THOSE who know former President Olusegun Obasanjo very well should not be surprised reading a recent statement credited to him to the effect that “the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan and that of the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua have failed in their efforts to fight corruption.”

The statement was made by Obasanjo during the 100th Session of the International Labour Conference in Geneva and published in many Nigerian newspapers. According to him, the present government lacks the will to fight corruption because “those involved in it are strongly entrenched”.

As a former President of this country, Obasanjo’s statements are usually taken seriously, both nationally and internationally, moreso, as he is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Also, Obasanjo’s administration between 1999 – 2007 professed commitment to the war against corruption for which he established the nation’s leading anti-graft agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC.

The questions to ask are: Did Obasanjo truly fight corruption during his administration? Was he sincere in his avowed commitment to the war against corruption? How successful was he? Does Obasanjo have the moral right to haul stones at his successors on the issue of corruption?

While Obasanjo paid lip-service to the war against corruption, what he did, in practice, was to entrench corruption, making his administration the most corrupt regime in Nigeria’s political history. In fact, Obasanjo virtually directed all sorts of fraud, and in the process, he corrupted the key institutions and processes – INEC, elections, Police, Civil Service, legislature, due process, etc. Indeed, for the eight years Obasanjo was in power, corruption escalated to the highest level for which Nigeria was rated as one of the most corrupt nations of the world.

The facts of Obasanjo’s corruption are difficult to hide. Indeed, the list is endless as the the nation’s treasury was looted with impunity, the Constitution violated without respect for the rule of law and due process. The following are a few instances:

Massive fraud involving over N3.5 trillion in the oil and gas sector, sale of Abuja houses, communications and the power sector of the economy.

Obasanjo was alleged to have illegally withdrawn as much as N231.4 billion from the Federation Account without due process or authorization from the National Assembly (Daily Sun of Thursday, February 5, 2009).

The Ad-Hoc Committee set up by the House of Representatives to probe the activities of the NNPC between 1999 and 2008, indicted Obasanjo and former MD of the Corporation, Mr. Funso Kupolokun, for violating the guidelines for the respective bid rounds, thereby finding them guilty of “preferential treatment of winners at the conclusion of the bid rounds”.

Obasanjo illegally approved the withdrawal of $68.8 million from the Bilateral Air Service Agreement, BASA, Fund into which a total sum of $86 million was paid.

A Senate Joint Committee, headed by Senator Abubakar Sodangi revealed that the plot of land originally belonging to the defunct National Primary Education Commission (allocated in December, 2005 to Inter-Projects Association Limited which immediately commenced development), was illegally allocated to Obasanjo Farms Limited, on May 28, 2007, a day before Obasanjo handed over power to the late President Yar’Adua.

Two Abuja lawyers sued Obasanjo and the Code of Conduct Bureau for mismanaging over N1.2 billion belonging to the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF.

Nuhu Ribadu, former EFCC Chairman, who fought his personal battles, was promoted by the former President without any recommendation from the Police Service Commission, thereby violating due process.

In the power sector alone, Obasanjo and his cronies bleached out a staggering $16 billion without anything to show for it. Also, N16 billion was paid to some 34 unregistered companies to execute projects under the National Integrated Power Project, NIPP.

In the oil sector, where Obasanjo was the Minister, the corruption stench was even more disturbing. He handed out oil blocks and other favours to whomever he pleased without recourse to laid down rules.

Obasanjo allegedly sold the country’s refineries at give-away prices. The Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries were both sold for $750 million, far below their actual worth.

Using the vantage position of his authoritarian presidency and awesome state power, Obasanjo organised the launching of a personal N7 billion Presidential Library Project in Abeokuta and coerced state governors and local government chairmen to make donations.

For his own pecuniary interest, Obasanjo coupled a so-called Transcorp conglomerate and sold Nigeria’s prime assets to this group where he kept a personal N200 million worth of shares in the blind.

During the Obasanjo years, there were fraudulent payments made on railway projects worth N8.3 billion, including the lines running from Lagos to Kano with tributaries.

He was mentioned in fraud and contract manipulations with Siemens, Wilbross and Hallibuton.

BY ISAIAH TEJUMOLA a lawyer, wrote from  Lagos.