Former President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo vacated office on May 29, 2007 after his eight years tenure. But deeds or misdeeds of his Presidency continue to echo.
One of them is an alleged debt of N500million for which a group has dragged President Umaru Yar‘Adua to court.
Following Federal Government‘s adamant posture to its several demands for the debt liquidation, the group on February 22, 2008 wrote a notice of legal action to President Yar‘Adua.
Copies of the legal notice were also sent to the Vice-President, Senate President, Speaker, House of Representatives and Obasanjo.
The case was filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja , presided over by Justice Abdullahi Mustafa.
The group operating under the aegis of Obasanjo/Atiku Alliance Crusade claimed that it helped to mobilise a crowd for solidarity rallies for Obasanjo‘s Presidency when it was in trouble.
Leader of the group, Rev. George Igwe, describes himself as a cleric of Cherubim and Seraphim Church of Nigeria.
Besides the N500m demand, Igwe is also asking for N100m payments as damages from the Presidency for allegedly breaching a contractual agreement for ”National Road March Protest against C-in-C‘s Impeachment” by members of the House of Representatives in August, 2002.
The period in question was when Obasanjo Presidency‘s frosty relationship with the House under the Speaker, Alhaji Ghali Umar Na‘Abba reached its height.
Apart from Igwe, Messrs Dickson Omoregie, Ezekiel M. D. Yusuf and one Alhaji Suleman Imam are other plaintiffs in the case.
According to Igwe, the group had suffered many threats including a February 28, 2008 case acknowledged by the police as ”robbery by unknown persons”.
Furthermore, he explained that he was detained at Asokoro Police station for 21 days for insisting that the money be paid.
Police, he alleged, once raided his house and evacuated important documents, adding that the psychological trauma he underwent now required medical treatment overseas.
The respondents in the case are the President, the Federal Government, Dr. Gbolade Oshinowo and the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation.
In the court documents made available to SUNDAY PUNCH, the plaintiffs presented documents bearing the signature of Obasanjo and Oshinowo who was his Special Assistant (Political Matters) during the period.
Relief by the plaintiffs include, ”a declaration that the plaintiffs are entitled to the balance of the sum of N499,500,000 (four hundred and ninety nine million, five hundred thousand naira) as contained in clause 1 of EXH. E.”
In the alternative, they prayed the court to direct the defendants or their servants or agents to pay them the N500m and 10 per cent accumulated interest on the amount from 2003 to 2008.
When contacted for his reaction, Oshinowo did not deny knowing Igwe but dismissed his allegation.
He said he had reported the plaintiff to appropriate government agencies immediately he discovered there was a ploy to defraud government.
He said, ”There is no truth in his claim; if you take a careful look at the signature on two of the documents, they are exactly the same and that is evidence that he scanned my signature from somewhere.
”By the time the court is through, we will all know the truth of the matter. I reported him (Igwe) to the appropriate authorities because I found out that he wanted to defraud the government. In due course, the truth will be established.”
In a 36-six point affidavit, Igwe and other leaders of OAAC alleged that aside from visits to the Presidential Villa, including taking photographs with Obasanjo, they were given access to some top citizens because of the crowd mobilisation contract.
They stated that those that OAAC had either interpersonal or correspondence contacts with over the N500m contract included the erstwhile president, his wife, late Mrs. Stella Obasanjo and the former Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun.
Others included the erstwhile Director-General of the Obasanjo/Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation, Ambassador Fidelis Tapgun who purportedly gave Igwe N500, 000 to defray some costs.
They further attached copies of two letters of special introduction with reference numbers SH/COS/22/1103 and SH/COS/23/1103 dated August 8, 2002 and addressed to former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Audu Ogbeh, and a former governor of Rivers State , Dr. Peter Odili.
Both letters were purportedly written on State House letter heads and allegedly signed by Oshinowo.
The OAAC members also tendered a letter dated August 8, 2002 with reference number SH/COS/20/1103 purportedly signed by Dr, Gbolade Oshinowo.
The letter urged them to embark on a protest march against the impeachment moves by Hon Ghali Na‘Abba and others, on August 20, 2002.
The letter was copied to the Inspector-General of police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, stating that a request had been made for his support.
Other documents attached to the affidavit included one with State House reference number SH/C-in-C/205/2002 dated August 12, 2002, entitled “Power of Attorney” and signed by Chief Obasanjo.
“I have directed and authorised Dr. Gbolade Oshinowo (SA) to act on behalf of the Federal Executive Council during your meetings. Your organisation should see him as a representative of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria during the National Working Committee meetings on how to execute the “Protest March” against the impeachment of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
”Any undertaking he agrees with you and your organisation is duly authorised by the Federal Executive Council and shall be fulfilled,” the letter stated.
The leader of OAAC, Igwe wrote a ”Letter of Acceptance” addressed to the President and dated August 14, 2002, while he (Igwe) and Dr. Oshinowo purportedly signed a ”Memorandum of Understanding” dated August 19, 2002 and with reference number SH/COS/033/1203.
It stated that the Presidency had warmly accepted the OAAC.
The ”memorandum of Understanding” emphasized the significance of the planned solidarity march to the National Assembly in protest against impeaching President Obasanjo and six major benefits were purported to have been agreed upon for OAAC as follows:
-Cash payment of 500 million to run OAAC‘s offices nationwide;
-Provision of a secretariat office complex for OAAC within Abuja ;
-Purchase of 38 Peugeot cars and six buses for OAAC;
-Allocation of a comfortable and well-protected residence for OAAC‘s leader, Igwe;
-A special gift of one Hummer jeep to Igwe, and ;
-Allocation of a plot of land to enable the OAAC to build its permanent national secretariat in Abuja .
In a demand letter of June 30, 2008, the OAAC‘s counsel, Mr. Onyechi Egwuonwu gave President Umar Yar‘Adua a Notice of Legal Action and demanded that Dr. Gbolade Oshinowo should be made to swear an affidavit to back his claims that he did not sign the documents relating to the N500 million contract between OAAC and the Presidency.
The lawyer and the plaintiffs said though Oshinowo was now denying knowledge of the N500 million contracts and its execution, a video recording in possession of State Security Services and tendered in court as exhibits showed that he (Oshinowo) spoke on behalf of President Obasanjo at the protest march.
However, in a counter affidavit, one Stephen Ekeji, a Litigation Clerk in the law firm of F. N. Nwosu stated that one Mr. Nnanna Ibom who spoke on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Justice and other defendants wanted the court to believe that Oshinowo neither signed the purported documents nor attended the protest march.
The presiding judge, Justice Mustafa has fixed February 3, 2009 for hearing of the matter, which was filed August 5, 2008.
Source:the punch
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