---

...Read the full article.

---

I like this; thieves indicting thieves......the joke called Nigeria continues..................

God help us all,

Goriola Abamieda

---

The key story here is that Obj has also been indicted, by an apparently neutral committe, for the illegal operation of the PTDF fund. An accusation that Atiku has being shouting about forever and ever. If you live in a glass house don't throw stones, the saying goes :lol:

---

This is good news, but why must we wait until after the election ( if there will ever be one) to know the fate of number one and number two. Whatever happens, Atiku would not go down alone. OBJ's intorlerance and vindictiveness has finally caught up with him and it is time for both of them to move away or resign honorably. It is better we get it over quickly and move on to issues of the people.

---

Drama in Senate, PTDF C’ttee Members Resign
• Atiku: Obasanjo should testify on oath

By Idowu Sowunmi in Lagos and Sufuyan Ojeifo in Abuja, 03.21.2007

Crisis yesterday night hit the Senate, as all members of the Review Committee set up to complete and fill the gaps in the report of the Ad-Hoc Committee on Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) resigned in a dramatic manner.

This happened on a day Vice President Atiku Abubakar described as "unfortunate" the statement credited to President Olusegun Obasanjo where he denied ever giving him (Atiku) approval to place $20 million PTDF investment in the Trans International Bank (TIB).

Chairman of the Committee, Senator Umaru Tsauri and the six other members of the Committee tendered a joint letter of resignation, dated March 20, 2007 to the President of the Senate, Senator Ken Nnamani.

The members who signed the letter were Senator Timothy Adudu, Senator Sa’ad Mohammed, Senator John Azuta Mbata, Senator Akin Olasunkanmi, Senator Chris Adighije and Senator Bello Maitama-Yusuf.

The one-page letter entitled: "Re: Resignation From Senate Review Committee on PTDF" reads: "We wish to inform the leadership that the Review Committee set up by the Senate to review the report of the Ad-Hoc Committee on the PTDF concluded its report as scheduled.

"However, considering the fact that the leadership is not certain about the time it would want the report to be presented, we, members of the Review Committee, hereby respectfully resign our membership. We remain grateful for the honour of consideration to serve."

The Senate yesterday gave the seven-member review committee an open cheque to determine when it would submit its report. But in a swift riposte yesterday night, Nnamani told THISDAY that "there is more to it than meets the eyes."
He said he would meet with his colleagues in the Senate leadership to articulate a more coherent response to the letter.

According to him, "Let me study it and I will come up with a coherent response to the letter. I am yet to sort it out with my colleagues."

The Senate President said so many things had gone wrong and that the Presidency had been degraded, adding "this whole thing is getting messier."

According to Nnamani, "it was only yesterday morning that the Chairman of the Committee came to the floor of the Senate to request for more time.

"The Committee Chairman said that because of the testimony of Otunba Johnson Fasawe and the fresh revelations, there was need to request for more time to do a thorough job."
He queried: "Does it mean that between morning and evening, the Committee has resolved the fresh issues raised and put together its report?

"It is important we get to the roots of the matter and resolve the matter as soon as possible."

The report was due for submission yesterday, but Chairman of the Review Committee, Senator Tsauri had while addressing the Senate in plenary under Order 43 (Personal Explanation), said he was compelled to ask for more time to tidy up the report against the backdrop of fresh pieces of information that have been filtering into the Committee.

He had specifically complained about the appearance of Fasawe and the fresh revelations from his presentations, which according to him completely altered the direction of the Committee’s assignment.

His words: "Mr. President, I am coming under Order 43 to explain that the Review Committee that was due to submit its report today (yesterday) cannot do it. We had thought that we would finish our report on Monday.

"We invited Otunba Fasewe and he came with information which completely changed the direction of our investigation.

"We need more time to do a comprehensive work. We appeal to our colleagues to allow us more time. We will submit our report anytime from now."
The Senate President, in granting the Committee’s request, had stressed the need for it to be allowed to do a thorough job "on the basis of the pieces of information filtering into the Committee."

