Lawan-Otedola $620,000 bribe: More riddles surface

By Yusuf Alli, Abuja.

lawan and otedola

Prosecution team raises 114 posers vital to trial of suspects

FAROUK Lawan, the suspended Chairman of the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy, and three others may not have their day in court so soon, it emerged yesterday. 
They are to be tried for the alleged $620,000 bribery allegation made by businessman Femi Otedola. 
But the trial is being put on hold because the police need to do more investigation in the matter.
The others are the bribe giver, Otedola, the clerk of the committee, Mr. Boniface Emenalo, and the Chairman of the House Committee on Drugs, Narcotics, Mr. Adam Jagaba.
The police have been advised to quiz all members of the House Committee on Ad Hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy Regime, when Lawan was the chairman, for more insight into the matter.
To be quizzed are Ali Babatunde Ahmad, James Faleke, Alphonsus Irona, Umar Abubakar Sade, Eucharia Azodo, Abbas Tajudeen and John Eno.
It was learnt that the prosecution is of the opinion that police investigation has not resolved how the $620,000 was sourced; the manner in which the “sting operation” was conducted; why the money was offered piecemeal and the whereabouts of the cash.
Another area of focus  is all the local and international call logs of Otedola and Lawan.
According to sources, the prosecution team, led by Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), has concluded that all the actors have more questions to answer.
A source, who spoke in confidence, said: “There is already a request for additional investigation of all the key actors in the bribery saga before trial can commence.
“The whole essence of more investigation is to bring all suspects to book and present a water-tight case before the court that will try the case.
“Already, the two suspects recommended for trial (Lawan and Emenalo) by the police have been slated for arraignment under the ICPC Act.
“It is also established that they will be tried in the High Court of Justice of the Federal Capital Territory.
“The preparation for the trial made the AGF to exercise his powers under Section 26 of the ICPC Act to delegate Awomolo to prosecute suspects with prima facie case against them.
The section reads: “Prosecution for an offence under this Act shall be initiated by the Attorney-General of the Federation or any person or authority to whom he shall delegate his authority, in any superior court of record so designated by the Chief Judge of a State or the Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja under Section 61(3) of this Act; and every prosecution for an offence under this Act or any other law prohibiting bribery, corruption, fraud or any other related offence shall be deemed to be initiated by the Attorney-General of the Federation.”
But preparatory to the trial, about 114 questions or areas have been isolated for additional investigation by the Police.
Some of the new areas of additional investigation are as follows: 
•A Certified True Copy of the letter of complaint by Otedola
•Was there a register for the Serial Nos of the $620,000 given to Otedola or was there a photocopy of the USD100 bills given to Mr. Femi Otedola?
•Did Otedola sign for the monies he received from the SSS? Where are the CTC of the register, records and photocopies of the bills?.
•If the demand for $100,000 or $120,000 by Emenalo was reported to the SSS, Where are the records of the report? Case file opened by the SSS in relation to the investigation of demand for bribe by Farouk Lawan from Otedola, if any, a copy.
•Call logs of telephone calls and text messages between Otedola and Farouk. Call logs between Otedola/Farouk/Emenalo before, during and after demand and receipt of bribe i.e. (January – June 2012).Call logs between Emenalo and Farouk Lawan between January – June 2012. Call logs between Emenalo and Otedola between January – June 2012.
•Otedola and the Secretary (Emenalo Boniface). April/May.
•The documents given by Otedola to the Committee.
•Zenon/AP memo to the committee.
•Call logs of Otaru and Emenalo as well as Emenalo and Otedola. April/May.
•Lawan’s Protea Hotel bills for April, 2012 (not just one day).
•Resolutions of the House which directed investigation into the bribery allegation;
•Written statements to the police of the persons named in a letter from the Office of the Speaker dated 20th June, 2012.
A document obtained last night showed the specific gaps to be filled by all the key actors.
On Lawan, the document states: “Additional statement should be obtained from Mr. Farouk Lawan so that he can explain the following:  The procedure followed by the Ad Hoc Committee for taking decisions with respect to indictment of the oil marketers before 24th April 2012.
“Whether such decisions were reflected in minutes of the meeting and if there is CTC of such minutes.
“To confirm whether the decision of April 24, 2012 to remove the names of ‘Zenon Oil’ and ‘Synopsis’ was by the committee and whether the Committee followed the usual decision making procedure of the committee pre-18th April 2012.
“To confirm the telephone numbers he used in calling Otedola at all times between April and May 2012.
“What were Otedola’s telephone numbers with which he called Lawan from London ? When Otedola submitted a copy of the PPPRA subsidy scam report to him, what did he do with the report?”
