Author Topic: OBJ\'s Crusade  (Read 4787 times)

chinelo

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OBJ\'s Crusade
« on: April 01, 2005, 01:32:58 PM »
Dude is on fire. i\'m not a fan but our politicians are shameless and should be disgraced at every chance. Check out d news today!


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Ikoyi Houses Sold to First Lady?s Family, Govs
Obasanjo cancels deal, queries minister
By Collins Edomaruse, 04.01.2005

No fewer than 207 Nigerians including members of the family of the First Lady, Mrs. Stella Obasanjo, governors, ministers, senior military and police officers and top civil servants have been secretly allocated Federal Government houses in Ikoyi, Lagos from those slated for sale in an advertisement early in the week.
But irked by the development, President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed dissatisfaction and queried the Housing Minister, Mrs. Mobolaji Osomo, for what he called the shoddy manner she has handled the process and consequently, canceled the allocations.
However, THISDAY checks at the ministry revealed that unknown to the present occupants of the properties and other Nigerians intending to bid, several of the houses advertised for sale have been allocated under the table and in some cases payment partly or fully made by the beneficiaries long before the bidding process begins.
Further investigations also showed that at least six governors benefited from the behind-the-scene deal. They are: Dr. Peter Odili (Rivers State); Olagunsoye Oyinlola (Osun State); Otunba Gbenga Daniel (Ogun State); Dr. Bukola Saraki (Kwara State), Mr. Donald Duke (Cross River State) and Alhaji Adamu Muazu (Bauchi State).
Besides, embattled Senate President Adolphus Wabara and former Alliance for Democracy (AD) senator who defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Musiliu Obanikoro were among National Assembly members who have already been given houses.
Others are Senator John Azuta Mbata,  Senator Isa Maina and Senator Ben Obi.
Members of the House of Representatives who also benefitted, according to the investigation, included Deputy Speaker Austin Opara, Sadiq Yar\'Adua, Bawa Bwari and Abdul Ningi.
Also included are Minister of Police Affairs, Chief Broderick Bozimo, his counterpart in the Sports Ministry, Col. Bala Mande (rtd) as well as the Minister of State (Defence), Dr. Rowland Oritsejafor and Ambassador Adamu Waziri of the Ministry of Commerce. Their former colleague in the ministry of education, Professor Fabian Osuji is also on the list.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-General Martin Agwai tops the list of the armed forces and police personnel, either serving or retired, who benefitted from the deal. Others are the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero, Maj-Gen Lawrence Onoja (rtd), Maj-Gen Adeyinka Adebayo (rtd), Maj-Gen Olufemi Olutoye (rtd), Maj-Gen A. Ajibade, Rear Admiral Adesokan, Brig-Gen J. B Akinyemi, Deputy Inspectors-General of Police (DIGs) Bello Labaran, Musa Abdulkadir and Mike Okiro.
THISDAY checks also revealed that two Supreme Court Justices, Adolphus Karibi-Whyte and A. O Ejiwunmi as well as the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Roseline Ukeje are beneficiaries.
Former National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Barnabas Gemade as well as Personal Assistant to President Olusegun Obasanjo on Traditional Matters, Mr. Segun Awolowo also got allocations.
Top businessmen on the list include Oba Otudeko, Chief Subomi Balogun, Managing Director of Nigerian Breweries, Mr. Festus Odimegwu as well as corporate bodies like SIO Properties and Power Properties Ltd.
The investigations also showed that the Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Charles Soludo and the Director-General of the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Dora Akunyili, benefited from the allocation.
Others are Chief (Mrs.) E. O Adegbite, Chief O. O Ogunbuwa, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Architect Albert Ikomi and Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan.
In canceling the allocations, Obasanjo in a letter to Osomo said: \"...I must express my great displeasure, in very clear terms, about the way you seem to be handling the sale of federal government property in Lagos
\"I have a document sent to me anonimously (copy attached), where 207 people had been allocated or offered land/property for sale surreptitiously; some with full payment, some with deposit and some without payment at all.
\"I also feel personally embarrassed that almost all members of my wife\'s family are on that list. As it is, the entire list will now be canceled without fail, the money collected should be refunded and all the property will be advertised for sale except those allocated to Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari and Chief Emeka Anyaoku which had been approved before this exercise on special condition of encouraging their relocation to Nigeria and on the basis of current value plus 10 per cent. Report faithful compliance with this instruction.\"
In newspaper advertisement early in the week, the Implementation Committee of the White Paper on the Commission of Inquiry into the alienation of Federal Government Landed Property called for bids from members of the public interested in  purchasing the landed properties in Ikoyi.
A statement by the Secretary of the Committee Professor P.T. Ahire advised interested Nigerians to collect bidding forms, free of charge, from either the office of the Federal Controller of Housing Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Onikan Lagos or the Presidential Advisory Council, the Presidency, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Federal Secretariat, Phase 1, Abuja.
The properties slated for sale include 3 bedroom houses, 4 bed room detached houses with Boys Quarters, and 5 bedroom detached houses.
Although the bid is open to all interested Nigerians, sitting tenants who are interested in buying the houses they currently occupy have the first right of purchase.

