Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Ghanaian President elect, John Dramani
On Saturday 20th April, 2013, two gentlemen, Prince Segun Seriki and
Mr. Richard Odusanya, appeared on SaharaTV to reveal some of the
antecedents of high profile killings, including those of former Attorney
General/Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige and Chief Harry Marshal, as
well as bribery, and the corrupt, wasteful use of the Nigerian
resources which they witnessed and even partook in while serving in
various capacities as personal aides at the Presidency . The two men
said they fought against the former and his associates during his third
term bid of for Nigeria's presidency, which the failure of culminated
in his wicked imposition of a weak and sickly leader, Umaru Yar'adua on
Nigerians as vengeance for their opposition to his bid to remain as
president after the end of two terms in office.
Former President Obasanjo, the longest serving president of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria was in power , first as a military leader
between 1976 -1979 and later as a civilian president from 1999 and 2007.
SRTV: How did you come to know characters like
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo? Although we hate to use ‘Chief’ for characters
like him but that is the way he is called.
Odusanya: Let me begin with a scriptural note that
goes like this; once I was blind but now I can see. Sometime during the
early months of 1999, February precisely, an associate of mine, who is
also a
friend and a brother, Femi Falana… not the human rights
lawyer… although he was also an activist as he was president of students
union in U.I (University of Ibadan). I met him shortly before the Jos
convention and I remember vividly, he then introduced Otunba Fasawe and
I, and directed that I had to work with him. Of course, that was the
Genesis. Then, as a man who respects institutions, I worked all through
for government, behind the scene, with Otunba Fasawe.
SRTV: So, you worked with Otunba Fasawe in what
can be described as within an extra-terrestrial capacity which is also
that you were not appointed directly into government, and in this
process, you told me and I want you to repeat to our viewers that you
were housed at the defense house in Abuja. How did that become possible
because that is an official residence of Government officials whereas
you were not an
official?
Odusanya: Well, I need to explain this. The defense
house happens to be the official residence of the defense minister but
at some point, particularly during the government of General Abacha,
there was no
defense minister. Then, the defense house became the
Head of State’s special guest house, well-fortified… at least it’s an
annex of the villa. The subsequent government also continued like that.
General
Obasanjo came in then was the defense minister Lt. Col T.Y.
Danjuma. He didn’t want to stay in the defense house because he had
reasonable accommodation so he rejected it and stayed in his private
house. So,
it continued to be guest house and the president has the
prerogative to determine the usage of the guest house. for a very
important assignment, Otunba Fasawe, as we all know happens to be a key
actor.
SRTV: Let me quickly ask you, how long were you housed there before Otunba Fasawe fell out with Olusegun Obasanjo?
Odusanya: I’ll explain that too. It was slightly
over four years but before then, for known reasons, some that will be
revealed today, I was not ready to continue, so I moved out.
SRTV: How many of you were residents at the defense house as special guests of President Obasanjo?
Odusanya: Yes, we have Chief Tony Osunrinde, Otunba
Fasawe, Myself, John Dara who happens to be SA to the minister of
defense.. I think those are the key residents
SRTV: How big was the defense house?
Odusanya: Oh, very…. big… palatial
SRTV: So, let’s go directly into the things that
happened within that period which you were privy. By 2001, something
happened on December 23rd, and that was the assassination of the
Attorney General and
Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige in his
house at Ibadan. Before we came on this show you actually said you were
sent by President Olusegun Obasanjo to meet him few weeks before he was
assassinated. What was the mission then?
Odusanya: Thank you. I was not just sent to him, I
was on an errand, a regular one and infarct that was not the first one.
Before he became the Attorney General, he was once the minister of Power
and Still. Various times at his residence, at minister quarters, I used
to go there on errand and often, I used to go with gift… of money.
SRTV [cuts-in]: to Chief Bola Ige
Odusanya [nods]: yes, to Chief Ige. When he became
the Attorney General, his residence was moved to Asokoro. And I remember
vividly my last encounter with Chief Ige, though I cannot remember
precisely what time gap between then and his assassination, but I
remember vividly that I took N50million cash to him.
