Fayose challenges ex-President Obasanjo over the source of wealth.

President Muhammadu Buhari may have resolved to move against former President Oluse­gun Obasanjo, following moves to probe the controversial launch of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Li­brary by Bells University. Huge sums of money were donated by top business­men, leading private and government institutions, especially top govern­ment contractors and public officers.

This is even as outspoken Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose yester­day asked the ex-President to explain the sources of his stu­pendous wealth.
Already, President Buhari’s directive to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to reopen investigation into the Halliburton scandal over which foreign consortium of companies allegedly bribed top Nigerian government of­ficials with over $180million in order to win the contract to build the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas plant has begun to yield result.
The EFCC is also to look into all the other unresolved corrup­tion matters involving federal government officials and insti­tutions.

Sources in The Presidency said yesterday that President Buhari is piqued by the ava­lanche of petitions he has re­ceived concerning the Obasan­jo Presidential Library which the former President (Obasanjo) launched as a library scheme code-named Presidential Li­brary for the Bells Educational Services. The event took place on May 14, 2005 at Abeokuta and over N8.5 billion was re­alised from donors.
Some of the prominent do­nors at the event include busi­ness moguls Dr Mike Adenuga (N350 million), Mr Femi Ot­edola (N250 million) and Alhaji Aliko Dangote (N220 million); consortium of banks (N1.9 bil­lion) and consortium of oil com­panies (N2.4 billion).
Among the petitioners to the Obasanjo Library project is a Non-Governmental Organisa­tion (NGO) called Human and Environmental Development Agenda(HEDA), which had pe­titioned the Code of Conduct Bureau alleging infraction of the Code of Conduct for public of­ficers as contained in the consti­tution against former President Olusegun Obasanjo while he was in office.
The body specifically accused Obasanjo of “abuse of power contrary to Items 6, 9 and 13 of the Code of Conduct for public officers as contained in Part 1, Fifth Schedule of the constitu­tion”.
The NGO insisted that Bells Educational Services is wholly owned by Obasanjo Holdings Ltd owned by former President Obasanjo and so should not have allegedly benefited from public fund the way it did, us­ing its founder who was then in government.
According to the source: “This NGO forwarded several petitions to former President Goodluck Jonathan. But be­cause he did not want to be seen as the one who would go for the jugular of a prominent leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after the bashing he re­ceived for allowing EFCC take up the Chief Olabode George petition, even though Obasanjo did not show any respect for him after he refused to be dictated to by Obasanjo.

“This same group did not stop there. Immediately President Buhari took over office, they in­undated him with petitions on the matter, insisting that except he revisits the OPL and Halli­burton issues among others, he would not be taken by them as being serious in his public pro­nouncement on the war against corruption”.

It was as a result of the pressure mounted by this group and oth­ers that Buhari reportedly asked the EFCC to reopen investigation on this and similar matters.

It was also learnt that Mike Okiro, the current Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), who was Deputy Inspec­tor-General of Police (DIG) and who headed the investigation team on the Halliburton issue, was also asked to tell EFCC ev­erything that could assist the commission get to the bottom of the matter.

Just last Thursday, one of the personalities who was fingered on the Halliburton issue, a Se­nior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Damian Dodo, was invited and quizzed for several hours at the EFCC headquarters by the new investigation team. Head of EFCC media unit, Wilson Uwujiaren, confirmed Dodo’s interrogation on the matter, but would not provide detail.

 It is recalled that the Halliburton scam was all about alleged payment of over $180 million to some top Nigerians, including, past heads of states, by officials of an American firm, Halliburton, to secure a construction contract for a liquefied natural gas plant in Bonny Island in the Niger Delta. This company had been convicted by the US judicial system over the bribery scam.
Similarly, several foreigners involved in the Halliburton scam have been prosecuted in their home countries in Eu­rope, but Nigerian government have not prosecuted anybody involved in the matter. How­ever, reports say current presi­dent, Muhammadu Buhari, has asked the EFCC to restart in­vestigation into the matter.
We gathered that Dodo was interrogated over his alleged re­ceipt of $26 million from Hal­liburton, along with some for­mer ministers and some other SANs.

He was pointedly said to have received $4.5million through his law firm, DD Dodo and Co. from multinational companies involved in the deal, purport­edly as legal fees, from which he reportedly withdrew more than $2million in cash for pur­poses the investigators want him to explain which they feel have to do with a violation of the money laundering regu­lations. Dodo informed that money he received was legal fees paid for his professional services.
It would be recalled also that in the US, Halliburton and its former subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), entered a guilty plea and agreed to pay $579 million fine. This was the largest corruption settlement ever paid by a US company to secure contracts in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, has fired a salvo at former President Olusegun Obasanjo, querying his source of wealth and claiming that Obasanjo siphoned public funds.
Fayose who granted a media interview weekend, described President Muhammadu Buhari as clueless about the state of the Nigerian economy.
His words: “I am the longest-serving governor, I’ve served in Obasanjo’s administration. I told everybody, when Obasanjo left prison, did he declare his assets? The library now today, where did the money come from,” he asked.
“His house that he built in Abeokuta, where did the money come from? Even Buhari himself, he declared cattle herds and mud houses, he said he doesn’t have money. From which account did the money for the campaign come from?
“We are fooling ourselves, because he’s in power today, to say he’s the one prosecuting; somebody else might be there tomorrow. It’s unfortunate that men of honour of yesterday are quiet today.”
The governor alleged that Obasanjo shared money to senators from his state during his failed third-term plan, stressing the former president is a veteran who cannot be scared of Buhari’s anti-corruption war.
“During the third-term agenda that money was given to senators and reps, they were given in my state. It is good to Obasanjo to come to the television every day and celebrate himself, or go to prostrate at the villa. Let me tell you expressly, the truth would find all of us out at some point.”
Fayose who buttressed his assertions quoting Hebrews 13:6, said he could not be afraid of whatever Buhari could do to him, saying: “…because we have God, we fear not what man would do to us.”
The governor called on Buhari to “stop the noise about corruption” and concentrate on the economy,” saying the president seems to have no plan for diversification while investing billions in the search for oil in the north.
“Last month, I got N1.3 billion; my wage bill is N2.6 billion, asides security, electricity, water and basic essential services to the people. Do I use this money for diversification at the expense of the people? No, I can’t.
It’s not impossible, it’s an uphill task. “My first counsel to the federal government is that he should stop the noise about corruption, he should concentrate on the economy. Rebuild this economy.
“You want to diversify, you’re still putting over N100 billion, over N150 billion to exploring oil in the north. It shows a leader that is sectional. When we want to diversify, we diversify the country’s economy, not an economy that is sectional.
“If anybody is telling you he can create any jobs in this economy, he is lying. I don’t want to come before this camera and tell Nigerians lies. My wings are clipped financially.”
“The only thing I’m trying to do in Ekiti is to make sure I plan trees everywhere, economic trees; in 10 years it would become of great benefit. It is difficult for me to come before the camera to start telling you I’m creating jobs.”
Fayose disclosed that he had been paying one-month salaries with allocations from two months: “In my prediction, I said it that Buhari does not have clue, he’s still in an analogue stage, he does not have clue about the economy of Nigeria. I’m saying it expressly; the president does not understand the economy.

“If you understand the economy, you can do everything simultaneously, without rocking the boat of the whole country. You go out of the country to tell the world your country is corrupt, you destroy your own people. Who would come and do business with them?” he stressed.