According to the book titled ‘Too Good to Die: Third Term and the Myth of the Indispensable Man in Africa’, while serving as minister of petroleum resources, the former president never discussed activities of the corporation with government officials until his last days in office.
Obasanjo, who was president from 1999 to 2007, made himself the minister overseeing the nation’s petroleum sector until January 2007, when he relinquished that position.
Obasanjo, who was president from 1999 to 2007, made himself the minister overseeing the nation’s petroleum sector until January 2007, when he relinquished that position.
The only official Obasanjo had in
a similar capacity was Edmund Daukoru, his presidential adviser on petroleum
and energy, whom he later made minister of state for petroleum resources in
2005.
In the book, the authors – Chidi
Odinkalu, former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and
Ayisha Osori, author of ‘Love Does Not Win Elections’ – said Obasanjo was
“ultimately responsible for all the decisions made affecting the petroleum
sector”.
They told of how he secured
approval for all his dealings as petroleum minister in one fell swoop, during one
of the last federal executive council meetings.
The authors wrote: “In one of the
last working sessions of cabinet in May, 2007, Obasanjo required cabinet to
give retrospective approval to all the measures he had taken over the eight
years in which he acted as sole administrator of Nigeria’s oil industry.
“Cabinet duly obliged him after
recording Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s objection.
“For this purpose, each minister
received their share of the documents they were required to approve in a
Ghana-must-go bag. None had the capacity to process or read them. The approval
was pro-forma.”
While he served as minister of
petroleum resources, NNPC operations were reportedly shrouded in secrecy with
little or no accountability in place.
Obasanjo was said to have
disregarded due process on several occasions, allegedly bypassing the national
assembly on issues of funding and failing to render proper accounts of oil
revenue to relevant agencies like the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and
Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
Interestingly, while serving as
military head of state in 1977, Obasanjo had set up a tribunal to investigate
the operations of the Nigerian National Oil Company (NNOC, which metamorphosed
into NNPC).
How will you make money off Nigerians if you don't write nonsense into what you call a book about past leaders? Only the gullible ones will throw their mone to such garbage.
ReplyDelete