued that even the
current administration was being probed
regularly by the legislative arm of
government.
He added, " This administration and past
administrations can be probed. Nobody
should be afraid of probe."
On Obasanjo's description of the planned
pipeline protection agency as another
chop chop, Gulak said as an
elderstatesman, Obasanjo should not just
criticise government for its sake, but
should proffer solutions if indeed he loves
the country.
He said since Obasanjo was not the
present President, he should allow the
incumbent to concentrate on his job.
Gulak said, "The former President is
entitled to his opinion; but he is not the
President. He should allow the President
to do his work. People should stop
making derogatory statements about the
President. There is only one President in
the country today and we should all
support him.
"People should not just be criticising
government. As an elderstatesman, if he
indeed loves this country, he should
proffer solutions rather than criticising."
Some aides of the former President-
Hassan Lawal, Nasir el-Rufa, Femi Fani-
Kayode, and Adeyanju Bodunde - are
currently being tried for various offences.
While Lawal, a former Minister of Works,
is being prosecuted for N75bn fraud, el-
Rufai, an ex- Minister of the Federal
Capital Territory, is facing trial for irregular
land allocation and abuse of office.
Fani-Kayode, who is former Minister of
Aviation, is facing trial for money
laundering while and Bodunde, an special
assistant to Obasanjo, was in 2011
arraigned for his alleged involvement in
the $180m Harlibutton bribery scandal.
Ezekwesili had in her remarks, recalled
how her parents moulded her by teaching
her moral values. She said she could not
understand why people would wanted to
enjoy a life that they never worked for.
"I was born to parents who are from a
humble family. My daddy was a man of
uncompromising integrity. My daddy
worked in Nigeria Ports Authority. He
used to say to us that the NPA had
become a centre of corruption. That was
so many years ago. My mother talked my
father out of public service because she
was afraid for him.
"My mother used to go to what we call
bend down boutiques in Tejuosho Market
in Lagos to buy clothes for us. She knew
what they called grade one okrika (used
clothes). We did not have money. We
were poor but rich in values. Those
values shaped everything about me.
From young age, good governance and
accountability mattered to me," she told
the congregation.
Ezekwesil, who said she felt "a sense of
completion of a certain phase in my life,"
added that corruption in governance
today might not allow a child of similar
background to survive.
"In a relatively decent society, I got the
kind of education that has taken me thus
far. I was Minister of Education. A
similarly poor child, who comes from the
kind of family I came from when I was
young would not have the kind of
opportunities that I had in this same
nation.
"We must therefore build a decent society
that does not sow this terrible seed of
inequality that I see around me today.
When I see the children of drivers, the
gardeners and I see that they will not
have the kind of education and
opportunities that I had, it pains me."
On why she criticised the government
recently, she replied that "democracy is
incomplete without the engagement of
citizens in the process. The demand for
accountability and results is the right of
citizens."
In his homily, Rev. Dr. William Okoye,
appealed to Nigerians to shun corruption
and be contented.
According to him, any nation that places
values on materialism is doomed.
"Life is not about material things that
some of us are concerned about today.
Life consists of far more than that. When
people value money more than life and
God, they can do anything. The life you
live pursuing mundane things at the
expense of God has no blessing and can't
save you."