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Undilah PAS : MENENTANG KEZALIMAN & MENEGAKKAN KEADILAN
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http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/africa/112399nigeria-obasanjo.html
November 23, 1999
Nigeria Leader Amazes Many With Strong
Anti-Graft Drive
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
KANO, Nigeria -- After Friday prayers,
townsfolk say, Maryam
Abacha, the widow of the dictator who
ruled and looted this
country for five years, has begun opening
the gates of the family
compound to the city's poor, who fill her
courtyard to receive free bags
of rice, millet and sorghum.
The practice is regarded here as a crude
attempt to burnish the image of
the Abachas, who have become the poster
family of an unexpected and
ambitious drive by the county's new
president, Olusegun Obasanjo, to
root out corruption.
Since taking over in May as the first
civilian president in nearly 16 years,
Obasanjo has extended his investigation into
nearly all levels of society
that benefited from the military rule that
made Nigeria one of the world's
most corrupt countries.
The government has seized properties
belonging to retired military
officials, senior civil servants are being
investigated for fraud and
high-ranking officers, forced to retire by
President Obasanjo, are now on
trial.
The Abacha family home is surrounded by
heavily armed soldiers, and
his widow remains a virtual prisoner inside.
A Swiss court, at Nigeria's
request, has frozen the family's accounts,
which may total more than $2
billion.
Some critics say the government has yet to
undertake the serious reforms
needed to wipe out corruption in a country
whose vast oil reserves draw
in billions of loosely controlled dollars a
year. Other skeptics say some of
the Obasanjo government's own practices,
particularly its dealings with
Parliament, are themselves shady and
undermine its cleanup effort.
Nevertheless, most acknowledge that Obasanjo
-- a former general
whose election campaign was bankrolled by
military leaders and who
many doubted would look into the past -- has
far surpassed
expectations.
In the 1970's, when Obasanjo first served as
president, his government
was known to have skimmed money from the
country's oil exports,
which were much in demand during the oil
crises of the period. Also,
officials were known to expect payments for
import licenses and
government contracts.
Officials say the current examination is
expected to cover government
activities going back to 1966, when the
military first took over the
country.
"Not too many people expected a quarter of
what Obasanjo has done in
terms of his anti-corruption stance," said
Tunde Oni, projects manager
for Integrity, a group based in Lagos, the
former capital, that tracks
corruption and is financed by American
sources. "Those affected most
are the big military and political elite who
have controlled our country for
many years. They have much to lose."
Femi Ajayi, a Lagos-based banker who like
many of his colleagues was
arbitrarily imprisoned for four years by
Gen. Sani Abacha, the military
ruler, when the army systematically
purchased stakes in the country's
biggest banks, said military officials now
controlled most Nigerian banks.
President Obasanjo will succeed in fighting
corruption, Ajayi said. "But,"
he added, "he will have a very difficult
time, because the people he is
going after have enormous resources that
they will use against him."
While such steps are not risk-free in a
country that has known military
coups, the Obasanjo government's efforts are
aimed at recovering what
could amount to billions of dollars needed
to rebuild Nigerian society
after years of misrule.
The aggressive cleanup at home could
buttress Obasanjo's requests for
Western governments, including Washington,
to trace Nigeria's stolen
money overseas and for Nigeria to be
rewarded with what he has called
a "democracy dividend."
That would include forgiveness of at least
some of the $30 billion owed
by a government whose reserves were depleted
during military rule.
President Obasanjo had succeeded so far
without facing a serious revolt
from his powerful enemies, analysts said,
partly because his
anti-corruption campaign has been the one
issue that has received strong
support throughout this ethnically and
religiously divided country.
What's more, he began his crackdown on
corruption immediately after
taking office, using his unique position in
Nigeria to do so. As the man
who served as the country's military ruler
in the 1970's and was later
imprisoned for three years by General Abacha
in the 1990's, Obasanjo is
both an insider and outsider, said Pat
Utomi, an economist at the Lagos
Business School.
"He was the man juxtaposed by the events of
history to play this role
right now," Utomi said. "And so he's
governing fearlessly, almost as if he
has a death wish. Why? He's 61 years old.
He's been president, he's
been jailed. He has money. He has achieved
everything. This is what's
left."
President Obasanjo has also strengthened his
hold over the military by
forcing about 150 senior officers who had
held political appointments
since 1985 to retire abruptly. Most of those
being tried or investigated
are from that group.
No one is talking openly of a potential
military backlash against
Obasanjo, partly because his efforts have
proven popular and the military
remains extremely unpopular after nearly 16
years of disastrous rule. But
in a country where generals have led for all
but 10 years since
independence from Britain in 1960, and where
nine successful or failed
coups have taken place, the possibility of
revolt remains real.
