PTDF: Why NASS must impeach Obasanjo

By Saliu Iyanda
saliuiyanda2010@yahoo.com
After the vice president had ward off the well orchestrated and vicious smear campaign to preventing him from contesting for the highest office in the country and put paid to his political career, he has explained in detail what went on in PTDF and how President Obasanjo used his exalted office to mismanage the fund. In his submission at the National Assembly, he said in August 2006, the president approved the sum of $25 million from the fund for the establishment of a so-called African Institute of Science and Technology, Gulf of Guinea Affiliate , in Abuja , the money was released.
But the question is to whom was the money paid and where is the institute located? Again, there is no enabling law setting up the institute and no money was appropriated by the National Assembly for it. In September 2006, the president approved the payment of the sum of N250 million from the PTDF to his personal lawyer, Chief Afe Babalola of Emmanuel Chambers for the mere act of registering a company Galaxy Backbone, with the Corporate Affairs Commission. With a share capital of N1 billion, the actual amount paid to the commission was N23 million. Is the establishment and funding of Galaxy Backbone within the mandate of PTDF? Is it justifiable for a president who claims to be fighting corruption to authorize the payment of N250 million of public funds to his personal lawyer for the mere registration of a company?
On July 28, 2006, the president approved the sum of $10 million from the PTDF for the purchase of computers under the Computer for All Nigerians Initiative (CANI). As laudable as CANI maybe, the question should still be asked whether PTDF is the right government agency with the capacity to organize, manage and support a revolving loan for the ownership of computers by civil servants. And considering the need for legislative oversight for such a major project, why was this programme not included in the normal budgetary process?
It was also alleged that there is also the case of the scandalous lending of billions of naira of PTDF money to the United Bank for Africa (UBA) from which, strangely, the federal government then borrowed to buy vehicles. It is interesting that the president went on to draw a personal loan of N200 million from the bank, which it was alleged that it was used to purchase the 200 million shares he owns in Transcorp.
It is hoped that this N200 million allegedly loaned to the president is not a trade-off for the deposit which he approved for the bank. On April 4, 2006, without recourse to the Federal Executive Council(FEC), the president approved the limit of the amount of money that the Executive Secretary of PTDF can approve from N700,000 to N10 million. This new approval limit seems to have provided an opportunity for a renewed assault on the resources of the fund.
Also, several contracts were allegedly awarded from the PTDF on July 17, 2006 to companies many of which are suspected to belong to members of the National Working Committee of the PDP to induce them to support the president’s total destruction of internal democracy within the PDP. Some of the companies to which these contracts were awarded were not even duly registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission.
As further evidence of the abuse to which the PTDF has been subjected to, it was alleged that companies linked to such aided of the president as his current political adviser, ministers such as those of the FCT and Science and Technology; and a long list of his close political associates, were allegedly favoured with mouth-watering contracts from PTDF. Millions of naira have also been doled out by the PTDF management for some funny community relations consultancy. In order that he is not left out of the party, the new national security adviser is currently being processed, as it was alleged, as an external solicitor to the PTDF through his own legal firm, A.S Mukhtar and Company.
In August 2006, a FEC memo was presented for approval for the award of contracts for the establishment of ICT centers in 102 Unity Schools , 20 Federal Colleges of Education and 24 universities. However, the council did not know that these contracts worth billions of naira and over $20 million were awarded mostly to the aides and cronies of the president.
Earlier on February 24, 2006, the president was alleged to have approved the sum of N2.5 billion for the supply of the so-called Skill G science and technology equipment to senior secondary schools, technical colleges, and polytechnics/colleges of technology. Are these projects within the mandate of PTDF?
The PTDF, in absolute and flagrant violation of its mandate, was allegedly directed to dole out N1 billion to DICON. This payment was alleged to have been made via a Prudent Bank cheque dated October 10, 2006. And the N1 billion is being spent for one of the president’s vanity projects: naming a gun after himself, the so-called OBJ 006. It is clearly illegal to do so with PTDF resources.
The management of the PTDF allegedly spent a whopping N60 million on the purported rehabilitation of its headquarters in 2006. This includes N36 million expenditure to procure a lift for the two-story building. The expenses also allegedly include the cost of putting a Jacuzzi in the PTDF headquarters. On May10, at the height of the evil tenure elongation plot, the president got N20 million for the illegal agenda. This, apart from various cases of court disobedience, violation of the fundamental human rights, usurpation of the duties of other arms of government, spending outside the budget without expressed approval from the National Assembly, declaring the office of the vice president vacant, retroactive approval of presidential spending, non-implementation of the annual budget as passed by the National Assembly to mention but a very few.
These and many other reasons are why the National Assembly should impeach Obasanjo. He has become a pain in the neck to the whole country, and he is not even ready to relinquish power. So, he should be eased out of the system before he completely destroys the country.
The country will be a lot better if he is kicked out; he has become a liability and un-necessary burden to the Nigerian people. Nigerians across board are now regretting that they ever allowed such a person to preside over their affairs. Please show him the way out now.

SALIU IYANDA wrote in from No. 170 Ibrahim Taiwo Road, Ilorin, Kwara state.