Audio of President Obasanjo`s Valedictory Interview with NTA May 20, 2007 | posted by Mobolaji Aluko (Archives)

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AUDIO: President Obasanjo holds in last interview on NTA Sunday, May 20, 2007 [About 2 hours]

 

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DAILY TRUST
Monday, May 21, 2007/JUMADAL-ULA 05, 1428 A. H.

Obasanjo: Atiku bribed lawmakers to impeach me

By Jibrin Abubakar & Muideen Olaniyi
Samson Ojo & Mohammed Shosanya

President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday said his deputy, Atiku Abubakar, bribed lawmakers during his first tenure to impeach him. Speaking during the programme: The President Speaks on NTA, the president said Atiku with the connivance of former speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Ghali Umar Na ‘abba, gave legislators $5,000 each to induce his impeachment.

But in a reaction, the vice president said, ‘Nigerians should expect more yabis (mud) from the president. He is very angry that he has been forced to go.’

Speaking through his media aide, Mallam Garba Shehu, Atiku said, ‘the best answer to the unhappy president is to ignore him.’

Obasanjo in the interview said, ‘don’t forget that it was Na’abba after he has had meetings with Atiku and some honourable members that they started the impeachment process. It is nonsense.’

He said it was after the lawmakers got the $5,000 bribe from Atiku that they started the process of removing the then senate president Evans Enwerem in order to bring in Chuba Okadigbo.

‘That was the first time that money entered the National Assembly. Those who got the money told me. That kind of thing should never have happened and the party should be able to say yes this is the man we want as senate president.

The president said that PDP senators shouldn’t have let that happen without the party having a say in it.

Asked about the speculation that the face off between him and Atiku degenerated to level of the use of Juju(spells), the president, in a veil reference to Atiku said, once there was a man who won election as a governor but a marabout told him he would never be sworn in as governor then he was appointed vice president.

He said the same person also told him the president would die and he would succeed him.

The president paused and then said, ‘I call that bankruptcy of ideas… bankruptcy of knowledge and lack of knowledge of God.’

Speaking on why the Freedom of Information Bill has not been assented to, The president said the bill has not been formerly sent to him, just as he said that he objected to the name which according to him should be renamed: Right to Information Bill, ‘because for every right there is an obligation. There is no absolute freedom. I will not assent to it. The security of the nation will be jeopardised.

Asked also whether he was worried about the strike by the university teachers, the president said when he came to power he tried to harmonise the difference in salaries.

He said the idea of ASUU going on strike was archaic and overtaken by events with the presence of more private universities and more state universities.
‘The danger is that Federal Universities are going to come down in quality and run themselves out of business. That I think is a pity.’

The president also said that federal legislators who fail to get return ticket said it was due to their performance, just as he distanced himself from rigging that took place in the last election.

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THIS DAY

Obasanjo: Atiku Bribed Lawmakers to Impeach Me • His marabout told him I would die

From Josephine Lohor in Abuja and Ademola Adeyemo in Lagos,
05.21.2007

President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday accused Vice President Atiku Abubakar of inducing some members of the National Assembly to impeach him from office in order to actualise his ambition to become the President of Nigeria.

Obasanjo who made the allegation yesterday during an interview programme tagged "The President Speaks" on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) said Atiku, in collusion with former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Ghali Umar Na'Abba allegedly  bribed the legislators with $5,000 each.

Obasanjo who harped on the need for the President and his deputy to have the same ideology and frame of mind to be able to work together also accused Atiku of scheming for his demise.

According to the President, "it was Na'Abba after having a meeting with Atiku that started the impeachment move against me, that is absolute nonsense. It should not be allowed to happen, it was our own members after they have got $5000 each from Atiku, that  also started the process of removing (Chief Evan) Enwerem for (the late Dr.) Chuba Okadigbo and that was the first time money entered the National Assembly. Those who got the money told me."

Speaking further on the feud between him and his deputy, Obasanjo admitted that there was a time during the crisis that Atiku wanted him dead so that he could take over power, having been assured by a marabout that he (Obasanjo) would die in office.