The document also explained that Lawan would have to “make comments on the statement of the Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, with respect to: the failure to mention the names of persons who attempted to bribe him; on the suggestion of Lamorde for a sting operation by EFCC, why he declined; the non-disclosure to Lamorde of the earlier $500,000 he collected;  the non-disclosure of the money his secretary collected from Femi Otedola on April 24, 2012; Where is the $100,000 and whether he saw the whole $600,000 with the House Committee set up to investigate the allegation of bribery.
“Lawan should confirm whether on 23rd of April, he reported the $250,000 to any person (first installment, $250,000 at Apo ; second Installment by 2am at Otedola’s house and 10am at Otedola’s house by the Secretary:
“Farouk to confirm whether and when he added the sum brought by Emenalo to the rest of the money.”
On Otedola, the document said: “He should be contacted so that he can provide the following: Copies of documents he submitted to Farouk Lawan after the public hearing investigation to clear his companies AP and Zenon Oil (with a view to comparing them with what the House supplied).
“All the telephone numbers he used in communicating with Farouk Lawan or any other person related to this matter. Cautionary words to his statement or compliance with the rules.
“To confirm whether SSS gave him the money in bulk or in bits of $20, $250, $120. Whether Otedola signed for the money at SSS, with particular serial numbers or whether the SSS has a photocopy of the US dollar bills.
“A copy of memo/documents by AP, ZENON and FORTE Oil submitted to the ad-hoc committee (presentation) by the MD, Mr. Otaru. He is to confirm whether the $120,000.00 requested for by the secretary was for Lawan or for himself as the secretary of the Committee.
“To confirm whether it was the secretary who called him or he (Otedola) who called the secretary (who initiated the call?).
“To confirm how many video cameras were used for the coverage of the said sting operation. Where are copies of the recordings? How many bundles were the $120,000.00; whether only two bundles of $50,000 bills were given to Emenalo and account for the $20,000. The number of times he was visited by Mr. Emenalo.
“He should throw more light on why he went to the SSS and not the other anti-graft agencies? (To prepare for cross examination). Why did he take the first $250,000 to Farouk’s hotel? (To prepare for cross examination).
“Was there any lunch on 20th April in his house involving himself, Farouk and a former EFCC chairman and to comment on Lawn’s statement of 14/06/2012. He is also to comment on the allegation of plane load of 2.5million USD he is alleged to have made to Lawan. To confirm audio recording of Otedola with Farouk, where it is, and the copies.
Emenalo is “requested to make additional statement so that he can explain the following: Rules of the Procedure of the Committee, the function of the secretariat. Documents submitted by Otedola to Farouk Lawan on 24/04/2012. Whether he was the “secretariat” consulted by Lawan on 24th April, 2012 which led to the removal of “Zenon Oil” from the list of companies formerly indicted by the Committee. Whether the alteration of the report was a decision of the whole Committee or by Lawan alone. Whether the secretariat has the minutes of the meetings of the Committee where decisions were taken. And the address of Otedola in Maitama that he visited.
On the $120,000, Emenalo is expected to explain “the purpose of the money – was it a gift for him as secretary of the committee? Or if the $120,000 or $100,000 was for him or for Lawan and why he did not report to Police, SSS or clerk of the House of Representatives, who is his boss. The location of the $620,000?
On the Chairman of the House Committee on  Financial Crimes, Narcotics and Drugs, Mr. Adam Jagaba, the document said: : “There is need to obtain additional statement from this witness so that he can explain the following: The history of his health, with records. His functions as Chairman of House Committee on Financial Crimes, Drugs etc. The procedure his committee adopted previously when it received a report of bribe and how same was repeated, if any. Procedure his Committee adopted in treating the report by Farouk Lawan (if any).
“Whether his Committee received and kept the exhibit money. Did he see the money on the 6th June, 2012 and whose custody was the money after the meeting?”
As for the other members of the House Ad Hoc Committee, they might be grilled on what they knew about the bribery deal if any.
The document added: “Take cautionary statement from each and every member of the Ad Hoc Committee on Subsidy Regime to show: (a) The procedure followed in arriving at decisions concerning the indicted companies, the procedure for removing the indicted companies from the list, especially the removal of ‘Zenon Oil’ and a “Synopsis” on the 24th of April 2012. (b) Whether the procedures established in (a) above were followed in respect of both.(c) Whether the committee members were aware of the demand and receipt of over $600,000 by Farouk Lawan and the Secretary on or before the 24th of April 2012. (d) If they were aware, when and how? (e) Whether any of the committee members, who was aware, reported to the police, ICPC and EFCC. (f) CTC of all documents submitted by AP, Zenon Oil and Forte Oil. (g) The proceedings of 6th of June 2012 when the over $600,000 was suggested to be displayed on the floor of the House.”
It was also gathered that there might be need to invite the PPPRA for other bends of the additional investigation. 

