Obj, Jonathan visit won"t stop fight against corruption - Presidency

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor & Levinus Nwabughiogu

ABUJA — The presidency affirmed last night that the private visits which former President Goodluck Jonathan made to President Muhammadu Buhari last Thursday followed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Friday were not aimed at stopping Buhari’s anti-corruption war.

Jonathan, Obasanjo, Babangida, Buhari

The presidency’s clarification followed insinuations in Abuja and some sections of the polity at the weekend that the private visits of the two former leaders to President Muhammadu Buhari were aimed at protecting the interests of the two former leaders.

President Jonathan who handed over to Buhari made his first visit to his successor on Thursday night. The visit only became known following news speculations that were subsequently confirmed by Buhari’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, yesterday.

Obasanjo also visited the villa last Friday under much secrecy and was said to have met Buhari in his residence within the villa outside the sights of news reporters. Obasanjo’s visit was also alleged to have been after working hours when the president had retired to the residence.

Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu who also confirmed the meetings like Adesina, claimed ignorance of the details of the meetings.

Shehu, however, cautioned against speculations that the meetings were meant to derail any specific investigation of alleged corrupt deals.

“The meeting between former Presidents Obasanjo and Jonathan with President Buhari were private and confidential. The president can call them for advice. But it will be unfair for anybody to feel or say it was to stop the war against corruption. The war will continue to go on,” Shehu said.

The speculations around the visits were prompted by the focus of security agents on associates of some of the former leaders. Obasanjo had the previous weekend received Hajiya Turai Yar‘Adua, the widow of President Umaru Yar‘adua in his Abeokuta residence under much secrecy allegedly directed by the former President Obasanjo.

Interest in Mrs. Yar‘Adua’s visit to Obasanjo was upon the investigation of her daughter, Mrs. Zainab Dakingari, the immediate past First Lady of Kebbi State by  the anti-graft agency on an alleged crime. Mrs. Dakingari’s husband stepped down from power last May and was believed to have been quizzed by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

Obasanjo had in the past played a benefactor role to the Yar‘Aduas and steered the way for Umaru to become his successor in 2007 though the relationship between the two families, however, steadily deteriorated subsequently as the successor ditched several landmark programmes he inherited from Obasanjo.

Jonathan’s visit to Buhari was also secret and was only confirmed by Adesina, yesterday.

Jonathan’s visit aroused concern following affirmation by the presidency that the new administration would probe his government upon revelations of withheld funds, leakages and graft in the financial dealings of the immediate past administration.

Before he handed over last May, President Jonathan had, however, urged his successor not to limit his inquiry to his administration, urging him to extend any possible investigation to administrations before him.

Besides the two former leaders, Speaker Yakubu Dogara and his predecessor, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State also met with President Buhari at the weekend. However, multiple sources privy to the meetings affirmed that the visits were strictly private and were of no official imputation.

 

Obj, Jonathan visit won"t stop fight against corruption - Presidency

Senate Presidency: Akume in shuttle diplomacy, meets OBJ, Tinubu, Atiku, Kwankwaso

As the leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC, continues to brainstorm on the zoning of offices in the executive and legislative arms of government, top contender for the senate presidency, Senator George Akume, at the weekend intensified his consultations.

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Senator George Akume

The Senate Minority Leader, who has adopted a quiet, discreet and unobtrusive approach in his quest for the exalted position since he was listed as a potential holder, hit the road on what a close confidant described as a ‘strategic cross-country diplomatic shuttle.’

Akume, who was in the South-West last week, met prominent national figures and respected political bulwarks. Notable among them were Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, APC National Leader, Bola Tinubu and former Osun State governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

The former Benue State governor who is returning to the Senate for the third time, met the leaders in their respective domains in Abeokuta, Lagos and Okuku, respectively.

Akume served as Benue State Governor, concurrently when Obasanjo was President and both men maintained a good relationship until the end of their tenures in 2007, despite Obasanjo’s brushes with Akume’s kinsmen like Dr Iyorchia Ayu, who was Minister in the Obasanjo government and Senator Barnabas Gemade, who succeeded the late Chief Solomon Lar as PDP National Chairman.

And while Akume served in Benue,, Tinubu was Governor of Lagos, both of them belonging to the ‘Governors’ Class of 1999 to 2007.’

Oyinlola succeeded Chief Bisi Akande, former Interim Chairman of the APC as Osun State governor on the platform of the PDP in 2003, but all three men have since found common grounds in the progressives’ camp.

While there was no official communication after each of the meetings, the interactions may not be unconnected with the topical issue of the Senate Presidency.

Akume has also had several engagements with former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, who may likely emerge as Chairman of the APC Board of Trustees. Akume was governor when the highest Tiv honorary traditional title, ‘Zege Mule U’Tiv’ was conferred on Atiku.

Akume’s backstage consultations have also taken him to see Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, who has also been elected Senator to represent Kano State, Prof Ango Abdullahi, Vice-Chancellor Emeritus of the Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, former Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Coomasie and former Kogi State Governor, Abubakar Audu.

Sources in Akume’s camp will not readily draw a link between his recent travels and the issue of the Senate Presidency. As one of his aides volunteered, however, ”Senator Akume is a very highly regarded statesman in his own right. Consultations with like-minded leaders on issues bothering on our socio-politics should be a routine affair.”

Pressed further, the source said: ‘If the APC is truly about change, that change should reflect in the way we do things, so we send a very strong message to all Nigerians that they can be assured of a sense of belonging irrespective of where they come from. We have produced a President-Elect from a majority ethnicity, we have produced a Vice-President-Elect from another majority ethnic group, APC must be sensitive to the sensitivities of the minorities, across both divides of the Niger.’

 

Senate Presidency: Akume in shuttle diplomacy, meets OBJ, Tinubu, Atiku, Kwankwaso