FOR THE RECORDS

By Debo Abdulai

1. Senator Umar Tsauri-led Panel on PTDF and Otunba Fasawe (Daily Sun, March 20, 2007, P4)
“...WHEN a member of the committee, Senator Akinlabi Olasunkanmi, sought to know from Fasawe if the Vice President was a shareholder in his company, Fasawe said, “No”.

“But when he was further asked to say who the Adamu Abubakar on the board of directors of his company was, the young man the first committee believed is the vice president’s son, the question was overruled by the chairman of the committee.

“Again Fasawe was asked how much was advanced to him as loan in 1994 when he first got the facility from the bank. He replied, “That is immaterial, but if I may ask the senator too, how much was the exchange rate then, compared to now?”

“Senator Olasunkanmi simply said, “I should be asking you questions and not you asking me”.

On the collaterals, he simply said, “Whatever the collateral was, query my bankers and not me”. And the committee chairman said “I like the answers he (Fasawe) is giving”.

“When another member of the committee, Senator Azuta Mbata insisted that Fasawe should tell the world who the beneficiaries of the account were, since he knows them, the chairman of the committee again ruled the member out of order.

“Senator Bello Maitama Yusuf, a member of the committee, also asked Fasawe if the licence of his would-be radio station was the only collateral he used to secure the series of loans he got, Fasawe replied, “No apology about that, if the bankers say the licence was enough collateral”.

“At this juncture, the chairman insisted that if there was any problem between the bank and Fasawe, it was not the business of the committee but rather that of the bank, adding that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was the only authority vested with powers to sanction erring banks.

“Senator Yusuf disagreed, saying, “It should be our business because many Nigerians have suffered through liquidation of banks.

It is therefore, in our interest to know the collateral he used to secure these loans?
“On the identities of those who have been operating the MOFAS account, including those that have been putting money into the account, chairman of the committee, quoting copiously from Atiku’s submission where he revealed how Obasanjo paid in N700 million into the MOFAS account, said the vice president’s position should suffice as response to the question posed to Fasawe.

My comment: The italics above are mine and they are meant to highlight how the ship of the panel was steered by Senator Tsauri.
You would almost think the Katsina State Senator, Umar Tsauri was Otunba Oyewole Fasawe’s counsel as he made important interjections at critical periods of the panel sitting. And you would almost get away with the impression that he had animosity against some people high up as he overruled his members with impunity. The PDP has however said some of the panel members are aggrieved because they didn’t get return tickets. At a point, you will think Tsauri was applauding every word of Fasawe. He eventually returned a verdict that many of his colleagues yearned for.

But is it really difficult to pretend to be fair? One of the reasons the Victor Ndoma Egba panel was rubbished was that it found Atiku guilty of monumental graft, while Obasanjo who used the PTDF resources for government duties outside the Fund’s mandate was slapped on the wrist.

It was, therefore, expected that a guilty verdict would also be slammed on OBJ but must that be done brazenly and recklessly? That is what the DAILY SUN methodically proved in the report filed by Ismail Omipidan.

2. ROTIMI AMAECHI VS INEC, PDP
(Advertorial, Sunday Tribune, March 18, 2007 P48)
ROTIMI Amaechi, Speaker of the River State House of Assembly was once the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP before an indictment by the EFCC over corrupt acts forced him to be dropped for Celestine Omehia He went to court, Federal High Court, Abuja Division to determine whether he was rightly substituted by the PDP and whether it is only a court of law that can disqualify a candidate who does not meet the constitutional requirements for contesting an election.

The court was presided over by Justice B.F.M. Nyako and judgement was delivered on March 15, 2007.

A paragraph that interests me in the whole judgement is re-produced below particularly because it affects the political future of Atiku Abubakar.

“By the decision of this court in the case of Action Congress vs INEC unreported delivered on 7th March, 2007 which I am persuaded by, not only a court of law can disqualify a candidate but existing legislation can also disqualify a candidate from contesting election. For example, where a candidate falls within any of the conditions laid down in section 137 or section 182 of the constitution, he is automatically disqualified and may not necessarily require a court to say so,” Justice Nyako submilted

MY COMMENT
Since we all know that Section 137 has to do with an indictment by an Administrative Panel of Inquiry, Tribunal etc, I therefore have no comment.

3. Gov. KALU on President Obasanjo
(nigerian Sun, March 18, 2007 P33)
“If a president can go to Aba and say that the sitting governor is quarrelling with him, that I don’t respect his age, his head should be examined to be sure he is not sick. I am calling on all Nigerians to check President Obasanjo. I can bet you he is sick”.

MY COMMENT
What should I say?

4. AFIKUYOMI ON TINUBU
(nigerian Sun, March 18, 2007 P32)
“It is not enough for him (Tinubu) to continue to shout Obasanjo or that the Lagos money was seized. The money that was seized is not for state government. It was local government allocation. How can anyone be giving excuses that the money that was seized was why he had not done the metroline in Lagos, or that was why they have not done housing projects in Lagos. It is a scandal. Not with the available resources. The Internally Generated Revenue accruable to Lagos every month is not less than N6 billion. At the minimum, N65 billion had passed through their hands as 1GR. What has he done with that money?

MY COMMENT: Plausible questions and it is nice that Afikuyomi is now on the side of the people and asking the same question some people have been asking for almost eight years. I have nothing to add, since Oro ti so are e.