BusinessDay 01 Apr 2018

NEW YOU CAN TRUST I SUNDAY 01 APRIL 2018
BDSUNDAY
My reflections on Chief Olusegun Obasanjo (2)
LAWRENCE BARAEBIBAI EKPEBU
Conscious of the security implications
of his campus residency, he endured
and contributed robustly to debates
on Nigerian Foreign policy in seminars
and conferences. Like any of
us on campus, he was allocated a three-bedroom
bungalow where he settled down to research and
lecture. I am not surprised that he recently bagged
a Ph.D in Theology, a milestone long overdue.
The Kaiama Declaration of 1998, signed by
Felix Tuodolo and T.K. Ogoriba, speeded up
events beyond everyone’s expectations. Leaving
my Mercedes Benz 280s car at Kaiama, I
took a boat with my family for our home town
of Okoloba only for loud explosions to reach us.
The military was shelling Kaiama for allegedly
harbouring youths who participated in issuing the
iconic Declaration. But the boys they were after
were not there; meaning that there was no need
attacking anyone.
I got a boat to take me and my family to Tombia
from where we took a bus back to Port Harcourt.
Accompanied by my first son, Ebiweni, I went
back to Kaiama after the attack. My grief for the
dead and the sacking of the town completely
dwarfed my personal loss seeing my car completely
wrecked. The soldiers who destroyed
it denied responsibility but I never put in claims
not to trivialise the monumental tragedy that
was Kaiama.
The Kaiama and Odi massacres, ordered by
President Obasanjo, were totally uncalled for but
much water has since passed under the bridge.
His present visit to Bayelsa, the heartland of the
Ijaw nation, is highly symbolic.
But I am also one to admit that as a civilian
president Chief Obasanjo identified fully with the
Niger Delta struggle. In 2000 he appointed me
a member of the Senator Liyel Imoke-led Presidential
Committee that wound up OMPADEC.
He later made me Chairman of the Presidential
Monitoring Committee on NDDC that succeeded
OMPADEC. His setting up of the NDDC was
meant to be an improvement over OMPADEC.
But a day came when he was to axe the Commission
but the management board came to me as
Chairman of the Presidential Monitoring Committee
on NDDC to intervene.
In my deliberation with him I advanced reasons
why scraping the NDDC was bad for the
region. As the American would say, none liked
washing dishes but breaking them was not the
solution. The NDDC was not perfect but dissolving
it was not the solution; especially as we had a
capable board willing to make a success story of it.
Off the Cuff
Secondly, scraping the interventionist body
would sound the death knell for hundreds of
Niger Delta indigenes in its employ. Besides, developmental
projects already on course would be
suspended; only to be resuscitated later at higher
costs. A great defender of the ethnic minorities
of Niger Delta, President Obasanjo was swayed
by my argument and relented. That was how the
NDDC saw the light of the day.
The restructuring we are fighting for today
was attempted by President Obasanjo when he
constituted the 2005 National Conference. But
the North sabotaged it over the issue of revenue
allocation. In response the Niger Delta minorities,
led by Senator EK Clark, walked out of the conference.
Converging in Calabar, capital of Cross
River State, we took the decision that nothing
short of a South-South president would satisfy
us. Our decision was communicated to northern
traditional leaders, generals and governors by
three delegations.
I was the head of the delegation to the North
East. My secretary was the firebrand Barrister
Mike Ozekhome. Chief B. Amange was also in
my group. A retired general led the delegation
to the North Central. Dr. Bolouere Ketebu was
a member of this delegation. And the eminent
Ambassador Matthew Mbu led the delegation
to the North West. Chief T.K. Okorotie was in
this delegation. It is instructive that President
Obasanjo backed our position leading to the
emergence of His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Jonathan
as Nigerian Vice President; and ultimately
President. I could go on.
I round up by recounting an incident demonstrating
Chief Obasanjo’s attitude to governance
and accountability. As Nigerian Ambassador
to Cote d’ Ivoire, 1984-1991, I was notified
by the Ministry of External Affairs that Chief
Obasanjo was coming to Abidjan and went to
the airport to receive him. As a former head of
state he was entitled to a private jet but he came
with a commercial flight.
Chief Obasanjo’s fruitful discussion with President
Felix Houphouet-Boigny, which included a
lunch, lasted longer than expected. By the time
they were through Chief Obasanjo’s flight was
gone by many hours. Unperturbed, all he wanted
to know was when the next flight was due.
I discussed the situation with President
Houphouet-Boigny and he promptly offered his
own official jet to take his worthy guest back to
Lagos. For me that incident marked one of the
high points of my diplomatic career: Seeing my
former head of state come to my station in a
commercial plane and depart in a presidential jet!
