06 Oct 2009 |
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Cold war rages abroad between Yar'Adua, Obasanjo men From Laolu Akande, New York
An intense cold war has been going on between former kitchen members of the Obasanjo administration and the current Yar Adua government in western capital, especially in the US where the Nigerian government has since come under heavy diplomatic assault recently.
In a scenario that depicts the contest between 'NADECO Abroad' and the Abacha junta, almost a decade ago, the Yar Adua government has been pitched abroad mainly against former FCT Minister Nasir El Rufai, and former EFCC Chairman Nuhu Ribadu.
To a lesser degree, the former Education Minister, Oby Ezekwesili, and former Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, are also perceived as formidable forces pushing progressive notions about Nigeria abroad in spite of the current federal government's seeming loss of diplomatic face and space abroad.
These former Nigerian officials are now pushing internationals buttons calling attention to what many perceive as failing governance expectations in Nigeria more than two years after a much-celebrated transfer of civilian-to-civilian power transfer.
US sources say there is a particular concern that it was people like El-Rufai , who traveled round western capitals in late 2006 and early 2007 building support for the next PDP administration billed to take-over from the Obasanjo administration.
In fact, it was recalled that while the PDP primaries were yet to develop any shape or form in 2006, Rufai disclosed in Washington DC and New York that the PDP presidential candidate to replace Obasanjo would be someone about the 55-year old mark and a governor.
In official circles here in the US, and some other western countries, the sudden "demonization" of Rufai, in just about a year after that new government for whom he had campaigned abroad, raised serious doubts, followed again by the subsequent policy direction of the Yar Adua administration, being radically different from that of Obasanjo.
In the US, some of the most disappointing policy somersaults, according to sources, is on the fight against corruption in Nigeria. There is also a tremendous let-down from many western countries on the failed promise of the new administration to speedily resolve the Niger Delta crisis.
And as the expectations of the western countries were being dashed, at the same time, active members of the Obasanjo kitchen cabinet and Reform team started experiencing difficulties with the government, including the way Ribadu was systematically edged out of EFCC and how some of Rufai's controversial FCT policies and activities started coming under intense scrutiny and probes.
But once Rufai and Ribadu were completely sidelined and came under sustained attacks from the Yar Adua government, including their direct words made publicly abroad, the battle line was drawn.
El-Rufai once told a close friend in the US that he could not keep quiet while the Yar Adua government decided to "criminalize him.
Fight back he did as he embarked on a subtle campaign starting to undo all the diplomatic networks and international bridges and connections that he had spent time to build for the Yar Adua government one by one.
The first publicly visible casualty was the request made by the Federal Government through the Attorney General, Mike Aondooaka, to the US Justice Department for assistance regarding the Halliburton scandal that resulted in the bribery scheme of $180m to Nigerian officials spanning a decade - through the Abacha years to the first term of Obasanjo.
While Nigeria depended upon the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between the country and the US to secure the information regarding the involvement of Nigerians in the bribery scheme, the US denied the request on grounds of ongoing investigation.
US sources said the denial of the request came at the same time Rufai was working hard to discredit the Yar Adua administration as unserious in its quest for the information or its resolve to really go after corruption in Nigeria. Rufai openly called on the US government to deny the request just before the Americans rejected the plea in spite of a treaty signed between both countries.
Nuhu Ribadu, who had also tried hard to keep his differences with the Yar Adua administration on the background, soon gave up after an experience he said was meant to assassinate him leading to his self-exile.
According to international sources, the very idea that Ribadu was on exile was enough red alert in several western capitals, especially in the US and the United Nations. Not only has Ribadu garnered what is close to rock star status abroad, his exile packs a negative message on Nigeria's anti-corruption efforts as far as many in diplomatic circles are concerned.
In fact, while Nigeria hired two US-based lawyers - an American top anti-corruption buster based in Washington DC, Mr. Jack Blum, and a Nigerian, Kayode Oladele - Ribadu, in response to the antics of the Yar Adua government against him, used his contacts in the US government to persuade the American government that Nigeria could not have been serious about the Halliburton probe.
Ribadu had challenged Jack Blum at a private encounter at the US Congress, where he (Ribadu) had addressed the issue of anti-corruption. According to an eye witness account, he had asked Blum why he was trying to help the Yar Adua government, who he explained to Blum was not sincere in the anti-corruption war.
Besides, while the Halliburton request from Nigeria was on, the view in US official circles was that the Nigerian Attorney-General had considerable "extortion allegations" against him already in the US record, making it simply impossible for the Americans to trust or collaborate with him.
Informed sources disclosed that the recent fallout on El-Rufai's passport renewal bid was a clear response to what the FG considers the extent of damage already done to its credibility abroad by both El-Rufai and Ribadu.
While Rufai's bid to renew his passport was denied recently, Ribadu, several months earlier, had to sneak in to the Nigerian consulate in New York to renew his own passport.
International sources also said recent attempt by the ICPC to smear the current World Bank Vice President, Ezekwesili, who was former Education Minister under Obasanjo, is also part of the effort to actively go against the old 'Reform Team.'
There is the fear in some official circles in Nigeria, that Ezekwesili's meeting with US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, while she was in Africa just before she stopped at Nigeria may have been partly responsible for Clinton's outspoken lambast of the Nigerian government in Abuja in August.
Another recent damage that Nigeria suffered from the US is the recent rejection of the US Ambassadorial nominee, Prof. Tunde Adeniran. When asked last week why the US rejected Adeniran, White House officials simply said was that soon there will be a new Nigerian Ambassador in the US.
Sources in the US-Nigerian relations say the rejection was close to being unprecedented. Although pointers were that Adeniran was rejected because his son was involved in rape charges, inside sources here insist that even before the news of rape became public, the US State Department were reluctant to expedite Adeniran credentials-a clear diplomatic indication of coldness in US-Nigeria relations in recent times.
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