SRTV: Where was the money from?
Odusanya: Well, we have a source.
SRTV: What was that source, can you describe briefly… was it a slush fund?
Odusanya: Well, I won’t call it slush fund, but
there is a dedicated account under the control of Otunba Fasawe. Three
of us namely; Bodunde Adeyanju (special assistant to President Obasanjo
on domestic
affairs), Pariya Umar (special assistant to the vice
president on domestic affairs) and myself were the key actors that ran
this account. The bank had its branch at where you call Tofa’s House in
Abuja.
SRTV: What’s the name of the bank?
Odusanya: Trans International bank. It’s one of the banks that have gone under now, but that’s the source of the money anyway.
SRTV: Do you recall how many times you took gifts of this type to Chief Ige before he was killed?
Odusanya: Hmnn… I can’t really tell how many times,
but I recall the last one was N50million. We drove bullion van in
company of one of the bank officials.
SRTV: Do you remember his name?
Odusanya: Yes, he’s a reverend gentleman now. Reverend Segun Egunjob. So we took it to Chief Bola Ige’s house.
SRTV: Before you took the money to Chief Ige, did you know the intention of the gift?
Odusanya: I have to confess I don’t know. But I must
confess it has become a burden because other occasions there are
similar incidents, where I took money to people but thereafter,
something happened.
SRTV: Briefly tell us other occasions you took money to other people and shortly after, something happened
Odusanya: Thank you. Let me quickly give you the
case of Harry Marshal. I was on this similar errand, and I put a call
through to Chief Harry Marshal. He now gave me the address of an hotel
where he would be waiting for me and the hotel room number. I took the
money there.
SRTV: do you remember the hotel?
Odusanya: Yes. Agura hotel, somewhere around Area 10. Not too long from that time and he was assassinated.
SRTV: I’ll take you back to something you said
before we came on the show. You said when Obasanjo came in, he was
disbanding everything Abacha did, but he did not disband Abacha’s killer
squad, that is the
strike force. Where was the strike force based?
Odusanya: The killer squad has some key actors that
reside permanently at the headquarters of the SSS and of course they
were star witnesses on Kudirat Abiola’s trial. I remember Sergeant
Rogers and I remember Katako. Up till now, what happens to them, where
they are and their confessions, if you put it side by side, you will
wonder what kind of system we are running and why are these things
shrouded in secrecy? Those are the things I thought together as a man
who had been in that system and there was a serious burden on me.
SRTV: Let’s quickly ask Mr. Seriki, you said you
were also within and also witnessed some things at the background that
made you partner with Mr. Odusanya in this initiative. Did you know at
some point that some of these things were happening?
Seriki: Thank you Omoyele. I had always been a
political practitioner. I am a politician and my interest in politics is
in running a free and fair society. I could have been conversant wth
their system, but I had
encouraged Richard because as a nation, we
have to face the reality of the requirements of development as a nation.
As a nation, we have to appreciate that we have to have respect for
human values. As a nation,
we have to understand that we will be run
by rules. The highest that leadership can bequeath on a society is
respect for the rule of law devoid of arbitrariness and
self-aggrandizement that constituted and
characterized the reign of
General Obasanjo. I was at Ife when Chief Bola Ige was Governor. He was
one of the gladiators that informed some of us to be involved in
politics. The issue of Chief Bola Ige could be
put in this clear
perspective. This is a sitting Attorney General of the country who came
from a party that was not at the center [Alliance for Democracy]. There
was a President who lost in his area of primordial upbringing. In
criminology, you want to define intention. The intention for killing
Chief Bola Ige can be put at the doorstep of President Obasanjo because
he shows overnight to get what he doesn’t have. And when he [Odusanya]
was now corroborating with me that there was effort to bribe Chief Bola
Ige, one now realizes that the intention was real. And before all these
bribery saga, a lot of things were already in public domain that we just
need to piece together and let our country have a date with destiny.
SRTV: One of the things people will ask us now
on the show is ‘why now’? Why did you wait since about 15 years and you
are coming out now to say these; are you being sponsored by some
political interests to
whittle down the influence of Obasanjo by
telling this story or are you genuinely driven by desire to expose of
the impunity that characterized his regime?