He had stated that a specific time should have been indicated by the Committee Chairman, but that since he (the Committee Chairman) had said the Committee would submit its report "anytime from now", the Senate should grant the request.

He had thereafter put the question and the request for time extension without a definite time-line was rejected through a voice vote but since such request, according to the Senate President was not open to debate, he had granted the request of the Committee.

But THISDAY gathered last night that the Committee members decided to resign in order to forestall alleged moves by the Senate leadership to rubbish them and their report, which according to feelers indicted both Obasanjo and Atiku.

A member of the Committee, Senator Timothy Adudu, also confirmed to THISDAY that the Committee met till 2 a.m. yesterday at the White House in the National Assembly putting the report together.

He said the report was ready as early as that time, but claimed that the Senate leadership asked that it (report) be first submitted to it before the presentation on the floor.

Adudu hinted that there were moves by the leadership, apparently under some form of pressure from outside the legislature, to either amend or water down the report, a move he said was considered "dangerous" to their reputations.

He said the Committee membership had insisted that the report be presented yesterday so the Senate could either accept or reject it.

Meanwhile, Vice President Atiku Abubakar yesterday described as "unfortunate" the statement credited to President Olusegun Obasanjo denying that he ever gave him approval to place $20 million PTDF investment in the Trans International Bank (TIB).

A statement by the Atiku Campaign Organisation also argued that "the claims of the Vice President on oath cannot be vitiated by a letter from the President. Let the President come out and speak on oath.

"That is the only guarantee that he can say the truth. He knows the consequences of lying on oath and we believe that only when he speaks on oath would his submission have the weight to contradict what the Vice President said under oath.

"Nigerians are getting wise to the fact that rather than face up to the truth, the President and his handlers prefer to stumble from one lie to another, in a desperate bid to extricate themselves from the credibility crisis they found themselves in."

The statement added that "since the PTDF saga started, the Vice President has consistently maintained that both the Mofas account and Marine Float accounts were bank accounts placed at the disposal of both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Obasanjo/Atiku Presidential Campaign to prosecute the 2003 elections."

The Vice President has also maintained that the $20 million placed in TIB was placed on the verbal approval of President Obasanjo. "On the other hand, the President has denied knowledge of the existence of Mofas account. Evidence offered by Otunba Oyewole Fasawe, supported with bank instruments, shows quite clearly that President Obasanjo paid N700 million into the Mofas account to remedy the over-drawn situation of the account, and thereby corroborates the Vice President’s view that Mofas account was used to fund the PDP and the 2003 elections," the statement said.

According to him, "the revelation has shown whose claims Nigerians should believe on the PTDF saga. Besides, the Vice President gave his evidence on oath and we expect that whatever he said should be contradicted by the Presidency on oath. If President Obasanjo is sure of himself, he should accept the invitation of the Senate and appear before the Review Committee of the PTDF investigation."

The Atiku Campaign Organisation said it is gratified that the new evidences coming before the Senate – both from Fasawe and from the banks – agree with the submissions earlier given by the Vice President. "PTDF continues to insist that it did not lose money through investment deposits in banks.

PTDF officials who appeared before the Senate Review Panel, including Executive Secretary, Kabir Mohammed and the Assistant General Manager (AGM) Finance and Administration, Areyinka Jolomi, stated that Federal Executive Council approval was not required for placement of PTDF funds as term deposit.

"Jolomi said no money was lost through bank deposits and the money deposited in Trans International Bank, now Spring Bank is being recovered with a monthly re-payment of $2 million to the PTDF.

"According to him, out of the $23.75 million held in Spring Bank, PTDF had received $5.75 million refund by the bank. The only loss to PTDF, he claimed, was $315,000 being the forfeiture of the interest accruable to the fund from the deposit in the bank through restructuring and renegotiation of transactions, a waiver that was approved by President Obasanjo."