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u won\'t understand my fury unless u r aware of the on going battle between d FG and civil servants who have been given quit notice bcos of the so called privatisation exercise (1004 housing estate, eric moore towers, bar beach towers.... etc) . many of these public servants have put in decades of service and will now have to seek alternative accomodation (which of course is so unavailable)so dat those in authority can can buy the houses (to add to the numerous houses they own in abuja and other state capitals). the civil servants have even offered to buy d houses at the market rate but d answer is still no. now i know why, they had all been allocated.
The world is dangerous not because of those who do harm, but because of those who look at it without doing anything -Albert Einstein

Honeybunnie

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OBJ\'s Crusade
« Reply #1 on: April 01, 2005, 08:11:08 PM »
Chinelo, from the sounds of it, you are back in Naija, if my insinuation is correct, this is a very welcome development, because you are at the heart of all this drama, and you have a hands-on knowledge and can clarify a lot for the rest of us.

You have to give Obj kudos though, he seems to be taking his \"fight against corruption\" all the way. But really instead of diplaying this kind of dismay and actions at the turn of events, why did he not make a raucus about it like he did to Fabian Osuji but he is instead only \"querying\" Mrs. Mobolaji Osomo, this only shows some kind of leniency towards yorubas. She has carried out an act that is a classic example of corruption, Fabian had bribed people to get a budget passed, what she did is tantamount to same, she is giving off prime property to certain people who I am sure have given her some sort of kickback.

SO all in all, Obasanjo\'s task in really thankless because his one-man crusade has a long way to get everything taken care of, and of course he doesn\'t have all the time in the world. Then again, this action of his must have drawn criticism from the igbos in the country, for the fact that he is taking out his fury for corruption against their (igbo) representatives in different ways over what he is doing to their yoruba counterparts .

Prince

  • Posts: 438
OBJ\'s Crusade
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2005, 03:45:27 AM »
Thanks, Chinelo, for keeping us in the know.

Firstly, I must express my appreciation and praise for the work Obasanjo is doing.  As I said previously, I \'m willing to overlook his bag of loot, if he is serious in his war on corruption.

Given that corruption has eaten deep into the fabric of our culture, his work in this vain, is as enormously vast as can be.  That he exposed his in-laws is more than a colorful beginning.

He has my full support and I pledge to do whatever is in my power to assist in his crusade.  As Signo and a few others on this site said once, we\'ve got to start somewhere.  This is it.
He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool.

If you s-m-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-l-l-l-l-l-l-l what the Prince - is - cooking!!

(Adapted from WWE’s Rock.)

okey

  • Posts: 220
OBJ\'s Crusade
« Reply #3 on: April 02, 2005, 04:12:25 AM »
In as much as Nigeria is in an anti-corruption wave. There should be a level playing field for all.