Seriki: I will still crave your indulgence to put
this in the perspective of the issue of assassination. Fundamentally, we
as a people are intimidated into assuming that you need to be sponsored
before you can do what is right, and it is one of the policies of the
criminals that are in authority to intimidate and subdue genuineness.
Between us and God, there are genuine desires to see to the killing that
was arbitrary. We are in America now, the respect to life is one issue
that is making this country great. When issues that are as bad as the
Attorney General of the Federation happens like this and we assume it is
a non-issue, it becomes ridiculous in terms of what kind of nation we
want to become.
SRTV: I want to go to Mr. Odusanya. Was there
any time in the course of your work with the powerful unofficial
underground group that you encountered some people just discussing that,
this Bola Ige, we will do something about him?
Odusanya: let me say that it may not be direct
inference, but there were telephone conversations…. Particularly the
night Bola Ige was assassinated, that are suggestive. For instance,
Otunba Fasawe
confided in me and said by 3 a.m. that day, President
Obasanjo called him and said ‘Ige is down! Don’t go to Ibadan’. When you
say such thing, and at my level I begin to look at it and my conscience
begin
to prick me. A very short story… Omisore, he got the ticket
party from President while he was undergoing trial. It didn’t stop
there, he won the election and they called it ‘landmark’ in the same
senatorial
constituency of Chief Ige. Why this short story? I was in
this particular building directly opposite office if the President,
it’s called the Glass House and I was with the children of President
Obasanjo. They were wondering aloud that what sort of country is this
where a man in the prison would become a senator. I was looking at them
thinking do this young men know that their father was involved in this
charade? Ahmadu Alli and Ojo Madueke could not have issued that ticket
on their own. They had the backing of the President and I make bold to
say that.
SRTV: [to Seriki]: You wanted to chip in.
Seriki: The issue is this, inasmuch as fairness is
fair, there is enough fact to give former President Obasanjo to air his
much flaunted credential of probity and anti-corruption. The scenario is
intimidating. If a sitting President is blackmailed into breaking the
rules of the land, which requires every political aspiration to fill a
form, go to the court and swear an affidavit, which I know they wouldn’t
have done in the prison, one now wonders a-priori that ‘why maintain a
killer squad’ that you were condemning Abacha to have done?
What
purpose is there for you? Two, what would have given Omisore the rapport
that would enable him to have the senate seat from Prison? Having said
all these, by the time you now juxtapose the effort and
bribing the
old man (Chief Bola Ige). I think this is an opportunity for the
National Assembly to invoke their constitutional investigative powers to
want to know what happened. That is my own concern now. I
have been
in the federal house for, I think, going to thirty years. So, it has
not been the failing to win election, but it has been that election
doesn’t hold in Nigeria; it has not been that one does not
want to
work with Nigeria government; it has been arbitrary government,
Government of aggrandizement and of ego. Those are the issues that I
taught that the Senate and the house of rep will take up. But hat is not
to say that the IG who was copied and the Attorney General whose
predecessor was murdered should not take interest in the matter.
SRTV: Quickly, there are many issues including
the sales of major State assets such as Ajaokuta Steel Company and
bribery scandals such as the Halliburton scandal in which Bodunde
Adeyanju was alleged to have received $6million bribe money that
eventually went to the president (Obasanjo). Mr. Seriki, why is your
organization Leadership Rescue Initiative (LRI) taking on this volatile
and powerful issue?
Seriki: The issue is as simple as this. We are in
2013 now and we are being structured to be looking at 2015, but we don’t
normally have elections. You see, the way Obasanjo did, if this
President were to be as arbitrary and irrational as he was, then we are
laying a foundation of a banana republic. And if we look at certain
issues in the past, which is the essence of history, I will repeat again
that rather than unorthodox cutting of corners, it would afford
(former) President Obasanjo opportunity to clear his name on issues of
probity and corruption. Take for instance as we speak, an account that
he was involved in closely benefiting from is in deficit of about
N7billion.