Meanwhile, the senate yesterday gave the seven-member review committee on the report of the ad-hoc committee looking into the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) an open cheque to determine when it would submit its report.

The report was due for submission yesterday. But chairman of the review committee, Senator Umaru Tsauri had hinted Monday that the committee might not be able to meet up with yesterday’s time-line for submission.

Addressing the senate in plenary yesterday under Order 43 (Personal Explanation), Tsauri said he was compelled to ask for more time to tidy up the report against the backdrop of fresh pieces of information that have been filtering into the committee.

He specifically complained about the appearance of Fasawe and the fresh revelations from his presentations, which, according to him, completely altered the direction of the committee’s assignment. “I am coming under Order 43 to explain that the Review Committee that was due to submit its report today (yesterday) cannot do it. We had thought that we would finish our report on Monday,” he said.

“We invited Otunba Fasawe and he came with information which completely changed the direction of our investigation. We need more time to do a comprehensive work. We appeal to our colleagues to allow us more time. We will submit our report anytime from now.”
The Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani, in granting the committee’s request, stressed the need for it to be allowed to do a thorough job on the basis of the pieces of information filtering into the committee.

He stated that a specific time should have been indicated by the committee chairman, but that since he (the committee chairman) had said that the committee would submit its report “anytime from now”, the Senate should grant the request.

He thereafter put the question and the request for time extension was unanimously granted. This is the second time in a week from the time of its inauguration Tuesday last week that the review committee would seek for time extension.

---

ILN

what are you trying to tell us please?

EWO

---

So,what's the difference between this report and that of Ndoma-Egba?
These guys just wanna indict Obj at all cost. The projects for which he approved the money are not private projects but "laudable public projects" as rightly said by the original report.
And even by wider interpretation of the PTDF Act, those projects still fall under the Act. Are we then saying the same punishment be meted out for someone who benefited privately by placing the PTDF money in private account and someone who used it for public projects?
Are the two offenses the same? I agree that retroactive approvals could be an offense, but not same as someone who used public funds for personal purpose as in the case of Atiku.
Victor Ndoma-Egba really did a good job only that he failed to do what many who hate the president would like him to do-indict him.

---

For those who care, it was an open secret that Obasanjo is one of the most corrupt leaders

the world has known. Why do you think this election is a 'do or die' election for him? Beca-

use he realizes that a long prison term awaits him should the PDP not win. However, NEME-

sis is finally catching with him. There will be nothing more gratifying to see Obasanjo and

all the thieving political leaders get the Jerry Rawlings treatment. Nigeria was at one time a

'Third' world country. Now, it has been demoted to fifth, thanks to Obasanjo and his ilk.

This indictment is the only good news in the past 8years! Why Obasanjo likes prison more

than his fellow Nigerians is completely a mystery

---

Senate President Nnamani, told THISDAY that "there is more to it than meets the eyes." He said he would meet with his colleagues in the Senate leadership to articulate a more coherent response to the letter.

According to him, "Let me study it and I will come up with a coherent response to the letter. I am yet to sort it out with my colleagues."

---

>>"Our integrity was at stake. We resigned because we are principled people."
Glad to know that there are still some principled individuals in Nigeria. I told you all that individuals can make the difference.

>>BBC reporters in Nigeria say much of the political significance of the report will be lost once President Obasanjo stands down in May
How is this BBC reporter to know? Those who are fanatically anti-EFCC and anti-Ribadu should be reminded of the assistance the senate committee received from the EFCC in order for the indictment of OBJ and Atiku.

Now how it that EFCC and Ribadu both controlled by OBJ (according to Ribadu and the EFCC critics) help in his indictment? I expect these fanatical critics to provide the answer.

This event has exposed these fanatics as agent of the divide-and-chop who wants to maintain the status quo. They see Ribadu and EFCC as an obstruction, hence their diatribes that both are controlled by OBJ himself. You will find their usual spam on this thread with the usual re-cycle diatribes.