Former President Olusegun Obsanjo has
sensationally linked the travails of Nuhu Ribadu,
former chairman of the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC), to his refusal to
marry late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s
daughter.
Yar’Adau’s daughters were famous for marrying
big political figures, mostly governors.
Ribadu, then an assistant inspector general of
police, was removed as EFCC chairman, demoted
to the rank of deputy commissioner of police and
eventually dismissed after a face-off with
Yar’Adua.
It was generally believed then that Ribadu’s
refusal to terminate the corruption trial of James
Ibori, former governor of Delta state and
Yar’Adua’s close ally, was responsible for his
travails.
While not dismissing the link, Obasanjo has also
suggested that Ribadu’s refusal to marry
Yar’Adua’s daughter could have contributed to his
maltreatment by the former president who died in
2010.
He also wrote in “My Watch”, his three-
volume memoirs launched on Tuesday, that
Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi, thought to be the most
powerful man in Yar’Adua’s government, had a
fall-out with Ribadu over a woman who was said
to be more interested in the former EFCC
chairman.
Obasanjo further alleged that Babagana Kingibe
had a personal fall-out with Nasir el-Rufai over
the infidelity of one of Kingibe’s wives.
The retired general wrote: “It was revealed, for
instance, that Tanimu’s main reason for wanting
to fight Nuhu to a standstill was the allegation
that a woman he was interested in marrying was
showing more interest in Nuhu! I understand that
Tanimu, in the end, married the lady, and I
wondered if that would be the end of the war of
attrition against Nuhu.
“This was about the same time that Umaru
encouraged Nuhu to marry one of his daughters,
an idea which Nuhu spurned. Could that have
been partly responsible for Umaru’s fury?
“The Kingibe case as revealed is quite similar to
Tanimu’s, as a woman is at the centre of it also.
Nasir el-Rufai was accused of knowingly
harbouring a boyfriend of one of Kingibe’s wives
in his guest house, where this wife and her
boyfriend would meet.
“If Nasir chose to make his house available to his
friend out of hospitality, one wonders if he could
also determine which guest, male or female, his
friend would receive. It would have been a
different case if Nasir himself was accused of
dating Kingibe’s wife!”
Obasanjo further narrated how he was “blacked
out” of Yar’Adua’s government at the instance of
a “cabal”.
The former head of state revealed that a very
close friend of the Villa and a member of
Yar’Adua’s inner circle, a minister from Katsina,
spent two nights in his house in Abeokuta after
Yar’Adua’s death.
“What he told me, which may or may not have
been true, was astounding, and for me another
good lesson. It was sickening how Tanimu and
Kingibe used government instruments at their
disposal to settle personal scores.
“At first, it was the same men now in the
corridors of power, like Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi and
Baba Kingibe, who suddenly remembered ‘the evil’
I had done them in the past, which they wanted
to avenge. For Tanimu, whom I appointed
Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank
of Nigeria on the recommendation of then
Governor Umaru Yar’Adua, my offence was that I
did not appoint him to run and handle the
Yar’Adua Presidential Campaign and manage the
campaign fund. From what I had seen of his
performance at the Federal Mortgage Bank, I
would not have made or allowed such an
appointment.
“For Baba Kingibe his grouse, I came to hear, was
that I had advised Umaru Yar’Adua to consider
the background of the man he was proposing to
appoint as the secretary to the government of the
federation. Baba was rejected by the government
of Cameroon, at one time, when he was proposed
as Nigerian Ambassador; and when Shehu
Yar’Adua and I were in Kirikiri Prison, Shehu did
not have any good thing to say about Baba
Kingibe.
“Umaru Yar’Adua told Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi and
Baba Kingibe my impression of them and they
went up in arms, aided and supported by two
governors – Bukola Saraki and James Ibori – for
their own personal and selfish reasons. There
were other men and women who played
supporting roles. I was neither worried nor have
apologies for my views and impressions, which
are well grounded in evidence.”
Obasanjo said Yar’Adua later sacked Kingibe
when “overambition was noticed by his boss” at a
time ill-health was taking its toll on the late
president’s work.
With Yar’Adua’s health getting worse, intrigues
ensured and members of the “cabal” went after
anyone they perceived as close to Obasanjo,
including the VP, Goodluck Jonathan, who was
starved of information and access to the
president.
Obasanjo wrote: “Tanimu confided in his friend,
saying that they all realised that it was only a
matter of time; the centre would not hold.
Everybody then decided to make money for
themselves before the centre collapsed; and they
did so while the No. 2 man in government knew
little or nothing about what was going on.
“He was kept in the dark.
Government had been
privatised by the cabal. For the whole of this
period, the vice president could not chair a
cabinet meeting, and he did not know how long
the president would be away. During my
administration, my VP chaired cabinet meetings
any Wednesday that I was not physically in
Abuja; and why not, after all if anything serious
happened to me the VP should take over
automatically.
“In this case, however, Yar’Adua’s VP was not
even briefed of the president travelling out of the
country. He was starved of funds for the
maintenance of his office and residence and, in
fact, unimaginably, was later called in to see the
dead body of the president on his death bed. I
know the plight of the VP because, on a few
occasions, I had to encourage him to bear it by
being patient.”
Obasanjo said the party also attacked him.
He wrote: “The amendment to the Peoples
Democratic Party’s Constitution, which puts a
former president who is a product of PDP as the
chairman of the party’s board of trustees, was
spearheaded by then Governors James Ibori,
Makarfi and Chief Tony Anenih.
Whatever their
reason for that constitutional amendment, I was
the one available to occupy the post.
“But when Umaru and members of his cabal,
along with their associates, set about pulling
down Obasanjo, they pursued it to the board of
trustees. Chief Tony Anenih and James Ibori were
fellow travellers. I personally gained nothing from
being chairman of the board of trustees (BOT). If
anything, it cost me in terms of time, resources,
and effort to settle quarrels and feuds within the
party.
“Nevertheless, I have derived benefits from the
party as I became elected president of Nigeria on
its platform; therefore, I should contribute
whatever I can to the fortunes and sustenance of
the party. But, having participated actively in
bringing up my successor and my successor’s
successor, I believe that I have adequately paid
my dues. Nobody in Goodluck Jonathan’s camp,
or sponsored or encouraged by them, is
clamouring for my bowing out, but I personally
believe in doing so while the ovation is loudest.”
Thecable.
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