Influential
APC Chieftain and former Vice-president has insisted that ex-president
Olusegun Obasanjo wanted not just a third term in office, but to pave
the way for a lifetime presidency.
Atiku Abubakar
Speaking exclusivlely in an interview with a quarterly magazine
published by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), titled 'Zero Tolerance',
former Vice-president, Atiku Abubakar disclosed that ex-president
Olusegun Obasanjo wanted to pave the way for a lifetime presidency and
not just a third term in office.
According to a report by Punch newspapers,
Atiku revealed that initially, it was assumed that the plan was to
modify the constitution so that Obasanjo could serve a third, four-year
term as President, adding that the aspect of tenure limitation was
carefully removed so that Obasanjo could be President for life.
Speaking on whether he and Obasanjo were at loggerheads towards the end of their tenure, he said,
“My offence was that I disagreed with him on the amendment of the
constitution to remove tenure/term limits or what was popularly called
the ‘third term agenda’.
“In fact, he sent the then Attorney-General and Prof. Jerry
Gana to my office to bring the draft amendments to the constitution.
After going through (them), I found out that tenure limits had been
removed. In other words, he could be President for life.
“I then asked them that ‘if I send you to the President, can
you deliver this message?’ They said yes. I said ‘go and tell him I will
not support it and (I) will fight it’.”
Speaking further, the former VP said due to his disagreement with
Obasanjo, the ex-president decided to tag him as a corrupt person,
adding that the then Chairman of the EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, accused
him of corruption but later came to him to apologise.
“When he came to ask me for forgiveness, I said if you want me
to forgive you, Nuhu, go to the same television stations where you said I
was corrupt and say you now (have) realised that I am not corrupt.
“Then he said ‘sir, you have forgiven so many people who have
offended you publicly without them going to TV stations to apologise to
you’ and I said, ‘your case is different because first of all, I helped
to found the EFCC’.
“I was instrumental to your appointment, so, I believe I have
contributed to your development and this is how you are paying me back.
In any case, he kept on apologising and I said, ‘okay, no problem. That
closed the chapter’,” he said.
Atiku denied media reports that a United States Senate report
accused him of laundering $40m in the US between 2000 and 2008, and
confirmed that he did transfer money to the US but it was not illegal.
“It was an allegation which was not proved. It was my
legitimate money which I transferred to the US; there was nothing
(wrong) about it. More so, I was not indicted in that report. They only
said suspicious funds but I proved before the Senate committee that they
were not suspicious,” he said.
He said that the accusations emanated from his dealings with a
Louisiana congressman, William Jefferson, adding that Jefferson had
approached him for a communications project but he referred the American
to the minister of communications.
Atiku said the US lawmaker collected $100,000 from a woman under the pretext of using it to bribe him (Atiku).
He however, rejected the money which he described as too little for
a man of his status, adding that the Federal Bureau of Investigation
subsequently searched his wife’s US home but nothing incriminating was
found.
Atiku said, “Apparently, I didn’t know he (Jefferson) had duped
a lady and collected marked money from her in my name. Unknown to him,
the FBI were on his trail. But, of course, there was no way he could
give me money because what was $100,000 to me?
“Eventually, my wife’s residence was searched and nothing was
found but when his residence was searched, of course, the money was
found there and he was convicted. I was not even called as a witness.”
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