SRTV [cuts in]: Let’s talk about the account, is that the buffer account where you get all the money from to bribe, buy cars…
Seriki: Yes
Odusanya [nods]: at Trans International Bank. The
607 Peugeot, I bought the car. I raised a draft from TIB, bought the car
from ASD Motors at Area III, and of course on the day of the
chieftaincy title of Mrs. Lamide Adegbenro, I took the car there and the
cash gift.
SRTV: How much was the cash gift?
Odusanya: Half a million naira.
SRTV: How much was the car bought for?
Odusanya: About six or seven million naira…
Seriki: My own interest is that it amounts to abuse
of office if a custodian of the economy as the President of the Federal
Republic, creates a phony account in conjunction with some proxies and
executes
personal interests and whatever, and the account a-priori
is in deficit of about N7billion... the bank is under waters now. Then,
it leaves to be imagined what he could have been doing as head of States
and minister of Petroleum.
SRTV: One of the things you said was that when
Otunba Fasawe was ‘arrested’ and being questioned, he said this is not
my account, this is Obasanjo’s.
Seriki [cuts in]: No, we should ask that in his
arbitrariness, he should to try Fasawe, (but) upon discovering certain
things in the account to the event that he was the owner of that
account, they discontinued the trial.
SRTV: Was he ever tried, because you (Odusanya) said you saw Fasawe in EFCC detention? Tell us what happened
Odusanya: Well, he was just there, detained for
three months, and of course the EFCC investigators discovered they could
not continue… the President himself was implicated and that of course
is a no-go-area.
SRTV: Did Fasawe ever tell you while in detention whether he would spill the beans?
Seriki: See, there’s an issue. There’s no bean to
spill. This present government has done something that we are not taking
full advantage of it as responsible people. When we say we do not have
responsive leadership, we should also acknowledge we have no responsive
followership because there is a freedom of information bill. As we
speak, all these facts are in public domain. It is our love for
irrational operations that made us to continue ‘business as usual’. And
that’s why I was saying that aside of talking to the National Assembly,
it would have been a direct indictment of the police because
institutionally, the police have been trying a lot of these issues.
Institutionally, EFCC has been trying a lot of these issues. So, the
president is at liberty to call to order those executive organizations.
More so, the headship has changed because you’ll
remember before
Ehindero left, he paraded some people and said these are the killers of
Ige, but he knew they were not the killers. If at the highest of the
police pf the country, you are doing this, it shows desperation at the
highest quarters to hoodwink us as a nation. So, for instance the issue
of corruption, Obasanjo should be glad to want to earn his credibility,
here you have a personal assistant on domestic affairs who has admitted
to the police that he accepted $6million, then what is the police doing
about it? No, no, no, no, no, the personal assistant domestic to the
president admitted to the police that he collected $6million bribe on
behalf of the president. Do you think Obasanjo is a docile president
that his personal
assistant collected such money on his behalf and
he won’t know? Or, at what point is that man important to Halliburton,
being a personal assistant domestic?
SRTV: Let’s bring you in there Mr. Odusanya, you
actually were with Bodunde the day he was released by the police. Tell
our viewers what he said to you in the car.
Odusanya: Actually he said to me that, although he admitted to collecting $6million bribe, but that he did not implicate Baba.
Seriki [cuts in]: That is it. I think when you look
at that one, you now move to one of the richest Nigerians in government
today, Andy Uba, he was personal assistant domestic. What was his
declaration at his point of appointment? I think he came from America
for that appointment, was he a successful person in America? So, he came
with this man who is the architect of Anti-corruption, but as today, if
you see what he declared as the governor of Anambra State, which was
short-lived, you will be shocked.
SRTV [to Odusanya]: Did you know Andy Uba very well when you were working at government house then?
Odusanya: We know each other very closely. We all
started this government together. As a matter of fact let me start by
saying, ab initio I did not start by being at the background. At the
dying days of the then government, I was responsible for so many things.
Virtually all the documents of the president elect (Obasanjo) were
handed over to me. I played very active role in the inaugural committee
headed by Professor Tunde Adeniran. I was a resource person. Ferdinand
***Dagu*** too was there, Dr. Bolade Osinowo was there. Infarct at some
point I played more critical roles than some of them.