...Power Supply Drops By over 1,000 Megawatts

Prof. Bart Nnaji

Ejiofor Alike

Two weeks after the resignation of Prof. Bart Nnaji as Minister of Power and the subsequent promise by the Federal Government to sustain the improvement in electricity supply achieved during his tenure, consumers in most cities have again started to experience frequent blackouts.

THISDAY checks showed that consumers, who were getting used to a marked improvement in power supply in their homes and offices, have in the last one week started complaining about the return to old order.

A survey of households in Lagos, Abuja, Abeokuta, Kano and Port Harcourt, among other cities, showed that electricity supply was no longer reliable as it was about three weeks ago.
For example, many parts of Lagos have been experiencing epileptic power supply for the last one week, with some sections of the city cut off completely from electricity since Friday.

In Kaduna metropolis, for instance, some areas that used to have 18 hours of power supply are now down to eight hours or less.

A resident of the state told THISDAY that the recent review of tariffs has aggravated the plight of the residents of the city.
“With 18 hours of light, I used to pay N5,000 monthly and the money will be carried over to the next month. But since the increase in electricity tariffs, I have been paying almost N11,000, without any carry over to the next month.

The situation was also the same in some parts of Port Harcourt most of last week. “For almost one year, we did not have light until the past three months when we started having light up to four hours. But this time, it is two hours for the past one week,” said Ndubuisi, a resident in Port Harcourt.

Another resident in Enugu State and auto parts dealer, Nnaemeka, also told THISDAY that electricity supply, which had improved in the state capital, has been epileptic for the past few days.

He, however, stated that the residents of the city had attributed the worsening supply of electricity in the state to the heavy rains, which have been falling in the area in the last couple of days.

Kano State has also witnessed a significant drop in electricity supply in recent days. A civil engineer, Mohammed Bello, while lamenting the return of epileptic electricity supply, wondered why PHCN had not even issued a statement explaining why output had dropped.

“If it is gas, they should let us know, if it is system failure, they should let us know. They owe us some kind of explanation,” he said.
A source with the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), who spoke to THISDAY, blamed the situation on damaged distribution and transmission facilities, which have not been fully repaired.

It was also gathered that the drop in electricity supply was occasioned by the loss of about 1,100 Megawatts of electricity from the national grid.

This development, it was learnt, has fuelled speculation that the workers of the successor companies of PHCN, who have been celebrating Nnaji’s exit, have resorted to their business-as-usual work ethic.

THISDAY gathered that power supply, which peaked at 4,321.3MW when Nnaji resigned as minister on August 28, and remained at the same level up until August 31, has continued to dwindle daily, with the system witnessing a partial collapse on September 7.

Shortly before the former minister resigned his appointment, the country achieved a new high in power generation of 4,307.7MW and an additional 170MW, which served as spinning reserve, bringing the total quantum of electricity generated to 4,477.7MW.

This new peak exceeded the record level of 4,237MW achieved on August 6 by 240.7MW.

Before Nnaji was appointed minister in 2011, the first attempt by the country to generate 3,800MW in August 2010 led to the collapse of the system within a few minutes due to the weak transmission infrastructure.

However, it was learnt that the power situation worsened at the weekend as supply dropped to 3,224.3MW on Saturday, after peaking at 4,077MW earlier in the day.

Some of the power stations that were the worst affected by the drop in supply include the Geregu Power Station in Kogi State, which was generating an average of 210MW  per day, but dropped to 10MW at the weekend. The drop in power output at Geregu was blamed on shortage in gas supply.

