• 500, 000 dollars bribe offer: My encounter with Defence Minister

•‘I carried scar of injustice in the military for 25 years

By Olalekan Bilesanmi

In the second part of his interview with Sunday Vanguard, Vice Admiral Samuel Afolayan (rtd), a former Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), speaks on his conversation with then-President Olusegun Obasanjo on oil thieves during his tenure as navy chief as well as his encounter with a Defence Minister on the 500, 000 dollars bribe he was offered by crude thieves. He also speaks on injustice in the military, saying he was a victim for 25 years. Excerpts:

The continued fuel scarcity on the eve of general elections, some have said, is a way of crippling the government and the economy…

Like one of the candidates stated recently that it is the rich that is behind the fuel scarcity, he couldn’t have put it better. If government wants to stop the queues today, they will be stopped.

Insurgency and insecurity have continued to dominate discussions in this campaign. One of the presidential candidates said insurgency may not end because some military personnel are benefitting from it…

That is cheap blackmail. I am not saying that cannot happen though but they are exaggerating it. Is it the military that brought insurgency to the nation? That’s blackmail. What is the cause of insurgency? There are so many issues that need to be tackled before you can hold the military for any shortcomings. For example, look at the Almajiris, are they not a fertile ground for recruitment? When the system does not take care of them and somebody found them worthy of recruitment, even with little enticement, they are in. Also, within the junior rank, there is the possibility the Almajiris may have one or two friends and contacts within the military who may think and see the insurgency as religious war.

It is the system that should be blamed and not the military. If the elections go smoothly and successfully and the winner who the electorate vote for emerges and then looks at the grievances of the youth which the system refused to cater for, then we can be saying they should not do this or that. How do you want them to love their country that doesn’t provide for them? And they are venting their anger and that is why I said the #ENDSARS protest was a signal the young ones are discontented with the system.

You said Nigerians are willing captives and a factor in the choice of leadership they have. How?

Yes they are. When you live from hand to mouth such that you can hardly afford a meal a day and somebody says he is going to give you 20k a day, that is a lot of money for the have-nots. Such people will do whatever you ask them just to get the money, however small it may be. But because they are not enlightened as we deny many of them education, you also deny the hope of hoping for the future. Life at that stage becomes brutish as life means nothing to them.

Politicians who keep money for elections like this can easily gather people and have them do their bidding. You think all the people in the crowd following the politicians truly love them? They follow them for what they can get from them. That makes the people willing captives. Dehumanized people will do whatever you ask of them. Just like Esau in the Bible that could not think of his status and future, he sold his birth right to his junior. When there is no longer self pride, you will do anything for money. You will do anything once the price is right.

Corruption is also a topical discussion in this election. How can it be reduced to the barest minimum?

We can curb corruption when we have a government that is very much concerned about the people. Nigerians are easy to trust people including their government. They need someone who cares about them and who can give them minimum comfort. For example, when you meet a policeman on the road who, rain or sunshine, is always on the road, gets stipend as salary and yet there isn’t a habitable place to put his head, I believe you know what should be going on in his head. If you want someone to be loyal to you, you must cater for his minimum needs.

Crude oil theft is still very much around us as it was during your tenure as CNS…

I think people should check the records. When former President Obasanjo took over (in 1999), a barrel (of crude) was selling for less than 20 dollars and then suddenly the price rose above 100 dollars per barrel.

 Nobody is talking about what brought about that, what did Obasanjo do? The G12 nations told the President categorically that except he stopped illegal bunkering in Nigeria, where people stole the crude and went and sold at the spot market in Europe, thereby disrupting their own market, except that was done, they won’t give Nigeria debt relief.

That was part of what brought about debt forgiveness. We brought down completely all those illegalities going on then which has now become a daily discussion.

With the benefit of hindsight, were there decisions you took as CNS that you shouldn’t have taken?

