A former Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, has said that he is not corrupt as being insinuated in many quarters.
He asked any Nigerian with facts on corruption against him to release them to the public.
He also said the $12.4billion Gulf Oil War windfall of 1991 was not stolen.
Babangida made the clarifications in an exclusive interview with a team of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s press crew for the agency’s in-house magazine, “Zero tolerance.”
The EFCC released the transcript of the interview to journalists in Abuja on Monday.
He denied looting billions from the treasury, challenged anyone with proof of corruption against him to reveal it.
He said: “Let me tell you something, maybe you have a hand in it. I have been the most investigated President Nigeria has ever had. By now, somebody should have come forward to say here it is.
“Every government that came after me investigated me because of that perception because they wanted to retrieve the billions I stole.”
He said he and those who served in his administration were saints and angels going by the level of corruption in the country.
“Well, we had different approaches. I think my government was able to identify corruption prone areas and checked them. If you remember in this country, there were things they call essential commodities. These are also sources of corruption. You go and buy Omo or food or whatever it is and we got government to take its hands off such activities. Let people use their own brains, hands and labour, nobody has to do it for them. So we did but I am proud to say that was much more effective.
“I don’t have the facts but if what I read in the papers is currently what is happening then I think we were angels
On the allegation that his military regime institutionalized corruption in Nigeria, Babangida said though he had been aware of such insinuation, the assumption is incorrect.
He added: “Yeah, I know. Maybe I have to accept that but anybody with a sense of fairness has no option but to call us saints. I give you an example, in a year I was making less than $7billion in oil revenue. In the same period, there are governments that are making $200billion to $300billion.
“With $7billion, I did the little I could achieve. With $200billion, there is still a lot to be achieved.”
The ex-President said being branded as corrupt was a question of perception.
He said: “It is said that perception is not reality. Why the perception? I should ask you because it is the perception of the media. You believed quite wrongly that we are all crooks and I bear no grudge whatsoever against anybody but I know time will come when they will say after all, they did something and this is what is happening.
“Now, even our fiercest critics give us credit for certain things we did.”
Concerning the $12.4billion oil windfall from the 1991 Gulf War, Babangida insisted the money was not stolen.
“First of all, that war lasted three months, about 90 something days. It didn’t last up to a year. So get the facts straight.
“Secondly, the oil price at that time was below $18 per barrel. So, there is no way you could make $12.4billion in three months.
“We could not have made that amount of money but Pius Okigbo knew what he was doing. He had brains and he said between 1986 or 1988 to 1994, monies accrued to the Federal Government at that time was about that money you are calling windfall. He said so. It is there in his book.
“Then the other thing he said, the monies could have gone into generative investment. I am not an economist but I have an understanding of what this is,” the former president stated.
History is being rewritten before our very eyes . I await to hear the docile and gullible line up in agreement with this new history
ReplyDeleteBabangida read what you did here, before God will punish you soon.
ReplyDeleteBabangida lacks respect for democracy and worth of human life. He killed Dele Giwa. He closed down Ogun state radio; Concord, Guardian, Punch and Sketch newspapers; Newswatch and News magazines, during his time. He treated with contempt the Justice Chukwudifu Oputa led Human Rights Violation Investigation Commission (HRVIC), when summoned to answer charges on the murder of Dele Giwa. He also rushed to the court to prevent the implementation of the report of the Commission as it affected him. Babangida first came into serious political reckoning with Buhari’s misleading coup of December 31st 1983. In reality, power was seized for the opportunity to destroy documents relating to the NNPC’s missing USA$2.8 billion oil money, and punish all those involved in the unraveling of the scam. Politicians and critics, including Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, notorious for clamouring for the exposure of the oil money rogue Minister of an earlier military epoch, were locked up without trial.
