Okonjo-Iweala/Adeniji: Just Beneath the Surface

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Just recently, our local tabloid was awashed with stories of the court judgment compelling the former finance minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and her erstwhile counterpart at the Foreign Affairs ministry to refund the excess salary they received during their tenure as ministers. The Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi has judiciously and single-handedly pursued this case to the Court of Appeal. Kudos to Chief Gani for his faith in the judiciary.

 

We will agree that judgments are always given to correct the mistakes of the past and more importantly to serve as deterrent not only to the culprit but to others would-be offenders. If the second element is lacking, it can reasonably be argued that not much has been achieved. Therefore, the present issue at hand should be able bring to bare the atrocities committed by the Obasanjo administration so that measures could be taken to address them.

 

The duo of Okonjo and Adeniji were paid in foreign currency as against the law of the land. The government came under serious attack from the members of the society as at then. But as usual, Obasanjo carried on with impunity. It’s not that Obasanjo was not aware that his action constituted flagrant abuse of office, but he saw himself as the law who could not be questioned by anyone or any authority. Obasanjo has to be held responsible for his lack of respect for the laws of the land.

 

The N36,000,000 paid to Dr Okonjo-Iweala annually was far more than enough to pay the annual salaries of 45 ministers of the same administration. This represented the extent to which our hard earned resources were wasted by an inept administration that portrayed itself as being prudent. Okonjo was not allowed to feel the brunt of the hard economic conditions we were exposed to during her reign as finance minister. It was, therefore, not surprising that she was always saying that the economy was improving. She did not know that what some of her colleagues earned as minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria could not pay for a three bed room apartment in Wuse 2 area of Abuja. It could not even pay for the school fees of a little kid in Abuja Turkish International School. How was she to know that her World Bank economic policies were tearing us apart and in pieces?

 

The other issue raised by this flagrant abuse of office by Obasanjo is that the salary was not only paid in dollars but was paid directly into the foreign accounts of the beneficiaries. A serving minister is not allowed by law to operate foreign account while in service. These people did and Obasanjo assisted them in doing so. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission did not see anything wrong in their action. If their action did not constitute a crime to EFCC and the Code of Conduct Bureau, then I am yet to know what their own crime means.

 

We won’t go far as a nation by merely reprimanding the man who perpetuated this atrocity and several others. It would be recalled that the ex-vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was nearly denied his right of vying for the office of president on account of abuse of office. Atiku’s case was better because he got verbal approval from the Obasanjo before he took his action. Obasanjo committed worse offence because he was cautioned and he refused to listen. He must, therefore, be punished for his scant regard for the constitution he swore to uphold. If we fail to address this matter as a nation, future presidents would not take a cue from this horrific experience.

 

If Okonjo Iweala was so extra-ordinary to warrant the jumbo jet salary she was earning, what about other members of the administration that were equally as good as she was? Or was it Adeniji? Why then was Obasanjo junketing over the globe if he had that belief in Adeniji? What extra ordinary feat did Adeniji achieve as Foreign Affairs minister?

 

   

 

Alhaji Abdallah Mailafia Sha’ibu

Nasarawa State