Halliburton: M. D. Yusuf, Not a Bribe-Taker

By

Max Gbanite

maxgbanite@yahoo.com

 

When I read an article titled “Halliburton Bribe Takers” published on March 29th, 2009 issue of nextonSunday newspaper; the same publishers of 234NEXT.com in the internet wire, my first initial reaction was,  "What is new?" However, upon reading further, it dawned on me that what was new was the inclusion of the name Alhaji Muhammadu Dikko Yusuf as a bribe-taker.

 

I felt a tight knot in my stomach, became sick right away because the name MD Yusuf, GCON, is a brand associated with integrity, detribalized, honesty, straightforward, and all that has to do with decency in a country that has self-inflicted corruption as its first language and election-rigging as the second.

 

Then I remembered that our mothers, before preparing rice or beans, very often separate the chaffs from the real thing; I, therefore, embarked on a journey of seeking the truth from the lies.

 

This journey took me to speak to my senior uncle Alhaji Muhammadu Gambo Jimeta, GCON, a retired inspector General of Police (IGP) and  former National Security Adviser (NSA), in whose house I met Alhaji MD Yusuf for the first time shortly after the 2003-rigged elections. Alhaji Gambo encouraged me to see MD Yusuf and get his views.

 

When I met him in his modest flat in Maitama, Abuja, on Good Friday, I knew then that as our Lord Christ has  resurrected, that the truth will be told. After the respectful greetings, I swung into action:

 

Sir, did you take bribe on Trains 1 and 2, as alleged by Mr. Tesler (the corrupter) under the ‘cultural arrangement’ orchestrated by TSKG?

 

No, was his answer.

 

However, he went on to expand my knowledge on events that happened while he was a director and later as chairman of Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG).

 

Alhaji MD Yusuf spoke with candor. He narrated that when he was a board member of LNG under General Ibrahim Babangida, GCFR, they were under orders by the then Minister of Petroleum to follow due process and rule of law in the award of the LNG project, that international tender bidding process must be adhered to; but, on the day the tender was to be opened, the minister dissolved the board just like that. The unexpected action foreclosed the tender.

 

I asked why that happened. He simply said that I may have to find out from Dr. Chu S. P. Okongwu, the then Minister.

 

Thereafter, a new board was appointed and inaugurated with the Late Dr. Pius Okigbo as the chairman. Unfortunately, with the annulment of June 12, 1993 elections  and change of guard to Chief Ernest Shonekan, much could not be achieved by that board. When now late General Sani Abacha took over, he appointed Alhaji MD Yusuf, chairman of a newly inaugurated board of LNG. The petroleum minister then, Chief Don Etiebet, met with MD Yusuf and both agreed that the transparent international bidding process already put in place must be followed. Royal Dutch Shell was excluded from participating in the bid, but it was paid about US$9 million to provide technical advisory to the board. 

 

When I spoke to Dr. Chu S. P. Okongwu to find out why he dissolved a board on the morning a tender was to be decided, he stated that, as at the time, Shell was a major player and controller of the country’s oil production, and that the administration felt that giving them the gas sector was suicidal. Dr. Okongwu was also informed by the ministers of petroleum and gas of Algeria and Indonesia to avoid the technology being offered by Shell because the ones Shell built in their respective countries were old technology and the maintenance of the plants is outrageously expensive. He was further told that of the 20 gas plants existing then in the world, those built by Shell were not operational. Armed with such intelligence data, Dr. Okongwu swung to action. He dissolved the board to prevent Shell from abducting the tender and taking control of the gas sector too.

 

Moreover, additional investigations at the time revealed that Shell was neck-deep in bed with some member of the board and would have won the tender and installed a plant that would have killed Trains 1 & 2.  Therefore, Dr. Okongwu’s memo to the incoming board had a paragraph that barred Shell and other oil companies that were active players in the petroleum industry from the LNG project.

 

To circumvent the law and amplify the corruption in Nigeria to an exponential level, TSKG was formed by a consortium of bribegivers. A French engineering company Technip, an Italian engineering company, Snamprogetti, a US engineering company, KBR of the Halliburton group, and a Japanese engineering and construction company, JGC: all became equal partners-in-crime.

 

The bubble bust when those responsible for bribing the lower level technicians failed in their duties, prompting the French company to complain to their home government by suggesting that Halliburton was allegedly diverting monies meant for cultural arrangement in Nigeria back to the United States as contribution towards the Republican ticket of Bush/Cheney in 2000 elections. It is instructive to know that Dick Cheney was the chairman of Halliburton as at the time of Trains 1 and 2. This allegation prompted the French government to start the investigation that opened this can of worms. It is also important to state that the former Vice President Dick Cheney was never implicated.

 

I apologize for the digression.

 

As chairman of LNG, MD Yusuf maintained a very high level of integrity and transparency. For instance, on one occasion he was approached by his friends (Chagouri brothers) to influence their interest in the LNG project through the back door. MD Yusuf flatly refused by reminding them that the simple reason that he was the chairman of a flour mills and a construction company owned by them (Chagouris) made it a crime, if they are seen to be benefiting from the LNG project. He pointedly told them that should they insist, they must join the list of companies bidding for the projects through international tender and that he (MD Yusuf) would also resign as the chairman of their companies. The Chagouris withdrew their demands. This is clearly not the actions of a bribe-taker.  As chairman of LNG, Alhaji MD Yusuf could have done wonders for his friends, but he rather insisted that they follow the rules of engagement-transparently.

