Defection: Why Tambuwal should step down – Wabara.

…Obasanjo indicted me because of third term

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor
Senator Adolphus Wabara, a two term senator was elected president of the Senate in June 2003 but stepped down on April 5, 2005 to clear his name over his alleged involvement in the N55 million bribe for budget scandal.
In this interview, the former Senate President asserts that his indictment on public television by President Olusegun Obasanjo was the consequence of his failure to support the alleged third term script of the administration.

He also frontally demands the resignation of Speaker Aminu Tambuwal as presiding officer of the House of Representatives saying the minority cannot lead the majority just as he endorses President Goodluck Jonathan for another term. Excerpts:

Some have flayed the adoption of President Jonathan as the PDP’s sole presidential candidate for the 2015 election as undemocratic. Do you agree?

The PDP is the greatest party in the African continent. I don’t see anything wrong in adopting a candidate. It was only mentioned that he’s being adopted as a sole candidate. But every other person democratically has the right to contest.   It is not sacrosanct; just that at that moment in time, because of the good job the President has been doing, it was necessary to say please continue, we endorse you as the sole candidate. But that does not say no other person can pick a form.

How do you see his chances given the number of formidable aspirants in the APC?

The PDP will win. Jonathan will win. We are just praying and begging that he accepts the olive branch of him coming to pick up the ticket. He will win because I know the opposition. I’m not a prophet, but I can assure you that as soon as a candidate emerges from the opposition, the opposition will collapse from that particular moment.

Wabara

Are you saying that the PDP should not lose sleep over the opposition? 

The PDP should not lose sleep; the PDP should continue to prepare their agenda, their manifesto and what they want to do for Nigeria and Nigerians this time around.

They should build on what they have done so far and not lose their sleep on the opposition. In fact, we have other parties now joining the PDP. These are parties that ordinarily would have joined hands with APC, but they are coming into PDP. That means there is something we are doing right. It’s a phase and it will take some time before we will get there.

With the level of performance we have seen, would you say this government has really performed these four years?

There is absolutely no doubt about that. I am 66 years old and I think I have seen so many birthdays and so many years; I’ve seen so many governments in Nigeria. When he presented a book, his scorecard on May 29, he gave facts and you can see the record of his performance. Just go and read that book. Nobody puts pen on paper if he or she is not sure of what he is writing.

If you read that book, you will now see what Jonathan and his government have done for this country. You cannot say he has done everything,   but at least you will see the trend where we are going, where he started from and what we have achieved now. You almost find a PhD in his governance. Scientists don’t make too much noise.

Given the development in the House of Representatives, what is your response to the spate of defections by lawmakers?

Frankly, it is unfortunate. It is really unfortunate that we did not nip this in the bud early enough and we need the judiciary to help the National Assembly out of this problem.

Vantage position

But be that as it may, it was because we the PDP did not nip this issue in the bud. We were at vantage position at the start of this defections in the National Assembly.

So, we did not invoke the law. But it’s like when a dog bites a human being, it’s no story. But when a human being bites a dog, it becomes a story. Of course, some people would say that it looks as if people are now leaving the PDP, that’s why we are now opening the pages of the law to stop them. It pains me again due to the fact that all these movements are done on personal interest basis and it’s not national interest or the interest of the people you are representing, which makes it very absurd. But I know that with time, this cross carpeting will be a thing of the past.

Do you think he should resign his position? 

With the speaker of the House of Representatives now defecting to the opposition, to me, I think he should resign his Speakership because, clearly, according to our rules and our laws, it is the party with the majority membership of the House that runs chambers.

If he now sits down and finds that his APC is in the minority, he should just resign. Since what he wants is to be the governor of Sokoto State, then he goes there to face that. Immediately, the PDP will elect another Speaker. He should not overheat the polity. He is a gentleman that is loved by many.

I also love him, no matter that he has left my party. He is a good fighter, but he should not mess up his good name by clinging to power unnecessarily. Otherwise, if he gets impeached, he will probably not even make the governorship anymore because it will tarnish his image. If he allows himself to be impeached, then he cannot even run for the governorship of Sokoto State. So, he should just resign and wish Nigerians well.

What is the latest on the alleged bribe for budget scandal given that you stepped down as Senate President in 2005 to clear your name on the issue. Not much has been heard about the case again?

You see, I’m a man from a very humble home that one would expect that things should take their natural courses.

That’s why I waited for that judgment discharging me from the Court of Appeal. That judgment was challenged by the ICPC up to the Supreme Court. One thing is very clear and no member of judiciary will say that I, Senator Adulphus Wabara, that I have come to lobby for anything I’ve not lobbied anybody.

But I have exhausted my patience as we speak. Even if I was going to be imprisoned by Obasanjo because I refused his third term bid, I would have served the term and I would have been out by now. I’m just asking the judiciary to expedite action as per the judgment delivered in the Supreme Court that this matter should be taken back to the lower court for a retrial and it should be done expeditiously.

It is two years now since that Supreme Court judgment and I have not been arraigned in court again.

I want to now hold the bull by the horns. I’m going to ask my lawyer for whatever it is worth to now ask for mandamus to compel the ICPC to prosecute the case in accordance with the judgment of the Supreme Court.

Discharge from this matter

In the ten years that the case has lasted, (Dimeji) Bankole’s case came and it’s gone. (Vincenr) Ogbulafor’s case came after my case; even the Speaker of Lagos. So, why is my own hanging for 10 years? I will not die until I’m either imprisoned or I’m cleared and discharged from this matter.

