FORMER Head of State and Presidential Candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, in the 2011 general elections, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), yesterday dared former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd), to expose him if he had facts and insisted that IBB and other leaders played crucial roles in destroying Nigeria’s oil industry.
IBB had on Monday threatened to expose Buhari’s shady deals in the oil sector when he functioned as Petroleum Minister and later chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF, if Buhari did not shut his mouth.
Former heads of state, Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Muhammadu Buhari
On IBB specifically, Buhari, who was hosting leaders and members of the CPC, led by the House of Representatives member from Funtua/Dandume Federal Constituency of Katsina State, Dr. Mansur Abdulkadir, on Monday, said the administration of General Ibrahim Babangida was responsible for the high level of corruption and destruction in the petroleum industry.
He added that the corrupt practices in the oil sector during the eras of Babangida, Obasanjo and Jonathan had led to the enslaving of the masses.
Countering, IBB had reportedly said: “We are conversant with General Buahri’s so-called holier-than-thou attitude. He was a one-time Minister of Petroleum and we have good records of his tenure as minister. Secondly, he presided over the Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF, which records we also have. We challenge him to come out with clean hands in those two portfolios. Those, who live in glass houses, do not throw stones. General Buhari should be properly guided.”
However, Buhari insisted on his comments and dared IBB to carry out the threat of exposing him.
Decadent state of petroleum industry
Speaking through Engr. Rotimi Fashakin, the CPC spokesman, Buhari insisted he spoke the truth.He said: “The truth of the matter is that General Buhari has just stated the obvious and it is what everybody knows about the decadent state of the Nigerian Petroleum Industry. Nigerians know which regime contributed immensely to that sector. So we still insist that what General Buhari stated is the truth and if General Babangida says he has facts about General Buhari over the issue, let him bring them out.
“At least Prof Tam David West worked closely with both General Buhari and General Babangida, so Tam David West should be able to tell Nigerians who among both men actually contributed to the decadence state of the oil industry.”
Corruption blossom under Obasanjo—Falae
Reacting to the exchanges, yesterday, one-time Minister of Finance
and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae, told
Vanguard on phone that corruption reached an alarming height during Obasanjo’s administration in 1999.His words: “The people are former heads of state and to the extent that corruption had been going on for quite sometime in the country, maybe that is why he (Buhari) is holding them accountable. But I don’t know the statistics or information to either agree or disagree with him (Buhari).
“But there is corruption in the whole country; the country is awash with corruption and nobody can really know where it started from though some government functionaries can. Corruption is the biggest problem we have.
“I cannot attribute it to any particular person but this thing started in earnest since 1999 that was during the Obasanjo administration; that was when the thing really blossomed.
In the past, one suspected that a few military leaders were the ones, who had access to the money, but since we returned to civilian rule, thousands of people now got into the act: from the local to state and federal government levels. And it has been growing since then. Corruption has grown very fast since 1999.”
At a time other leaders were exonerating themselves from the decay that had been inflicted on the citizenry, Obasanjo said yesterday that his regret after eight years in power as a civilian president was that he was unable to fix the epileptic power situation of the country.
President Jonathan had on Monday dissociated his administration from the rot, saying there was no how his regime, under two years, could have destroyed all amenities and infrastructure, if his predecessors provided them after many years in power.
Obasanjo, who was speaking at the Nigeria Leadership Initiative, NLI, as Guest Speaker Forum in Lagos, said, however, that his inability to fix the power problem was as a result of lack of funds in the initial period of his administration, owing to the low price of crude oil in the international market, Nigeria’s depleted foreign reserves and huge debt burden.
He also blamed oil companies operating in the country for their non-chalant contribution towards addressing the nation’s power problem.
Some oil companies abandoned Nigeria—Obasanjo
According to Obasanjo, oil companies in Nigeria refused to contribute towards addressing the power problem, except for only one of them, Agip.
He said: “During my time as a military president, my major aim was forging a united country and a self-reliant economy. I later realised that we can only achieve that with a constitution. When I came back to power 20 years after, I also pursued the agenda of uniting Nigeria and building a self-reliant economy. I can say we achieved all that.
”However, my regret is that we did not address the power issue in the country before we left. This is mainly because of the absence of funds at that time. If the country had money at the early stage of my presidency, we would have fixed the power.
“The country’s earning was low when we came to power; crude oil was selling at about $18 – $20 per barrel. When our earning started improving, we then started the Independent Power Projects, IPP.
“The oil companies abandoned Nigeria in our drive towards addressing the power problem. They did not do what they were supposed to do in that regard. Only one oil company, Agip, supported the country”.
Asked to rate Nigeria’s current leadership, Obasanjo said, “I will not want to comment publicly on Nigeria’s leadership at the moment.”
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