Ambassador Maisule described the EFCC under Olusegun Obasanjo as a tool to attack opposition
- He said Atiku was intimidated by the EFCC for not backing the former president's third term bid
- The diplomat claimed Representatives received bribe from Obasanjo
Ambassador Ibrahim Maisule has criticised the anti-corruption campaign championed by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo during his tenure as president describing it as a tool to intimidate opposition.
In an interview with Vanguard, the former ambassador who served during the administration of Obasanjo said the creation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was used to deal with people who did not support his third term bid
Maisule lashes at Obasanjo over anti-corruption crusade
Maisule said former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, was intimidated by the EFCC because he did not support Obasanjo’s third term agenda
The former diplomat claimed that some members of the House of Representative received money from Obasanjo to support his bid.
He said: “The following check list puts a question mark on the anti-corruption policy of the Obasanjo administration: Was it a war against corruption or war against political opponents? Despite his publicly declared policy to fight corruption, former President Obasanjo abused public trust by using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to deal with perceived political enemies. The political interference got so bad that the House of Representatives threatened to amend the EFCC Act to remove the agencies from the control of the President.
In fact, the Uwais Committee on Electoral Reforms, set up by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, had recommended that the power to appoint the EFCC Chairman should be exercised by the Chief Justice of the Federation.
Obasanjo didn’t stop there. He manufactured the so-called EFCC indictment list, which contained names of politicians he wanted disqualified from contesting the 2007 polls. Independent National Electoral Commission used the indictment list to disqualify former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from contesting the election.
The courts however told Iwu that INEC had no power to disqualify candidates and that only the courts had such power.
Obasanjo also used EFCC to impeach governors who fell out of favour with him. Peter Odili would have been the PDP candidate in 2007, but Obasanjo used the EFCC to disqualify him.
Obasanjo also sent EFCC after a bank in Lagos and Abuja in search of the so-called billions Atiku allegedly stole. At the end of the raids, the EFCC didn’t tell Nigerians how much of Atiku’s alleged stolen billions they recovered. Obasanjo’s third term project was also financed through alleged corruption.
Some lawmakers were allegedly bribed to vote in favour of his ambition to continue in office by amending the Constitution to remove term limits. The bid was defeated on May 16, 2006, despite the alleged bribes.
A former governor of Jigawa State alleged that he gave N10billion to the Obasanjo third term project out of the N30billion he was alleged to have diverted from the state. Obasanjo used alleged corruption to remove principal officers of the National Assembly such as Dr. Chuba Okadigbo but failed to remove Alhaji Ghali Umar Na’Abba from office.
In fact, the famous Ghana-must-go saga in the House of Representatives cannot be forgotten in a hurry. Those were bags of money allegedly offered by Obasanjo’s proxies to the members of the House to have their leadership removed. Despite his pretence to fighting corruption, Obasanjo, in 2002, unceremoniously removed a former acting Auditor General of the Federation, Mr. Vincent Azi, because of his unfavourable report on the Obasanjo Presidency.
The withdrawal of corruption charges against a former federal permanent secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Mr. Julius Makanjuola, through a nolle prosequi notwithstanding public outcry, was part of the hypocrisy of the Obasanjo anti-corruption war. On the whole,
Obasanjo anti-corruption effort was intended to fool Nigerians and the international community. He started fighting Atiku because he didn’t support his third term ambition.
credit: naij.com
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