The Gulf war oil windfall is Babangida’s often-referenced loot. Abacha set up a panel headed by the highly respected economist, Pius Okigbo, in October, 1994, to reorganize the CBN. Okigbo’s panel discovered that $12.2 billion of the $12.4 billion accruable from the Gulf War excess crude oil sales was frittered away or unaccounted for, through nebulous or phantom projects that could not be traced. Only $206 million was left in the account. According to Okigbo, “disbursements were clandestinely undertaken while the country was openly reeling with crushing external debt overhead. These represent, no matter the initial justification for creating the account, a gross abuse of public trust. ”
When Obasanjo in 2001, decided to look quietly into the missing NNPC’s US$12.2 billion Gulf war oil windfall linked to Babangida, it was found that the documents pertaining to the fraud had disappeared from the volts of the Central Bank. The brilliant, highly respected economist, Pius Okigbo who handled the investigations into the scam had private copies. Before he could deliver, he insisted on travelling to London against strong, wise, private, counsel, and he was wasted. Other members of the Okigbo panel had copies of the report anyway and were still alive.
Government miraculously found the CBN documents when it suited it, and aspects of the documents concerning IBB, were published during the threat by members of the House of Representatives to impeach President Obasanjo in July, 2005, because of speculations that IBB was one of the Northern elites fanning the plot.
Babangida was ruthless in the way he amassed his colossal wealth. First is the illegal self-allocation of free oil, sold on the spot market. Then he initiated the corrupt culture of maintaining a huge monthly security vote virtually as personal pocket money. Rather than repair our refineries, let alone to work at maximum capacity, IBB built private refineries in Cote d’Ivoire and the Republic of Benin, where he took our crude to refine and sell back to us as fuel.
ReplyDeleteJohn Fashanu, in a private investigation published in African Confidential early in Obasanjo’s current regime, discovered an alleged $6 billion debt buy-back scam by IBB between 1988 and 1993. Another $14.4 billion disappeared into off shore accounts as currency stabilization and debt buy-back scheme that actually cost $2.5 billion. One of the front-companies used, Growth Management, based in London, bought the debt for 10 cents per dollar and resold to the government at 45 cents to steal 35 cents per dollar. Fashanu was trying to recover about $17 billion for the Nigerian government only for the CBN to say they had no records of the deals. The records are out there abroad but cleaned out at home to conceal the (theft) deals.
The Wolfsberg Principles, an initiative of 11 banks and institutions across the world to fight serious international financial crimes, traced another $3 billion of our stolen money to Babangida’s accounts abroad, and $4.3 billion to Abacha’s.
Although Babangida used mostly fictitious names for his numerous accounts abroad, EFCC could zero in on some of the accounts by following up on the dusts raised early in 2003 over the financing of a leading Nigerian telecommunications project in which Babangida is alleged to own 75% shares. Mohammed fronts for his father on the authentic board of the company. Those claiming to have borrowed from foreign banks in the heat of the EFCC’s revelations at the time have not identified the collateral or sortie used. Documents on the loan supposed to have been granted on 9 February, 2001, was dated 28 August, 2006. The original ‘loan’ letter has not been presented. Apparently, Paribas Bank, based in Paris, was managing a slush fund from which investments in excess of US$400 million was made to buy into Alcatel, (the telecommunications’ partner technical partners), Bouygues Telecoms, Peugeot and Total finaelf.
Alcatel and Parabel National of France were worried at the time that their invoices for the telecom project were being inflated to launder funds by the supposed private owners of the sources of funds and that private cheques were being issued to finance the staggering project without recourse to borrowing from banks. They suspected illegal laundering of funds and threatened to withdraw collaboration on the project while alerting Interpol to investigate the sources of the private cheques being issued to finance the project.
IBB could not participate in Obasanjo’s 2003, inauguration ceremonies, because he was allegedly out of the country sorting out the Interpol queries on the Alcatel’s slush account alert, at the time. Even now, the telecoms’ financing details through Siemens etc, could be investigated by the EFCC tracing ghost cheques to issuing private sources of funds and their local and international banks to unravel possible laundering of funds.
