Daily Trust (Nigeria) [14/11/12]
Written by Candid Joe
What are the security agencies and the courts waiting for when a man publicly admits, not once but twice, that he had material evidence to the committing of electoral offences, to wit rigging?
Let me be clearer. Last Monday, speaking at a seminar organized by the National Institute for Legislative Studies in Abuja, former president Olusegun Obasanjo threw what he thought was a good joke at former Kano State governor Malam Ibrahim Shekarau. To provide a little context, Shekarau defeated the incumbent PDP governor in Kano in the 2003 elections when Obasanjo was the president.
At this seminar, Obasanjo looked at Shekarau and said, “I want to thank former Governor Shekarau for what happened to him in Kano. What he did not know, which he may want to know today, is that he won that election with a very narrow margin and if I had yielded to pressure, that narrow margin would have been changed. He didn’t know that somebody wanted me to talk to the electoral body but I refused to do so.”
Material evidence of electoral malpractice! Who was it that wanted him to “talk” to INEC, which he said he refused to do? Okay, in case he wanted to do so, in what capacity would he have spoken to INEC? This is the final evidence, if anyone was looking for one, that during his years in power Obasanjo arrogated to himself the power to determine who was allowed to win an election anywhere in this country.
Anyway, Shekarau responded quickly through his spokesman and said Obasanjo actually tried to change the election result, which resulted in many days’ delay before Kano was “called” for Shekarau that year. It was the returning officer who refused to change the result, Shekarau said.
This was not the first time that Obasanjo confessed to being an accessory to election rigging, sometimes after the fact, sometimes before the fact. Back in 2004, during the saga when “godfather” Chris Ubah abducted Anambra State governor Chris Ngige, Obasanjo told a strange story. He said the two of men were arguing in his presence and Ubah told Ngige that he rigged the 2003 Anambra election in his behalf. Obasanjo said Ngige acknowledged this, “So I sent them out of my house”!
He did not report what he heard to the police. Now he is admitting that someone asked him to alter the Kano election result and he did not hand the man over to the police. Who said we are still looking for the source of election rigging in Nigeria?
One cleric, one private jet
At the rate at which Nigerian clerics are acquiring private jets, very soon there may not be enough space over Nigeria for our native vultures or even small birds to fly.
Earlier this week, the convener of Save Nigeria Group, Pastor Tunde Bakare, criticized the acquisition of private jets by religious leaders in this country. According to him, religious leaders contributed to runaway corruption in this country by amassing wealth when majority of persons in their flocks cannot afford three square meals a day.
Bakare was obviously referring to Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria [CAN] who last week received the gift of a 10-seater, Canadian-made Bombardier private jet to mark his 40th anniversary as a pastor. It was given to him by members of his Word of Life Bible Church. Before him, several General Overseers of this country’s leading evangelical churches were reported by the newspapers to own private jets.
Bakare is crying out in vain. As he spoke, we hear that several other leading clerics are scrambling to receive gifts of Bombardier, Gulfstream, Fokker, Boeing or other types of jets in time for various anniversaries. Very soon, there will be as many clerical private jets over Nigeria as there are vultures at the abattoir.
No more ‘doctrines of necessity’
Who are those yabi men and women who are saying that Governor Danbaba Suntai of Taraba has been unable to perform his duties for getting to 21 days now and there should be an Acting Governor in Jalingo in line with the amended Constitution? Some people in Enugu are saying that Governor Sullivan Chime has been out of the country for a period two and a half times longer than Suntai has been out. Suntai of course was involved in a plane crash while Chime is enjoying his “accumulated leave,” according to Enugu State Government officials.
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