" It was like a fight to finish, I heard it from two to three sources. This is somebody that told Dan Etete (former Petroleum Minister under the late General Sani Abacha) that 'don't worry the President will be dead soon. And not only that, one of my minister now said the Vice president called him and locked the door and told him that 'look maybe you don't know what has happened, when I won the governorship election, my marabout told me that I will not be sworn-in. I did not know the meaning until I was picked as vice president, so I really was not sworn in as governor. So the same marabout has told me that I will be President when this man dies and had given me a month that he will die, you better prepare.' "These are what I have heard. This shows what I call the bankruptcy of ideas. Bankruptcy of knowledge and lack of knowledge in God and the affairs of God on the lives of human beings. If I will live for another twenty years, it is in the hands of God. I am not afraid of such stupidity. Of course, I know that you can be poisoned but if God wants to save you, you will be saved”, he added

The President advocated for an amendment of the constitution in a way that the President and governors will not have a joint ticket with their deputies saying the system encourages disloyalty from the deputies.

Obasanjo said from his experience with Atiku, there is need to change the selection of a vice president and deputy after the President and governor must have been elected instead of running on the same ticket.

He said the selection of deputies should henceforth be the sole responsibility of the political party and confirmation by the state assembly or party executive.

While canvassing for a change that would ensure a harmonious working relationship between the President and Governor and their deputies, he stated that he believes “that the experience we are now gaining must be utilised. I will say that whatever you do, the party should pick the deputy who will then be confirmed by the State assembly or the national executive of the party.

“The Vice President and the deputy Governor should not be on the ticket of voting with the President or the governor. After the president and the governor have won the election, the party should then pick the vice President and the deputy governor so that they do not see themselves as competing. I believe that will put a check if the deputy runs foul of the party or the government.

“And a situation where we are now told that the deputy who came with you on the same ticket and manifest can now desert it is to me like a woman who is married in church and then you say yes I am married but while I maintain my marriage with you, I will go with another man. It is something that we have to look into. The truth is this, if the deputy will work as it should be, then there should be a meeting of the minds”, the President added.

“We have to look at it again because one of the things that happened in the last election is that I do not know of any case where a governor supported his deputy to be his successor except in Zamfara State. So I think that we should study and find out why because this is not good enough", he further said.

Obasanjo also denied that he commissioned some people to get him a third term in office challenging anybody with contrary evidence to come out  with the facts. "I challenge anybody to come out and say I told him to go and work out a third  term of office for me or that I bribed  anybody. I pity such ignorance, mischief, I have never bribed anybody."

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TRIBUNE

OBJ: President, VP should not run on joint ticket - Says Atiku bribed each senator with $5,000 to remove Enwerem

Bola Badmus, Okey Muogbo, Lanre Adewole, Abuja

- 21.05.2007

PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday said he wished that the nation’s laws be amended to give the president and governors the powers to sack their deputies like it obtains in South Africa.

He also suggested that the dispensable subordinates should also not run as candidates on the same platform with their bosses during elections.

Speaking at the medial interaction on the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) on Sunday, he said instead, he would have preferred a situation where the vice president and the deputy governors would be nominated by their would-be bosses after the election in consultation with the party, and then confirmed by the legislature.

This, the president said, would make for greater harmony in governance and reduce the level of face-off between president and governors on one side and their deputies on the other side.

The president said his recommendation was reinforced by the fact that of all the deputy governors, only that of Zamfara was supported by the governor.

Also, President Obasanjo for the first time accused Vice President Atiku Abubakar of bribing senators with $5,000 each to remove the first Senate President of this republic, Senator Evan Enwerem.

Obasanjo asserted that senators who got the bribe confirmed the incident to him.

According to him, that was the first time bribe entered the National Assembly, saying it was through that act that late Senator Chuba Okadigbo, who was the original candidate of Atiku, became the Senate President.

He said Enwerem would not have been removed if not because of the money Atiku allegedly gave some of the Senators who he did not mention.

Obasanjo also disclosed the reasons why his successor in 1979, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, failed to live to the billings of Nigerians throughout his tenure in office that lasted between 1979 and 1983.

He said Shagari became president before his time, even though he had wanted to become a Senator at that time.

President Obasanjo said that despite the fact that his regime did everything to put in a place a system and a constitution that were supposed to produce a suitable person as president, it ended up producing Shagari who was inclined to be a Senator.

Although he said his regime did not focus on the personality that was to take over from him while the system was being put in place, declaring that former President Shagari became president before his time.

“We thought the system would buy out a suitable person. With due respect, the system brought out a Shagari who was inclined to be a senator”, he said.

According to the president, there was a lot to be done before a gentleman like Shagari should be president, adding that he took over and was taken over.

However, the president stated that the problem might not be fault of former President Shagari but the attitude of most of the people he brought on board to serve in his government.

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