Similarly, the Okpai Power Plant in Delta State, which was generating 466MW per day but has also dropped to 276MW, while Sapele dropped from 180MW to zero.

The Omotosho Power Station in Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State, which is under the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP), also witnessed a drop in generation from 230MW to 167MW. While electricity generated from the Egbin Power Station in Lagos, the biggest power station in the country, dropped from 900MW to 453MW.

A source, however, blamed the drop in output from Egbin to lack of gas, as the turbines are ready to generate about 800MW, subject to the availability of gas.

Power generation from Kainji Power Station also declined to 187MW from 193MW, while Jebba, which was generating 402MW, dropped to 385MW.

Afam IV Power Station in Rivers State has also witnessed a drop in performance with generation falling to 315MW after peaking at 458MW.

With the fall in supply, the highest voltage recorded at the weekend was 347KV at the Benin Transmission Station, while the lowest was 290KV recorded at the Kano Transmission Station.

Sources attributed the drop in output from several of the power stations to the poor attitude to work by PHCN workers and lack of effective supervision.

A power ministry source confirmed this, saying when the former minister was in office he kept the CEOs of all the power companies and their executive directors on their toes.

“You know the ministry had signed service level agreements with all the CEOs and the minister had an effective monitoring mechanism to ensure that output was raised and sustained.

“But without anyone breathing down their necks, most of them are beginning to relax; that may be the reason we are beginning to experience epileptic power supply again. In addition, the dry season is not yet upon us yet, so we should be edging up to 5,000MW by now, not retrogressing,” he explained.
Also, the dwindling performance in power generation and distribution has been blamed on the lack of commitment by government, as nobody appears to be in-charge in the absence of a power minister.

Nnaji, during his tenure, was able to whip workers in the sector in line and was the only known minister to have fired top officials of PHCN for non-performance and failure to meet their targets under the service level agreements.

Although President Goodluck Jonathan had directed Minister of State for Power, Mr. Darius Ishaku, to take charge of the ministry after Nnaji’s resignation, sources said Ishaku lacks the hands-on experience required to effectively tackle the rot and pervasive incompetence in the system.

Jonathan, while reconstituting two committees on the power sector, last Wednesday, had pledged to sustain the stable power supply in the country, even after the rains.

The two committees, whose reconstitution was triggered by Nnaji’s resignation, are the Presidential Action Committee on Power (PACP) and the Presidential Task Force on Power.

Jonathan, at a meeting with members of the reconstituted committees acknowledged that Nnaji’s resignation had stalled the meeting of the PACP.

How Bad Leadership Spurs Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneur

What do 70% of successful entrepreneurs have in common? They all incubated their business ideas while employed by someone else. Indeed, most people start their own companies — or go freelance — in order to stop working for others. Why? Because most managers are simply unbearable. Year after year, Gallup reports that most employees are unhappy at work, and that the number one reason for dissatisfaction is their boss.
But there is one upside to incompetent management: by failing to attend to their employees’ ideas, and continuing to demoralize their staff, bad leaders accidentally stimulate entrepreneurship. Indeed, if entrepreneurial employees (i.e., those who have the talent and drive to be inventive and enterprising) were happy at work, or at least felt that their ideas are being valued, they would contribute to innovation and growth in their employers’ organization, rather than setting up their own company. Therefore, bad leadership — or, if you prefer, incompetent management — is a major source of entrepreneurship. In fact, America owes much of its recent growth, technological innovation, and socioeconomic progress, to inept managers.
Consider the following facts:

