Yar’Adua And The Missing Billions

Abuja began to wear a new political look late last week with the swearing in of a new ministerial cabinet by the acting president, Goodluck Jonathan. While the cabinet turned out to be a cocktail of new and old hands, it nevertheless generated mixed reactions in the media and across the populace regarding the shift it indicates.

Nigerian genius

It had been a long road to this point. Speaking with NEXT last week, a number of Western diplomatic officials spoke of the “incredible Nigerian genius to always, dramatically, make it back from the abyss of political rupture.”

Following the early February authorisation of Mr. Jonathan as Acting President by the National Assembly, the anxiety in the political space was focused on how far a disruptive power cabal in the presidency would and could go in subverting Mr. Jonathan’s shaky mandate.

True to popular fears, at every turn in the making of a Jonathan presidency, the power cabal around the Presidency always found way of forcing major doubt to reign, sometimes to the extent of delaying arrangements across the political consensus designed to move the nation forward.

Between the March 17, 2010 dissolution of his inherited cabinet and the constitution of a new ministerial team, the powerful cabal organised around the twin head of the First Lady, Turai Yar’Adua, and the chief security officer of the president, Muhammed Yusuf Tilde, orchestrated five scare-crow sessions, for which they have found willing acolytes to tell the nation that Mr. Yar’Adua is alive and well - and is indeed “ready to resume office very soon.”

While the Jonathan presidency and members of the broad Abuja political apparatus had wondered at this game of political disruption, there was a consensus that this was basically a power strategy to secure the political real estate of Yar’Adua insiders.

Turned tables

Now the tables are turning, and fresh spotlight into the financial management of the Yar Adua presidency is offering disturbing insights into how the spending decisions by aides of Mr. Yar’Adua were conditioned by his ill health.

An ongoing NEXT investigation into financial accountability in the Yar’Adua presidency reveals that aides abused the opportunity of his ill health to corner over two billion naira of the State House budget for 2009 alone.

In the making of the 2009 budget, N26 billion was allocated to the presidency in 2009. Of this broad basket, N2.1 billion of the State House budget was allocated to the maintenance of presidential aircraft, security at the villa, as well as the medical expenses of the President.

Presidency sources knowledgeable about the budget process told NEXT at the weekend that “sensing that the year was coming to an end, and that these approved monies had not been spent, the aides apparently decided to help themselves with it.”

The men believed to be at the centre of the fuss, NEXT gathered, are Muhammed Tilde, the president’s chief security officer, who is statutorily responsible for managing security funds within the state house; Mohammeed Dodo, the administrative officer at the presidency; Wing Commander Aminu Adamu, the commander of the presidential air fleet (PAF) at the villa; and Salisu Banye, the head of the President’s health team who is responsible for managing the health funds.

Blame it on Yar’Adua’s return

A State House source told NEXT that this “mind boggling evidence of financial recklessness is currently on the radar of investigators” but he was unwilling to narrow down on which of the multiple agencies with investigative powers are taking a lead on the matter.

However, evidence that the matter is itself generating internal dissension even among the Yar’Adua inner circle showed a week ago regarding the Saudi health trip of the president, according to our sources, who claimed that “When the President was taken to Saudi Arabia for treatment, the CSO (Muhammed Tilde) signed off and collected huge imprest, but since they returned, he has not been able to render accounts of their expenses.”

Disagreement over the non-accountability of these monies, NEXT learnt, angered the First Lady, Turai Yar’Adua, who asked that a large chunk of the money be returned since the president’s treatment and security in Saudi Arabia was written off by the Saudi authorities.

“Hajia has asked that they return the money unspent,” the source said. “But, it appears nobody can force him to return the money which at any rate he has even refused to account for.”

NEXT learnt that investigators are shocked at the current “active buying at the Abuja real estate market by the aides especially the administrative officer, Mr. Dodo, who have acquired different landed property in Abuja,” saying they may find it difficult to return the missing funds.

‘Probe the Presidency’

Presidency sources also say that the N234 million approved for the “completion of the presidential air fleet (PAF) quarters” in the 2009 budget, is unaccounted for, some four months into 2010.

The same goes for the maintenance of presidential aircraft, which had a budget increased by over 50 percent to N970 million in 2009.

Segun Adeniyi, the spokesman to Mr. Yar’Adua, could not be reached for comment.

Lawyers and anti-corruption crusaders while agreeing on the need for a probe of the funds, share divergent views on the modus. “The acting president is the commander in chief of the armed forces. He can order the investigation of any matter. He has a duty, especially based on his public anti-corruption stance, to investigate money of such monumental proportion to find out if it is true and make sure that whoever is found culpable is brought to book. If he does not do that, it will be a disappointment,” said Charles Musa, a constitutional lawyer.

Mr. Musa argued that, based on section 5 of the constitution, the acting president has the powers to order such probes. He however called for anti corruption agencies to be brought into the matter. “It is a criminal matter, I don’t think the office of the president has the skill to do that. Certainly, the EFCC and the ICPC should be involved, not just to investigate but prosecute those involved,” he said.

Debo Adeniran, the coordinator of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, believes it might be difficult for Mr. Jonathan to order such a probe.

“The acting president doesn’t want to rock the boat, so nobody is asking for accountability regarding Yar’Adua’s governance. We are in a state of helplessness that is why we are now asking the new federal executive council to ensure that the ailing president is removed through section 144,” Mr. Adeniran said in a telephone interview.

Mr. Adeniran also argues that the health condition of President Yar’Adua may hinder any successful prosecution.

“We should just believe that nothing will come out of it,” he said. “The person to be held responsible is the chief accounting officer, President Yar’Adua who as we know is incapacitated. If there is any probe, it has to begin from him. If somebody is in that state, then that is a ready excuse for everybody around him to transfer the blame to him.”

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