We are indeed lucky to have Chief Obasanjo in
Mama Taraba: The die is cast
In September last year, a member of the
Buhari administration, Aisha Alhassan,
minister of Women Affairs, stirred a
hornets’ nest and stole prime news
holes of most national dailies.
Minister Alhassan, popularly called ‘Mama
Taraba’ had declared her intention to swim
or sink with Atiku Abubakar, a former vice
president who recently rejoined the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP).
She spoke with the BBC Hausa, describing
Atiku as her godfather, and that she did not
mind losing her job for supporting the former
vice president.
She had also said that she would lend
her support to Atiku in the event that the
Adamawa-born politician declared intention
to contest the presidential election.
“Atiku is my godfather even before I
joined politics. And again, Baba Buhari did not
tell us that he is going to run in 2019,” she said.
Aisha Alhassan had also said she would beg
President Buhari not to run if he declares interest
to do so.
“Let me tell you today that if Baba said he is
going to contest in 2019, I swear to Allah, I will
go before him and kneel and tell him that, Baba,
I am grateful for the opportunity you gave me
to serve in a your government as minister, but
Baba, just like you know, I will support only
Atiku because he is my godfather; if Atiku said
he is going to contest.
“If because of what I said, I am sacked, it will
not bother me because I believe in Allah that
my time has elapsed that is why… Baba is not
a mad man like those calling for my sack. They
have been sending it and spreading that if Baba
sees this I will be sacked,” she said.
Two weeks after she made the declaration,
she was summoned by the national leaders of
As Nigerian
Ambassador
to Cote d’
Ivoire, 1984-
1991, I was
notified by
the Ministry
of External
Affairs
that Chief
Obasanjo
was coming
to Abidjan
and went to
the airport to
receive him
her party where she was said to have
apologised for going public. But it was
also gathered that she never shelved
the idea of supporting Atiku.
Many observers have wondered
why she is still in the Buhari cabinet
up till this moment. The passion she
exuded when she declared her loyalty
for Atiku was so strong that it was
thought she was going to throw in the
towel immediately.
The thinking now in some quarters
is that she may have been prevailed
upon to recant in secret and to come
off her “hallucination”.
Now that Atiku has declared and
President Buhari’s body language is
showing that he is likely going to run,
it would be interesting to see how she
handles the jigsaw.
LAWRENCE BARAEBIBAI EKPEBU
our midst today as we mark the foundation laying
ceremony of Azikel Refinery, Obunagha, commemorating
the auspicious sixth year in office of
Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Henry Dickson,
the Adaka Boro II. The promises of these two
events compel me to make two observations.
One, I have no doubt whatsoever that Chief
Obasanjo, by accepting to be in Bayelsa today,
scores Governor Dickson highly in governance
and provision of massive infrastructure. I must
therefore commend Governor Dickson for the
recognition he earned from our special guest
known to speak his mind before the high and
mighty. Our expectations remain that Chief
Obasanjo’s visit will positively rub off on the
fortunes of Bayelsa people in the immediate
years ahead.
And two, his coming to Bayelsa to perform the
foundation laying ceremony of Azikel refinery
is a confirmation of his long cherished dream
of seeing the Ijaw benefit from their God-given
resources. Hear it from me that before now Chief
Obasanjo wanted a refinery built in Bayelsa. It
happened this way:
Mr. Timi George Tongobor came to me with
some Frenchmen to help them get a license for
Tonwei Refinery Company Ltd., under the sponsorship
of Tonwei Investments Nigeria Ltd. The
refinery was to be sited at Agge on the coast of
Bayelsa State.
I personally went to see President Obasanjo
for him to approve a license for Tonwei refinery,
which he graciously did. But the refinery was
never built. Today, Chief Obasanjo himself is laying
the foundation stone for another refinery. By
the Grace of God, Azikel Refinery will stay and
grow. Amen.
• Being the concluding part of the remarks by Ambassador
(Prof) Lawrence Baraebibai Ekpebu at
Foundation-laying ceremony of Azikel Refinery,
Obunagha, Yenagoa, by former president Olusegun
Obasanjo, marking the sixth year in office of Henry
Seriake Dickson, Bayelsa State governor.
Quick Takes
N2.5bn
This is the amount of money
to be committed in boosting
agricultural output along the
rice and cassava value chain.
It is a fallout of the agreement
reached between the
Federal Government and
the United Nations Development
Programme.
Point Blank
“While it may be easier to
be polite, it’s more important
to face facts so that
you can make progress,”
Bill Gates, co-chair of the
Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation, to Nigerian
government that
behaves like the ostrich,
always burying its head
in the sand rather than
confront its challenges.
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