• Fresh start-ups create new jobs: A few innovative start-ups account for a large proportion of new jobs. Since the 1980s, America has replaced 50 million jobs with 100 million (more skilled, better paid, more useful) new jobs, and two-thirds of new American jobs are created by businesses that are less than five years old.
• An entrepreneurial culture attracts talent: Half of the world’s skilled migrants go to U.S. In the past two decades, they created 25% of all American venture-backed companies. There are at least 500 start-ups with French founders in the San Francisco Bay area, and there are over 50,000 Germans in Silicon Valley, where salaries for software engineers are much higher than in Europe (or elsewhere). “Europe’s culture is deeply inhospitable to entrepreneurs,” as a recent article in The Economist pointed out, continuing, “Wanting to grow a start-up is as countercultural as piercings.” This is further evidence for the fact that incompetent leaders — in this case European politicians — unintentionally contribute to entrepreneurship… but elsewhere. European taxpayers have funded much of the brainpower that stimulated technological innovation and economic growth in the U.S.
• Entrepreneurship opens the door to women: Unlike in corporate management, there is no glass ceiling in a company you start yourself, which is why female entrepreneurs are flourishing. In the U.S, their companies account for over $3 trillion of GDP (for the sake of comparison, that’s 40% of China’s entire GDP). Many of these businesses are led by women who would probably not have been considered for the top leadership position by their previous employers. For instance, Lisa Hufford founded Simplicity Consulting after 14 years as Sales Director at Microsoft; Crystal Culbertson founded Crystal Clear Technologies after quitting her job as logistics specialist for the Air Force; and Vicky Thompson founded the “Valuation Management Group” after 18 years at Fleet Finance (where she ascended to VP). These companies have grown a combined 8,000% over the past three years and have combined yearly revenues of $52 million. Surely their former employers regret letting them go?

Does this imply that we should hope for more incompetent leadership in the future? Not really. As Scott Shane documents in his excellent book, only 30% of start-ups live past 10 years; fewer than 10% grow, and just 3% grow substantially. This means most entrepreneurs are destined to fail, so there’s a high cost underlying successful enterprise. In other words, poor leadership is causing much more entrepreneurial failure than success — even if society still reaps the benefits of success. Besides, if managers learned to attract, identify, nurture, and retain entrepreneurial talent, they would promote growth in their own organization, with even more benefits for society (reducing the number of failed new enterprises). This is what John Donahue at eBay and Muhtar Kent at Coca Cola understood, but Mark Hurd at Hewlett Packard, and most European politicians, didn’t.
Not everyone should be an entrepreneur, and leaders can do much to harness their employees creative potential without forcing them to quit and create their own business. Likewise, many natural entrepreneurs will lack the necessary latent for leadership: if you cannot be managed, you cannot manage others either. This is why Mark Zuckerberg has hired Sheryl Sandberg, and why Larry Page and Serge Brin have Eric Schmidt.
Still, with 40% of Americans being self-employed at some point in their lives, it is crucial that we coach entrepreneurial skills even in those who are employed by others or did not ever plan to create their own business. The next few years will probably witness an even bigger transition from a business-to-business to a consumer-to-consumer economy: the more we teach people to create, market, and sell themselves, the more we shall prosper. Hoping for improved leadership is just wishful thinking.

Source: Harvard Business Review

A little patience, please: First Lady expected back in Nigeria this month

Patience Jonathan is expected back in the country before the end of September ahead of Nigeria’s 52nd Independence anniversary.
Patience is said to be hospitalised at the Horst Schmidt Klinik in Wiesbaden, Germany.
While a section of the media said she underwent surgery for appendicitis, some others said she was being treated for food poisoning.
Amidst the conflicting reports however, her media aides insisted that she only travelled abroad to rest after the stress involved in the hosting of the African First Ladies’ Conference in Abuja.
They also insisted last week that they did not know when the President’s wife would return to Nigeria.
Her media aide, Ayo Osinlu, had told our correspondent. “She is not a regular public office holder who has a specific duration for vacation. Assuming that she has a specific duration for vacation, then we could have said the vacation will end on a particular day and she will return on a particular day.
“But as it is, she can decide to return anytime she feels she has rested enough.”

Source: PUNCH

Nigeria to experience uninterrupted power supply from December – Presidency

The Federal Government has assured that the country would soon bid final farewell to power outages beginning from December, 2012 just as it has plans to generate 5,400 mega watts from the current 4,400 mega watts.
Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe told newsmen in Abuja that president Jonathan is no doubt leaving up to expectation on his election promises.
According to Okupe, the 5,400 mega watts target will be actualize following the arrangement by the National Integrated Power Project, NIPP, to add 1,000MW the current 4,400 as against the little above 1,900MW before the president assumed office.
He said: “When the President assumed office, the energy capacity of the country at that time ranged between 1,900 megawatts to some 2,200 megawatts. The Independent Power Projects, 10 of them were grounded and nearly moribund, but today Nigeria is generating in excess of 4,400 megawatts of electricity.
“Some cynics have said this is due to high level of water in the hydro generating plants in Shiroro and Kanji. This isn’t true.
“I can tell you authoritatively that why it is true that every year there is a marginal increase in power supply, because of the increased contribution in the hydro plants, that cannot account for the 15 hours or so that is being currently enjoyed in many parts of the country.
Speaking further, Okupe added that: “The reason for this additional increase is coming from the NIPP that are now adding between 600 and 800 megawatts to the national grid. That’s what is responsible for this new improvement and between now and December, we are expecting nearly an additional 1,000 megawatts, because of increase and an arrangement that have been made for purchase and supply of gas to some of these NIPP projects. More areas will enjoy longer hours of electricity supply by December.”
DailyPost.