Luscious contracts for the construction of Abuja were awarded to front-companies of his and his cronies, including Julius Berger and Arab Contractors that between them virtually single-handedly handled the construction of the new Federal Capital. The security danger of foreign companies solely constructing a country’s capital and having assess to its structural secrets, including possible Presidential underground escape routes and military arsenal volts, is mind boggling to say the least, but that is an issue for another day. The largest, most prestigious housing estate in Alexandra, Egypt’s leading holiday resort town, is alleged to belong to Babangida. Even Egyptians cannot afford his rent, which is alleged to be in dollars. All his tenants are rich foreigners and the staff of multi-national companies operating in Alexandra. The estate is alleged to have its own airport, which Babangida uses when he visits.
ReplyDeleteBabangida is alleged to own several other housing estates around the world, including houses on Bishop Avenue in London. He uses his London houses, it is alleged, as guest houses or gifts for people on his compromise list. He is considered generous with gifts of cars with their boots stuffed with naira notes when he wants some jobs done.
Perhaps you would want to join me to play the prude accountant, generous with figures. Let’s pretend that Babangida was a General throughout his service years in the Nigerian army. Again let’s assume he spent 30 years in the army and was paid N100,000 monthly (actually, salaries of Generals were less than N10,000 a month until recently) and he saved every kobo of his salary. He would be worth about N35,000,000 plus interest in the bank today. But Babangida’s 50 bedroom palatial abode in Minna is alleged to be conservatively worth billions of naira and he does not owe any bank on it.
In 2003, he threw a wedding party for his first daughter, which numbed the nation. Some 28 governors were in attendance, and in June 2004, he treated us to another dream-like political carnival during his son’s wedding. No one dared to ask where the money came from to set up such a palatial abode or scandalous and intimidating wedding carnivals in our jungle of abject poverty and hunger. Nigerians reveled in the lavish show of shame, hoodwinked by the audacity, the sumptuous food, the ambience, the vulgarity….. At least we saw our fellow Nigerians (albeit a handful of them), living it up on the money that could have guaranteed millions of Nigerians, active, regular employment indefinitely.
Almost all the principal characters involved in leadership tussles with Babangida since 1985, Abiola, Yar Adua, Idiagbon and even Abacha, have all died through induced cardiac arrest, lethal injection, poisoned food, gassed telephone handset, etc, etc, and my fear is whether Nigeria would survive the Godfather himself? Babangida usurped eight years and eight months of the thirty-three years of military misrule and still wants to come back to finish us off properly. If he was honest with himself, he ought to be ashamed for the economic, political and social mess he has turned Nigeria into. Babangida should be heading for Kirikiri not Aso Rock.
That is true!!!!
DeleteHe should be hunged to death!!!!
DeleteI have always known IBB my neighbour in Minna to be called a MARADONA Or EVIL GENIUS He was called those name for fun but for the antecedent of his tricky that makes every fallacy to become plausible.
ReplyDeleteIs IBB not in prison? , he should be serving life sentence for all the too numerous crimes he committed against the state and Nigerians
ReplyDeleteMara dondo o Maradona...IBB Maradona has come with the final lie...I don't blame him sha, he is only following his Oga in the army, OBJ, to re-write history. The Evil-Genius must be smiling in his hilltop mansion now probably on the phone with OBJ saying "Oga, I just say make I be like you, I am still your boy Ibrahim o"
ReplyDeleteSee what happens when you allow looters respect and statemanship?
ReplyDeleteIf indeed Buhari said that Abacha wasn't corrupt, then Babangida is truly a saint as he asserts. Mtcheu. Sad nation.