Well as CNS, thank God I went through a narrow route. From when I left for the academy (NDA) till 1995 when General Abacha reversed my loss of seniority which was considered unjust by then-Chief of the Naval Staff who was in India in 1971 when the incident that brought about the injustice happened, it was a scar I carried for 25 years. Going through that trauma sharpened my mind against injustice wherever it is. I remember General Danjuma saying “Sam, I salute your courage”.

Why? The first memo that I took to the Defence House was the list of those I considered unjustly treated, who were dismissed for one reason or the other. It was at that time that anybody that didn’t like your face labeled you NADECO. There was an officer who was tried in the night and by 4am, they had decided his case and dismissed him from service after spending close to 30 years. He was left with nothing. This was a hardworking and loyal officer. There were many like that at that time.

So there was nothing I regretted I did while there as CNS. In fact, after I effected the reversal of the dismissal and injustice, I was ready to be retired that same day. I was happy about what I did because I believe God allowed me to go through that injustice in my career so that I could feel what it meant to be a victim of injustice and, more importantly, to be able act when I encountered one.

What are the differences and similarities among Generals Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha, Abdusalami Abubakar and Olusegun Obasanjo who you at one point in time or another worked with?

In the military you cannot write PR for your seniors. But for General Obasanjo, what prompted me to work for him to achieve his goal of debt forgiveness for Nigeria from Paris Club and others was when he said Nigeria was worth dying for after I told him the risks involved in stopping illegal bunkering and crude oil theft. We were together in a room, just the two of us. He called me into the room, he said “Chief Navy”, that is what he called me; he said “these people stealing our crude oil, don’t you know them?” I told him the people involved aren’t poor Nigerians looking for daily bread.

To construct a barge during my tenure was about N30m while the ship they were using for the stealing of crude at that time was about six million dollars. He then said that the G12 (Group of 12 developed nations) said they were not going to give us debt relief if we could not stop all the illegalities going on with our crude.

I told him that “the people involved are powerful people, what if they assassinate you?” And he said “Nigeria is worth dying for”. I will never forget that statement. That is what ignited my loyalty to him that if the head of state could say Nigeria is worth dying for, I, the subordinate, working under him, should play my role in a way that he would be able to achieve his objectives. But I reminded him that “sir, I have family because I know very well that this adventure is risky”.

Oil business is oily. Many people have lost their lives in the pursuit of one thing or the other in that aspect of our economy. If truly we want to stop corruption, there is one or two things government should focus on. Ameliorate the general poverty of the people that can be recruited by the rich because it is quite easy to blame soldiers and everybody. What exactly do they get in terms of welfare? I told General Obasanjo that I could not vouch that my boys were not involved “but if you are caught you will dealt with decisively”. That is the reality of our situation. But the real culprits of oil theft are the rich who get involved in illegal bunkering.

Were you ever been tempted to the point of looking the other way while in service?

I can never be tempted in that direction. Go and read what Dr Olu Agunloye as Minister of Defence (State) Navy said when they said they (oil thieves) would give him 500, 000 dollars. I told him “is that the worth of your name?” He is an honest and sincere person. He didn’t know them. But I know the system very well. This set of people when they give you 1, 000 dollars, they can claim that they gave you 10 million dollars.

How would you exonerate yourself? We just laughed over it. When the issue of MT African Pride missing ship came up, some people went to my late father to tell him. He told them “I know my child”. That was all he told them. Till he passed on, he didn’t even discuss it with me because he knew the kind of child he raised.

Being made the Chief of the Naval Staff was a memorable day of my life given the injustice I went through and then being made the CNS, it was a day I can never forget. I think it was God’s compensation for all that I passed through because I didn’t lobby for it. As a matter of fact I have never lobbied in my life. Throughout my career, I have never, for once, lobbied for anything. Whatever assignment I was given I take without complain.

There is nobody that can say I came to him whether in office or at home to complain of anything. I remember an occasion where they said I was to go for a course in America. It was raining cats and dogs the day I was supposed to collect the letter to that effect.

 I said I would go to collect it the following day. I was called the following morning that my name had been changed and given to someone else. I said “okay”. I didn’t complain. That was the end of it.