SRTV: So, do you know the difference between
what Andy Uba declared while he was taking up appointment as personal
assistant to president on domestic and what he declared when he was to
become governor?
Odusanya: These are documents that are available in
government institutions that should be provided. What was he before the
domestic thing? He was just somebody there in America. So, what did he
declare
when he was to be Governor? Of course it was in trillions. They should bring the documents out.
Seriki: These are issues that will enable Obasanjo
tell people he is an architect of anti-corruption. That is why I said it
is not the issue of who sent you or who did not send you. If somebody
killed your father and at some point facts begin to come out, and one
still has decency to ask ‘were you sent by somebody to let us know who
killed my father’ than one must be a bastard.
SRTV: Here in your petition, you also mentioned the Ajaokuta Steel Company which was sold at a give-away price.
Odusanya: On the day President Obama was elected for
the first time, Gbenga Obasanjo put a call through to me and said to
me, quoting a Reverend gentleman (Rev. Martin Luther King), he said from
today I know that I will be judged by the content of my character,
making reference to his father. He said to me that he was just trying to
hold his peace, but that the issue of Ajaokuta is still there but that
he merely benefitted from the consultancy. And that, it should be known
that it is Andy and his father (Obasanjo) that engaged in the fraud.
SRTV: You also mentioned in your petition that
the Police Equipment Fund which was created by Obasanjo’s in-law, Kenny
Martins was also one of the illegalities of corruption by proxy of
Olusegun Obasanjo. I want you to actually tell people what Obasanjo was
worth when he came out of jail, you told me you saw him and that he only
had one car.
Seriki [cuts in]: You see, we cannot run a country
without referring to the constitution. The constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria is simplistic to the extent of the maintenance of
the Nigerian police. So, if we are to continue this madness, at a point,
somebody will raise ‘Nigeria Army Equipment Fund’, what kind of a
nation is that?
SRTV [to Odusanya]: Well, let’s go back
to what Obasanjo was worth when he left prison, you said you saw him
and that the family was almost selling off everything of the family…
Odusanya: Not that they were almost selling.
Infarct, they had sold everything except one car, a Peugeot 505 and the
reason that could not be sold was that it was a natural gift to past
Head of State from the Secretary to the Government and it had a
government number. That is the reason that could not be sold.
SRTV: So, where did he get the cars to run his campaigns from?
Odusanya: Well, it started even from Lt. General
Danjuma, who graciously through John Dara obliged them fund to run their
initial program
Seriki [cuts in]: The issue….
SRTV [cut in]: No, no, no. I want us to break it
down at that level because if not, people will not understand where we
are coming from. I want him (Odusanya) to finish it. Where did John Dara
get the cars from?
Odusanya: He bought it from Oluwalogbon motors.
Seriki [cuts in]: Let’s give it to him that he was
considered a responsible and viable candidate and a lot of people
rallied around him…
SRTV: That does not erase the fact that these were proceeds of corruption.
Seriki: That is the point. I would have honored
Obasanjo if he were to continue to live in his former house, the way
Madiba is doing. But when you have an appetite beyond what your
take-home can provide, you are outright corrupt. Today he has mansions,
competing with Babangida. Today, he has people who pretend to be lending
him aircraft, he has aircraft by proxy. You see, these are why he would
be able to say
‘Andy Uba is my son o, he helps me’. But he was your poor son that you corruptly enriched.
SRTV: So, you have more to add regarding what you know about the Obasanjo regime? We also have the ID Card scam.
Seriki: Yes, it is very interesting but we need to
just take some summary. There was an ID Card project. There had been
many ID Card projects before this and they were all phony because after
this one, his (Obasanjo’s) son did his own.
SRTV: What’s his name?
Seriki: Seun. So, all these things will give him
opportunity to keep date with honor if they are not to sweep things
under the carpet. When there was an issue of the $7million bribe
SRTV: Who was given $7million bribe?