In Lagos and in Abuja, the capital, the
Obasanjo government confiscated
plots of land that the military government
bought in 1997 and gave to 37
high-ranking military officials.
In the same area in Lagos, construction has
stopped on a Total gas
station that was being built by a company
believed to belong to Vice
Adm. Mike Akhigbe, who was second to Gen.
Abdulsalami Abubakar in
the transition government preceding
President Obasanjo's inauguration.
After local people complained that the
station sat dangerously alongside a
highway, the Lagos state government agreed
that the project violated
zoning laws and condemned it.
Today, the red X's painted on the station's
walls have come to symbolize
how ordinary Nigerians and the rule of law
succeeded in stopping the will
of someone who was the second most powerful
man in the country less
than six months ago.
"If you are looking at the kind of people
who are being investigated,
these are sacred cows," Utomi said. "This is
going after big fish."
Critics say the targets in this campaign are
being unfairly persecuted.
"Our case is just a vendetta against us,"
said Maj. Abdulhadi
Al-Mustapha, the younger brother of General
Abacha's former security
chief who lost his farm land and is on trial
on murder charges. "I wonder
why they are targeting only particular
people. Government is a collective
regime. So whenever something goes wrong in
a regime, blame should go
to the entire regime."
Various investigations have also found
corruption at all levels of military
and government power in appointments, in
allocation of licenses, in
contracts and in purchases, said Christopher
Kolade, the chairman of
one of several government panels looking
into past military rule and a
former chief executive of Cadbury's
operations in Nigeria.
"The scale of corruption we have found is
sometimes astonishing," said
Kolade, interviewed in Abuja. "On the whole,
though, we knew what we
might encounter."
One of Kolade's biggest discoveries was the
secret award of lucrative
offshore oil exploration contracts to
companies linked to military officials.
The Obasanjo government canceled the
contracts, and the president said
guidelines for a fresh selection would be
announced soon.
Beyond those headline-grabbing findings,
Kolade said that what was
harder to quantify was a culture of
corruption that permeated all levels of
Nigerian society, from a police officer who
squeezes 10 cents out a taxi
driver to a bureaucrat who grants a permit
in return for a hundred-dollar
bribe. The crackdown at the top appears to
have trickled down to the
street, as soldiers have returned to the
barracks and police officers have
grown more hesitant in openly demanding
bribes.
In the northern city of Kaduna, a judicial
commission is examining the
workings of a fertilizer plant that many say
represents a typical case of
local corruption.
A former director of the plant, Dalandi
Kifasi, is accused of giving free
fertilizer bags to officials in the federal
Agriculture Ministry and other
powerful figures in the Abacha government,
including $6,000 worth to a
foundation created by Major Al-Mustapha,
General Abacha's former
security chief. And Kifasi is being
investigated for ordering four
all-wheel-drive trucks for his plant and
giving them to agriculture officials.
In an interview in his house in Kaduna,
Kifasi defended his actions,
saying the vehicles had been seized by the
officials without his
knowledge. As for the fertilizer bags,
Kifasi argued that it was common
practice to thank those who had helped a
business with a gift.
"All the companies I've worked for in
Nigeria -- it's normal, it's very,
very normal," Kifasi said. He was blameless,
he said, adding that the
Obasanjo government's anti-corruption zeal
had pushed people to lie to
incriminate him.
In Parliament a sweeping anti-corruption
bill proposed by the Obasanjo
administration has languished for months.
The legislature has been
paralyzed since June as members have
rebelled against leaders backed
by the president. The speaker of the lower
house was forced to resign
after reports that he had lied about his
educational background and other
credentials. Similar allegations emerged
about Evan Enwerem, whom the
president's aides successfully promoted for
Senate president in June.
Lawmakers and diplomats based in Nigeria say
the aides handed out
bags of money to senators to secure their
votes.
Shielded by the president, Enwerem was able
to retain his position until
last Thursday, when he was impeached by the
Senate.
"Obasanjo has not convinced us that he is
determined to clean out
corruption no matter who is involved," said
Farouk Lawan, the chairman
of the lower house's ethics committee. "The
example of the Senate
president means that in the crusade against
corruption there are sacred
cows. That means that to be shielded against
corruption, all you have to
be is Obasanjo's man."
Kolade, the chairman of the government
investigative panel,
acknowledged that those political tactics
had weakened the president's
anti-corruption campaign. "It does," Kolade
said. "It does to a certain
extent. You want to move forward but have to
go through this political
machinery that puts shackles on your legs."
Here in Kano, the Abachas' hometown, the
mood was in favor of moving
forward. Near the Abacha compound's gates,
supporters of Mohammed
Abacha, a son of General Abacha who is being
detained in Lagos on
charges of murdering the wife of a former
opposition leader, scrawled
graffiti on walls: "Free Mohammed Abacha."
Just above that, someone
added, "Don't."
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