If selective prosecution is the new practice, one should start by looking in the mirror before worrying about others.
===
Quality is never an accident; It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, Intelligent direction and skillful execution;
It represents the wise choice of many alternatives

Prince

  • Posts: 438
OBJ\'s Crusade
« Reply #4 on: April 02, 2005, 05:06:18 AM »
Okey, I totally share in your philosophy.  As a matter of fact, somewhere in the forums, I think Honeyb, Sisia, and I echoed that sentiment.

It\'s just that sometimes, one may have to step back a bit to pick up a breadfruit, according to an Igbo proverb.  We may have to first drive off the fox, and then we can scold the chicken later.

If he gets rid of the looters, if we are satisfied, we can say thank you.  If we are not totally satisfied, we the people may wanna take a look around his corner.  Besides, in the process of his purge, people are bound to name names, and a few fingers may point his way.

If we stifle his crusade, we may not know how many thieves Alibaba has in his den.  If we cheer him on, this is our best chance of getting him to turn his pocket inside out.  Remember the saying, \"You choose the better of two evils.
He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool.

If you s-m-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-l-l-l-l-l-l-l what the Prince - is - cooking!!

(Adapted from WWE’s Rock.)

chinelo

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OBJ\'s Crusade
« Reply #5 on: April 05, 2005, 05:21:26 PM »
This OBJ crusade they trip me seriously. this week alone has seen 3 big shots disgraced. the Osomo woman who is d minister in charge of housing has been sacked too.Wagbara has formally resigned and a new senate prez - Kenechukwu Nnamani from Enugu - elected. Tafa Balagun (former inspector general of police) was shown yesterday in handcuffs and strolling into d Federal high court Abuja, he is facing a 70-count charge.. all related to the 13 billion stashed in his account and his numerous fake companies.
i love the spring cleaning and hope that it goes further than our \'ogas\' want it to. u need to see d way everyone is sitting up now (its very amusing).let d heat turn on them for once, we need comic relief in dis country badly.i woke up yesterday to the news that the pump price of petrol has been jacked up AGAIN, kerosene which is supposedly poor man commodity is just as high, how person for do for dis our obodo naija eh?
The world is dangerous not because of those who do harm, but because of those who look at it without doing anything -Albert Einstein

Honeybunnie

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OBJ\'s Crusade
« Reply #6 on: April 05, 2005, 07:27:33 PM »
Thank God that she was also given the boot, I would not have been in complete support if all that Obasanjo was doing was to \"query\" her. Apparently he is really serious about his anti-corruption campaign, I iwsh him well and will still be watching to see how long this will continue.

Prince

  • Posts: 438
OBJ\'s Crusade
« Reply #7 on: April 05, 2005, 07:27:51 PM »
That\'s what I\'m talking about.  We don\'t have to climb the tree and pluck the fruits one after the other when we can hake the trunk and have all the fruits fall.

People are definitely gonna sit up.  The recoil sadness is in Nigeria, instead of people towing the line; they get to work in their attempt to remove Obj.

As for fuel price, I think it is artificial.  If I\'m right, those responsible for price gouging will soon be easy picking.  All Obasanjo has to do is shake the trunk long and hard enough.

As I said before, I\'m willing to make a 180 if he is showing results.  I say to him, \"God\'s speed.\"
He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool.

If you s-m-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-l-l-l-l-l-l-l what the Prince - is - cooking!!

(Adapted from WWE’s Rock.)

Honeybunnie

  • Posts: 714
OBJ\'s Crusade
« Reply #8 on: April 05, 2005, 07:29:56 PM »
A whole former police chief in handcuffs, that is sweet music to my listening ears. Petrol prices jumping up, if that was the least of our problems.....I just got gas out here yesterday for $2.35. HOw much more expensive can it get. HOw can the Inspector General of Police amass such a large amount of loot. where did he get the money, and we are all talking about the Nigerian Police Force not being paid enough...If you ask me this is money that can be used to increase the NPFs pay and keep them fully paid for a good three years.