More former militants demand contracts from Jonathan

Ex-militants from Akwa Ibom who accepted the federal government’s amnesty have protested their exclusion from the NNPC surveillance contracts awarded to ex-militant groups led by Tompolo, Boyloaf, Ateke Tom and Asari Dokubo.
The group under the aegis of “Ex-militants Forum of Akwa Ibom State” in a petition to the minister of petroleum resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, questioned the rationale for excluding the state from the contracts.
The Wall Street Journal reported recently that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan doles out almost $40 million annually to four of Niger Delta’s top former warlords as protection fee for oil pipelines they used to attack in the region.
According to the report tagged “Nigeria’s Former Oil Bandits Now Collect Government Cash”, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pays the warlords a total of $39.5 million annually.
The payment includes the contract awarded to former warlord Government “Tompolo” Ekpumopolo to protect oil pipelines by Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). Dokubo Asari who confirmed receiving $9 million a year to pay his 4,000 “foot soldiers” to guard oil pipelines.
Two other former warlords, “Gen” Ebikabowei “Boyloaf” Victor Ben and “Gen” Ateke Tom, get $3.8 million each under the arrangement.
The petition entitled “Letter of Stern Complaint: Exclusion of Akwa Ibom state From NNPC Pipeline Surveillance Contract” and signed by Mr. Ubong Utin and Ex-Gen. Kingsley Umoh on behalf of the group observes that the NNPC had been implementing a pipeline surveillance contract which offers reasonable employment opportunities to oil and gas producing states: “Under the programme, Bayelsa State is offered 3,000, Rivers State 4,000 and Delta 5,000 slots respectively while Akwa Ibom with the highest oil production quantum is deliberately left out.”
“We make bold to state here that the effect of this lopsided decision and deliberate neglect of our people will result in anarchy and revolt,” the group warned, pointing out that they had employed measures to douse rising tension from the ex-militants who were agitating for employment under the NNPC scheme and called on the corporation to address the alleged marginalisation.
The group maintained that their knowledge of the state waterways, estuaries and deep water territories should be of immense advantage to the surveillance contract and argued that their inclusion would discourage a return to criminality.
The forum expressed its readiness not to support oil and gas production and exploration activities in the state because they are excluded from the surveillance contract.
It added that the services of its members would complement the efforts of the security agencies in protecting oil installations in the Niger Delta and that it hoped that their concerns would be addressed within two weeks.
 
Source: Leadership

“You are entitled to your own opinions” – Presidency blasts Obasanjo over comment on N5,000 note

Following his recent assertion that the introduction of N5, 000 note as planned by CBN would cause inflation and kill small businesses, the Presidency has described former president, chief Olusegun Obsanjo as an ordinary Nigerian who has the right to comment on issues of national importance, noting that the Federal Government was not wrong in its approval of the denomination.
According to the Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, “Obasanjo, as an “ordinary” individual had the freedom to speak on issues.”

He said: “Obasanjo is an ordinary citizen. He has the right to speak on issues of national importance, but his views are not sacrosanct. But Obasanjo has right to his own opinion.”

While reproving criticisms by opposition parties that the introduction of the higher denomination would cause inflation noted in an  interaction with experts that  it would not have negative effects on the nation’s economy.

He said, “It is a project of the Central Bank of Nigeria and it is also important to carry people along. From my investigation and discussion with experts, there is no assurance that it will lead to inflation.
“There is $1000 bill in the United States and that has not negatively affected the economy there.
“It is not carried by all Americans, but by those who need it. The N5000 note will also be like that. We should not dissipate energy on that.
“We over-politicise issues in this country. This note will not affect the cashless policy of the government as being speculated in some quarters as well.”

The medical doctor turned politician however, assured that the reports of all the committees and sub-committees set up by the president would soon be made known to the public.
DailyPost.