 

When Abacha sacked Don Etiebet as the petroleum minister and appointed Chief Dan Etete as his replacement, the new minister met with MD Yusuf to discuss Trains 1 & 2 tender. MD Yusuf told him that Trains 1 had been awarded to the lowest bidder through a transparent international tender. The winner won by being US$50 millions lower than the next higher  bidder. Etete probably did not like the system of transparency. He ran to Abacha and convinced him that retaining MD Yusuf would disturb the cultural arrangement, that the idea of tender should be replaced with onward negotiations. A few days later, Alhaji MD Yusuf was removed as chairman of LNG. The era of negotiation --instead of tender (bidding)-- was ushered in. The new protocol played well with TSKG’s well-oiled machines of cultural committee-arrangement. All other contracts awarded from then on became an extended negotiated-corruption, the system of engagement that spanned General Abdulsalam Abubakar, President Obasanjo, and has remained unchanged.

 

When in 2004, the House of Representatives committee on gas called MD Yusuf, he told the committee  all that he knew: the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. As a matter of fact, a close friend of Nuhu Ribadu, the then EFCC boss, told me that Ribadu went to see the then President Olusegun Obasanjo to seek his permission to investigate the Halliburton matter further, but Obasanjo refused.

 

Obasanjo opined that if MD Yusuf took bribe, he (MD Yusuf) will be honest and bold enough to tell the truth and accept the fall out, that investigating the matter further will expose a lot of high-ranking PDP stalwarts who collected money for the 2003 elections and were still collecting towards the 2007 elections.

 

President Obasanjo knew that MD Yusuf fears only God and respects everyone. It was MD Yusuf, as the Inspector General of Police (IGP) after the death of General Murtala Mohammad on Friday, February 13, 1976, who went to General T. Y. Danjuma and convinced him to make a case for Obasanjo to take over as the Head of State. He argued that since Generals Gowon and Mohammad were both from the North, another section should be placed in that position. The opportunity was there then, and Obasanjo was the Second-in-Command. That argument was accepted, and history was made.

 

However, to the surprise of many, after Obasanjo was sworn in as the Head of State, MD Yusuf tendered his letter of resignation. He reasoned that as the IGP, he had failed in his duties to know about the Dimka Coup that caused the death of a Head of State before it happened. For him to continue after having failed was unacceptable and cast aspersions on his integrity. The Supreme Military Council (SMC) flatly rejected the resignation letter. He continued as IGP until he willingly retired in 1979. Before retiring, he made sure that General Obasanjo adopted his blue print to fight apartheid. His policies helped to liberate South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and later Angola from the clutches of racist regimes. 

 

This is the character of a man’s man, not one that would accept $75,000 as bribe. Had he wanted to be so induced, he would have collected millions of dollars; after all, he was the chairman of LNG.

 

If still in doubt about this man, kindly contact Prof. Wole Soyinka. He will tell you that when he was imprisoned by the government during the Nigeria-Biafra War, that it was Alhaji MD Yusuf as the head of ‘E’ Special Branch who gave the orders that prevented the prison and police rogues guarding him (Soyinka) to stop tormenting and torturing him. The "E" Branch of the police was the Nigerian equivalence of MI-5, KGB, and CIA which later became Nigeria Security Organization (NSO) during President Shehu Shagri and General Buhari’s era. It was later broken to become the State Security Services (SSS) and National Intelligence Agency (NIA) under General Babangida’s administration. Once MD Yusuf got information that Soyinka was being dehumanized, he swung into action and probably saved his life.

 

Even ex-Biafran military officer who were detained and interrogated at the end of the war by MD Yusuf were never tortured or dehumanized. He was a police officer with a human face who understood what his fellow officers went through, and therefore treated them with respect and dignity.

 

The same M.D. Yusuf endangered his life for his love of Nigeria by challenging General Abacha's sole presidential candidacy when most politicians were cowered into cowardice. His act of bravery motivated the G-18 to evolve into G-34 and, after Abacha’s death, it became PDP.

 

Alhaji MD Yusuf told me with sadness that two years after he left office as LNG Chairman, while visiting London, his friends the Chagouris arranged for an unsolicited gift for him: to help with his shopping, but definitely not as bribe because he was no longer in any influential position to facilitate LNG or any other contracts for them. That facility is probably what is today termed “75 thousand dollars download.” What a pity how friends can blackmail a man of integrity, a man with impeccable credential. What a phenomenal error. This must count as the cheapest form of demagoguery!

 

I am however pained that no Nigerian journalist has taken the time to see this great man and ask him the hard questions or, at least, help him to clear his good name. As for me and others that know this great Nigerian prince from the royal house of Katsina and yet a true friend of the talakawa [hoi polloi] we offer our unreserved apology to him:  Sorry,sir! To those who care to know, even if the others took bribes, Oga MD Yusuf is not a bribe-taker.