So, I will be asking my lawyer to discharge that case for want of prosecution. How can the accused person be begging government and the ICPC that the case should be tried in accordance with the judgment of the Supreme Court? I had a judgment clearing me from the Appeal Court.

They went ahead to appeal in Supreme Court.   But for two years now, I’m still hanging. Please, I am calling on the government of Nigeria and the judiciary that they should take up this matter as quickly as possible. This is 10 years of my life gone for nothing. I thank God that I’m living in good health but I don’t want to die. That stigma cannot be on my neck because I did not commit any offence. I repeat, I did not commit any offence.

You talked about naivety. Why did you say you are naive?

The issue of naivety is that I have not behaved like a Nigerian. If I were to have behaved like that, this case would have been over. I also would not have resigned my position. I was once number three citizen of this country. So, I know what obtains in governance. But I have been naïve and I didn’t go to anybody. In fact, they will even think that I’m arrogant – some will even say why has this man not even come to see us or to come to appeal for assistance.

I didn’t go to anybody. Even the judgment that came in my defence at the appeal Court, I never knew. I was in London when that judgment was given. I never knew who gave that judgment.

I never went to anybody and that is the way God will get me out of this problem. I’m going through a phase, but ten years in one’s life time, for crying out loud is unfair on this government. So, they should either prosecute or unchain me. That’s what I mean by naivety.

You mean your resignation in 2005 was due to naivety?

When I was Senate President, it was not my father’s sit. As soon as Obasanjo wanted me out because I opposed his third term bid and that even brings me back to another issue; that is why he refused to even give me my national award which I ought to have gotten in 2003.

Immediately after being sworn in I was supposed to have gotten that GCON in 2003. Whatever he contrived came up in 2005. But because he had approached me in 2003 a month or two after we came in, on this third term thing and I didn’t know where he was coming from, I said no, Your Excellency, this cannot work.

In 2003, he told me clearly that the way I was working, in 2007, I will continue as Senate President. I said excuse me sir, how can I continue as Senate President when by 2007 the equation will change; the zoning will change and it will be a northerner who will become the Senate President as we have now. That was the end of my discussion with him on that day and that was what cost me my GCON in 2003. It is not even the case of N55 million bribe for budget scandal; that one came up in 2005.

Longest time with Obasanjo

What happened in 2003 that I was not given is just because of my position on third term.

But people will say that the third term thing came up in full glare when you had left office. Does it mean that the agenda had been there all along?

The third term thing, if you have not heard, started from May 29th  2003 when Obasanjo was sworn in for the second term. That was why when I became Senate President on the third of June 2003, sometime in July, he invited me to his office and that was the longest time I had stayed with Obasanjo – for two whole hours.

My younger brother, the then Chairman of Hallmark Bank was also there. The Chief of Staff to Obasanjo then, General Abdullahi was interrupting the meeting every 15 – 20 minutes for two hours and Obasanjo kept telling him to wait. By the time we came out there, there were so many ministers and so many foreign dignitaries waiting to see the president.

They were wondering what were these two brothers doing with Obasanjo inside. It was then that he told me that I was doing a very good job and if I knew that was what he was angling for I would have told him off. Anyway, I told him how can I be Senate President in 2007. He was trying to recruit me but I refused to be recruited.

Third term thing

The third term thing did not start when Nigerians started seeing the hands. We were seeing the third term thing then because of desperation, because his time was running out. He had a national conference too at that time and I said I wasn’t going to fund that confab – I said you have your contingency which then was N 1 billion. I said you can fund your confab from the contingency and that was why that confab cost him N900 million. We have all these details. But I didn’t know I was dealing with a man who will never forgive.

He begged me to be present at the opening ceremony of that conference and asked me to please ensure that I came there with Masari. If you guys were watching, I walked across to Masari and dragged him physically for us to go there for the opening ceremony. As soon as we finished the opening ceremony, we left them.

But you and Obasanjo started well. At what point did the cord break? 

I wasn’t very close to Obasanjo when we started. My brother was closer to him and of course, I will give this to him; without him, I wouldn’t have been Senate President. He really did all that was necessary to ensure that I emerged as Senate President. I will give it to Obasanjo and I thank him for making me this important in the polity of Nigeria. But then, my younger brother, Marc Wabara was closer to him I wasn’t very close to him at that time. He never one day approached me on an issue.

He would always go through my brother to get to me. Even when there were issues on ground, he would never come straight to me but he will go through my brother. I can remember several thorny issues that he would not come straight. Maybe because I wasn’t close to him. But I made sure I served the country and protected him as well.

There was the N50 million third term largesse then, did you partake of it? We learnt that N50 million was brought to your house?

Of course no. I didn’t collect any money. But that is another story and it is true that they were distributing N50 million. But unfortunately, some of those who did the distribution are the ones enjoying the government today. If people like us did not kill the third term, those who are in power today wouldn’t be there.

Distribution of N50million

Many of those who shared the money are still in the Senate today, those who actually physically distributed the N50 million, whereas those of us who killed the third term are not even remembered.

I know that on Thursday the 16th  of May 2007, that was the day the third term died, by 1.30 am, the sum of N250 million was brought to me in my house. The EFCC can come after me and I will tell them the whole story. N250 million was brought and I refused that money.

If you juxtapose what I’m saying now with my speech that 16thmorning, I said anybody who has collected any money on my behalf should please return the money back to where it came from because I knew what I was talking about because somebody could say I collected that money and just kept that money. I refused that money when it was brought to me. So, mine was not even N50 million. In fact, it was N250 million with a promise if everything worked out, they would bring more to me.

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