ReplyDeleteI am very impressed with the level of articulation of facts presented by earlier commentators on this thread. “speak the truth, even if your voice shakes”. It is rather unfortunate that this country lacks the kinda leadership & institutions that is intolerant to Corruption & impunity. If not, by now, this man should be enclosed in a cubicle, serving a jail term. Its rather unimaginable & heartbreaking that IBB in the most brazen manner will rub this “I never looted nigeria's funds” in our face when evidence abounds that he recklessly did.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, our opinions on here amounts to nothing because the powers that be romance this canker worm (corruption) that has eaten deep into our "economic, social, & even religious fabric”.
Moving forward however, what we have to do as future leaders of this great country is to start demanding "accountability, equity, justice & fairness” from political office holders @ all levels. Let's us begin to be proactive in the affairs of this nation such that charlatans & inept individuals will no longer have a place in our democracy.
God help us as we work in that direction & God bless Nigeria. #GoodMorningNigeria.
IBB is not corrupt. He is a thief!!!!! He stole our money, and since corruption is not stealing, and vice versa, he is able to confidently say he is not corrupt. Wonder which is worse - to be called a thief?
ReplyDeleteLovely
DeleteGuys how many of you have investigated this facts before making conclusions. So who is now gullible, you or IBB? Please don't lets be fouled by the press. They are our source of problem.
DeleteDear Nigeria, why do we entertain the rantings and poetry of dos who have raped us and desecrated the very sanctity of our existence? why? Are u surprised that pple like IBB would have d testicular fortitude to look us in d face and spit such a taboo of a lie, when we have encouraged a system that exalts thieves and murderers, while those with a sound mind are treated as the misfits? We all watched these past leaders rob us of all we have including the sanity of our nation, yet they walk d streets of our nation with police protection and sirens as tho they were the heros of our time? The law that shld prosecute them, now protects them. The ones who steal billions from us walk free and enjoy our praises, while this same society quickly dish out a jungle justice to those who have stolen fowl or goats and set dem ablaze. Have we now seen how we have contributed to the encouragement of gross looting and corruption? The moral decadence is so high, yet u're seen as a fool if u choose to be upright and d system frustrates u or renders u wretched. We have misplaced priorities, we have miscarried justice, we have encouraged the servicing of social inequality and injustice. If we must all die for our children to have a brighter future, not by criminality, wouldn't that be a beautiful death? but we're too scared to die of hunger, or of irrelevance, yet we are dead as a nation still. sometimes, i wonder wat we enjoy in dis country! why are we so comfortable in our penury? no infrastructure, no roads, no healthcare(even d so-called leaders travel abroad for medical treatments), no employment ( after so many unnecessarily and unduly extended years of studying, under the poorest conditions), no social security, very high level of poverty, poor /unaffordable education (even tho it's our right), etc. wat are we really protecting by refusing to end all dis once and for all? Imagine IBB! Just like every other politician, he must take us all as fools! no wonder he said a few years ago, that Nigeria has got no capable youth, worthy of leadership! we haven't in any way debunked that saying in our actions. Nigeria is blessed with both human and natural resources, but where are they? Lawyers work in d banks as tellers, cos that's where they find an opening, engineers, paramedics, etc are all misplaced from their lines/ fields of practice, cos the system hasn't made any provisions for their talents. we have heard of our medical practitioners doing well abroad as (Nigerians in diaspora), cos that's the system that recognises their efforts. Are we truly ok with all these? Well, the likes of IBB will continue to treat us as the brainwashed until we prove otherwise. an average Nigerian youth today, doesn't believe in growth or hardwork anymore, but quick money cos they are trying to meet-up with the social inequality created by these failed leaders. May God help us, when we are ready to help ourselves. If u talk, a victim like u will challenge u and accuse u of similar tendencies, even without being given the opportunity first. Most youths have become so hopeless that they don't foresee any good coming from any Nigerian anymore and so, they have joined the bandwagon. 'if u can't beat them, join them'. God is willing to help us and has been helping us, but we must be ready to help ourselves. Pple like IBB shld not be given the privilege to media, he doesn't deserve such popularity, and we shld not read his rubbish, shld he eventually utter dem. he deserves to be made insignificant.
ReplyDelete