I Didn't Approve AFRICOM In Nigeria, Says Yar'Adua 

He told the Hausa Service of the Voice of America (VOA) that those who reported the story did not understand his discussion with Bush.

Yar'Adua said he only asked Bush to help Africa to establish its own version of AFRICOM, and manage it by itself, without allowing Americans to site their base in Nigeria.

According to him, the assistance to the Africa should be in form of weapons, gadgets, and training of the soldiers for the joint military command to be established in every sub-region on the continent.

His words: "I did not agree that (AFRICOM) should be based in Africa. What we discussed with … Bush is that if they have something to do for Africa that has to do with peace and security, they should contribute.

"They established AFRICOMwhich is presently based in Germany through which they should make their contribution.

"I told him that we African countries have our own plan to establish a joint military command in every sub-region (as we) have in economic groupings.

"(America) should assist us, the African countries, with military weapons and training of our solders; they should assist us to establish these sub-regional military commands in every sub-region where African countries have economic co-operation.

"That, instead of them coming by themselves to Africa, they should assist us … to form and manage our own military commands by ourselves. Since they already have the AFRICOM, it is only through it they should assist us in whatever way they can, especially in relation to peace.

"I asked him that they should help those of us African countries in the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea – seven countries – how we will unite, since we already have the plan to unite, to establish a joint military command to protect the territory. They should assist us to establish the military command and help us with weapons and gadgets to monitor the happenings in the area.

"Therefore, it is a kind of co-operation, not for them to come and establish the command. This was what I also said back in Nigeria. I hope it is understood.

"Those who reported the matter in the media or insinuating did not actually understand what we said. They did not even wait to understand the kernel of the discussion at the White House."

The contribution America made to end the war in Liberia "is the type of assistance I asked them for."

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has identified the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as one of the main focal points of his administration's war against corruption.

Making this known in Washington D.C. yesterday, the president said in furtherance of his administration's war against corruption, Nigeria shall subscribe to the joint United Nations and World Bank Stolen Assets Recovery (STAR) initiative.

The president's accession to the STAR initiative coincided with his clarificaton that the partnership with the US/African Command (AFRICON) does not translate to an acceptance of the command.

Yar'Adua's sudden volte face is coming on the heels of his meeting with President George Bush of the US at the White House, Thursday, during which he affirmed Nigeria's commitment to partner with the US on AFRICON for the provision of security in the continent.

But in an interview with the Hausa service of the Voice of America (VOA) in Washington DC , monitored by THISDAY, he said Nigeria plans to establish military bases in Africa to be managed by Africans for the protection of oil reserves.

He stated: "I did not accept AFRICOM in my discussions with Bush. I asked for assistance and told Bush that we have our plans to establish bases for African countries. We asked for training on weapons and training to establish our bases to be managed by our people."

"Seven countries in the Gulf of Guinea will be involved," he stated. The president said he asked for training from the US government. The US insisted it can only render help through its AFRICOM base in Stuttgart, Germany, said Yar'Adua.

The President claimed there was a misunderstanding of his comments at the White House on Thursday. It is a partnership, not an acceptance, he stressed. 

His acceptance to partner with the US on AFRICOM during his meeting with the US president on Thursday, strayed from the opposition to the establishment of the command by the Council of States of which the president is the chairman.

Also, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Madu-ekwe, who is part of the president's delegation to the US had himself stated that Nigeria would not support the presence of US troops on African soil under the auspices of AFRICOM.

Meanhile, while speaking at the US Library of Congress at an event hosted by the American Chambers of Commerce and witnessed by prominent businessmen and US public officials, Yar'Adua said "One of the areas we are going to clean now is the national oil company, NNPC.

"In Nigeria, it has not been transparent, and it is one of the most difficult agencies of government to tackle because of the vested interest of very powerful people in the country.

"But we are determined, knowing that when you break that up, it will help bring other agencies and ministries in line. NNPC will operate like any other company in the private sector and source for funds for its joint venture operations from the capital market.

"With such funds, investors would protect their money and ensure transparency. We will then deploy what we have saved from that to social sectors like education and health," the President said.

The president disclosed that he had already given directives for the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Bank to be formally informed of Nigeria's accession to the STAR initiative.

The initiative was launched in September by the World Bank, in partnership with UNODC to help developing countries recover assets stolen by corrupt leaders and invest them in effective, people-oriented development programs.

Responding to questions from the audience, Yar'Adua reaffirmed his administration's zero tolerance for corruption, but stressed that its campaign against corruption goes hand in hand with the determination to ensure respect for the rule of law.

"What I have done is to give the anti-corruption agencies like EFCC, ICPC and the Code of Conduct Bureau, the full support of government and total independence to act on any cases of corruption.

"This is an extremely difficult challenge, but we are following it and we are making sure that the opportunities to be corrupt are checked. We are going to expand the horizon of the war against corruption beyond the activities of agencies like the EFCC and ICPC to the complete reformation of key institutions like the Nigerian Police Force.

"When we reform the police then we can get the judiciary to reform itself because I am insisting that the rule of law must be supreme, and that every judgment of the law court must be respected and obeyed.

"The challenge is that where you have a corrupt system you find that even the judiciary is affected, it is not excluded. The serious challenge that we will have is to get a corruption-free judiciary because the rule of law can best be anchored on a corruption-free judiciary," the president stated.

Yar'Adua told his audience that the government had given the anti-corruption agencies a free hand to act and that they are being encouraged to appeal corrupt court judgments at higher courts in order to vacate the flawed ruling passed down by the lower court.

"By doing that," he explained, "they would have set a precedence such that this kind of action can never happen in the lower court again, because if you say you don't want to obey a court order because you believe it is corruptly procured, you are destroying a system and it doesn't help your cause.

"So it is a long drawn process and a very hard battle. But the important thing is that when you fight such battles, you succeed when the majority of the citizens are with you. On this fight, we will succeed because Nigerians want corruption stamped out of their system," the President stressed.

President YarAdua also met with US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, who praised his adherence to the rule of law while pledging the assistance of the US government to Nigeria in the area of electoral reforms, education, providing lasting solutions to the Niger Delta problem and the fight against HIV/AIDS.