Seriki: Obasanjo’s friend. But the issue for
determination is that he was grandstanding and playing to the gallery
with the international community by arresting all the people that were
not involved in the fraud. You see, when a person is an expert in deceit
and that person is in charge of the destiny of a nation, the nation is
ruined. He knows the source of the fraud and he did nothing to correct
it and as we speak now there is no ID Card in Nigeria.
SRTV: So, what do you suggest should be done?
Seriki: Thank you. What we seek is that the
leadership of the National Assembly to keep a date with destiny by
becoming the champion of the course of the people of Nigeria, by
invoking their constitutional right of legislative investigation into,
take for instance just Bola Ige’s death for the nation to be relieved
just as the people of Boston were relieved, and that shows they have a
responsive government. And that is not to exclude President Jonathan who
has more to gain from Nigeria than the people of Nigeria have to gain
from him. Coming from his background, he should devoid from the pretense
that somebody pit him there and he should put things right.
SRTV: You mentioned the National Assembly. Do
you think somebody like David Mark who was also imposed on the people;
do you think he would want to turn against him?
Seriki: Let me tell you something. Pessimism is the
architect of failure, we are optimistic that a new dawn will happen to
Nigeria. And, Nigeria is lucky that now, there is freedom of information
bill.
We need to do more. It is in their interest to want to work against
us, and the way we are taking this project, we are not desirous of
taking credit for it. As we speak right now, these information are in
the hands of a lot of credible people, who by mere terminating the lives
of somebody or harassing some people will not kill the truth behind
this project. If Martin Luther King were to think when to free America,
as young as we were, we were still witnesses to when they said blacks
are not electable. So, I won’t want to talk the shortcomings, but I know
truth is stronger than deceit and God is stronger than devil.
We put it in their domain, that, you aspire for eminence, this is the requirement for eminence.
SRTV: This has been very revealing discussion
about corrupt developments in the recent history of Nigeria. You said
you fought against third term. Do you have credible information that
Obasanjo was behind it?
Seriki: Oh, verifiable information as to how he
corrupted our National Assembly as to a lot of approvals he subjected
himself to out of greed.
SRTV: When you left the slush fund, because you
said you left because your conscience would not let you continue with
it, do you know the group that took over the kind of errand you were
running?
Odusanya: Erm… you see, Andy took over. Let me just say it. Andy [Uba] took over. He took over the function of Fasawe.
Seriki: And he did it very well
Odusanya: Yes, he did very well.
Seriki: He was more organized and more vicious against Nigeria.
SRTV: I will end here by saying, great conscience, are you not afraid for your lives?
Odusanya: Let me take that, and I want it to be on
record. I have the backing of my lovely wife and my children to do this.
I am not going back to Nigeria to ask for any security or protection
anywhere. I am a strong believer in the supremacy of God and I am saying
this that for everything there is a price, and I am willing, even if it
is the supreme price. Am not afraid of anybody and am saying that I am
not going back to Nigeria to ask for security from anybody whether
Government, individual or corporate agencies.
Seriki: You see, I smile when people market fear.
Fear in itself is the enemy of eminence. For me, I am not bothered. At
this age, I’ve bore children but the bothering is that the future of
these children are being ruined by rascals. So, if you are to keep alive
and become a Methuselah, what becomes of your children? And that is the
reason we find ourselves in this position. Everybody pretends to say it
is dangerous and they will look for ways to partake in the loot. We
can’t continue like this. When I was in the Federal House, I was one of
the youngest, but because of the way Nigeria is being runned, for those
of
us who cannot capture power, the career has been kind of ruined
because what is required to contest and win election is not made so. So,
fundamentally, I have a conviction that life in itself becomes
worthless if one is just to be genuflecting and be a vegetable.
SRTV: Well, on that note, I just want to thank you gentlemen for coming on SaharaTV
Seriki [cuts in]: And I will add, it will be more
honorable that rather than seek how to circumvent truth, because that is
why we went to the National Assembly as we know they always go for
injunction that police should not touch or investigate them, but with
the separation of power, the National Assembly has a fundamental
responsibility to Nigerians.
Source: Sahara Reporters
