.Is this President corrupt? Obasanjo`s 200 million shares in Transcorp

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[DaBishop]

Code of Conduct

Section 172 of the Constitution reads: “A person in the public service of the Federation shall observe and conform to the Code of Conduct.” One of the promises which this present government implemented was the institution of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, relevant portions of which read:

“Leadership:
Holders of public office should promote and support these principles by leadership and example.

To ASSIST us in upholding these principles and the provisions contained in the Code of Conduct for Public Officers contained on Part V of the Constitution, AND IN VIEW of the special responsibilities with which we, as Ministers and Special Advisers of the Federation, are entrusted.

WE NOW ADOPT for ourselves and for our successors in office as Ministers and Special Advisers, the following Code of Conduct for Ministers and Special Advisers to which we shall all faithfully comply, in both spirit and to the letter:

1. Ethical Standards
We shall at all times act with honesty, whether in public or in private affairs, and uphold the highest ethical standards so that the public confidence and trust in the integrity objective and impartially of government are conserved and enhance.

2. Accountability and Transparency
We have a responsibility to the public interest, which requires that we put to one side all personal, sectoral and regional interest. We are accountable for our decisions and actions to the public and are prepared to be open to scrutiny by them. To facilitate and inform this process, we shall to the extent possible be open and transparent in the discharge of our public duties and encourage those whom we are responsible to follow our example.

3. Decision-making
In fulfilling official duties and responsibilities, we shall put to one side both personal and sectional interests and shall make decisions in the public interest and with regard to the merits of each case without discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, sex, religion or origin other than when acting in furtherance of objectives laid down in the Constitution.

4. Private Interests
We shall perform our official duties and arrange our private affairs in a manner that will bear the closest public interest, an obligation that is not fully discharged simply by acting within the law but which must also be within the law’s spirit. We shall not have private interests, other than those permitted pursuant to the Code and to the Code of Conduct for Public Officers provided by Constitution, that would be affected particularly or significantly by government actions in which we participate.

5. Public Interests
On appointment to office and thereafter, we shall arrange our private affairs in a manner that will prevent real, potential or apparent conflicts of interest from arising but if such a conflict does arise between the private interests of a Minister or Special Adviser or his or her close relations and the official duties and responsibilities of that Minister of Special Adviser, the conflict shall be resolved in favour of the public interest.

6. Conflict of Interests
We shall not exercise an official power or perform an official duty or function in the execution of our office and at the same time know that in the performance of the duty or function or in the exercise of the power, there is the opportunity to further our private interest or those of our friends and relatives over and above the benefits this gives to the wider community.
We shall not exercise an official power of perform an official duty or function if we have a conflict of interest or an apparent conflict of interest.

A Minister or Special Adviser has an apparent conflict of interest if there is a reasonable perception, which a reasonably well informed person could properly have, that the Minister’s or Special Adviser’s ability to exercise an official power or perform an official duty or function must have been affected by his or her private interest or those of his or her friends or relatives.

7. Influence
We shall not use our office to seek to influence a decision, to be made by another person, to further our private interest or those of our friends and relatives.

Obasanjo is the most corrupt President I have ever seen that ruled this country,
even IBB is better than him because that was greater opportunities for Nigerians
to do one of two things to get life moving. His programm does not have human face
but he does not care because, he was busy making his money which I knows that
Nigerian that died because of his hash economic policies will not allow him to rest in
peace when he die.

[Auspicious]

Baba doesn't care and neither do his praise-singers everywhere - including
those right here with us @ NVS. I mean look at that photo of him up there;
the posturing. He seemed to be saying: "If you ask me any more stupid
questions, I will 'woze' your face with this huge left hand so hard your teeth
will fall out of your mouth!" LMAO! God dey.

[bennie]

This is precisely why Nigeria is not progressing. The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. The rich come together to plunder the collective destiny of Nigerians. Every Nigerian leader comes into office to help himself, his family and friends to personal millions. The Good Lord will deal with them at his own time. They will leave those millions to other people like some of them have done in the past. The cries of orphans, widows, and the poor who cannot afford to drink garri while our rich people help themselves to millions will reach God's thrown. Isaiah59v1.

No Nigerian (including myself) deserves to live in exile in search of a good quality of life. We have more than enough. Most countries in the West have nothing yet they live fine. Our God given natural and economic resources have become the exclusive preserve of a few. The Lord's day will come because I do not know of any other way. Protest and be silenced forever. Who wants to die. Nobody. If Bashorun Abiola et al died the way they did without any major uproar, who am I or anybody else to protest?

[Nkire]

What President Obasanjo has with respect to his investment in Transcorp, if the facts as presented are accurate, is not a blind trust. The incorrect description here is not the fault of the writer but the usual ways in which standard paradigms and best practices are turned upside down in Nigeria, the widely accepted Nigerian factor.

In a typical blind trust arrangement, the trust beneficiary, in this case the President, does not have any knowledge of the individual investments in the portfolio under trust. The trustee is generally given a free hand to use his/her superior knowledge of investment strategy – investment strategy here consisting of such critical aspects as in: selection of individual investments, portfolio allocation (what percentage of the funds to invest in equities, debt instruments, bricks and mortars, etc.), holding period decisions i.e., when to buy and when to sell portion(s) of the portfolio, tax implications and ability to utilize various other investment and financial analytical modules and techniques to achieve pre-determined investment objectives, such annual rate of return on the investment.

In a blind trust arrangement, the selection of the trustee is the most critical decision. Normally, the trustee is a bank that has a sophisticated brokerage and investment services department or a firm in the business of brokerage and investment services. The trustee is paid adequate consideration, usually a percentage of the par value of the assets under trust.

The reason for an iron-clad blind trust for someone in the President’s position is simple – the President is human, as such, he should be shielded from plausible accusations that his decisions on specific situations are colored or heavily influenced by his personal financial well-being. If the President has knowledge of where his money is invested – which could be a particular company, such as Transcorp, or a sector of the economy such as oil and gas, telecommunication, transportation, etc, the President’s decision may be suspiciously viewed as favoring the company or the sector of the economy in which the President’s assets are invested in. When this happens, it is pure and simple an act of corrupt practice. It can also influence the decisions of ordinary investors who may aim to invest in the companies and sectors where the President’s asset are invested in, with the expectation of earning the same rate of return as the Big Man. This could lead to a distortion of the economy, with the President being the visible hand that determines which company that succeeds or fails, instead of corporate profits earned through superior management and innovation. It can also lead to undercapitalization of those sectors of the economy where the President and possibly his cronies have chosen not to invest in. Any which way you slice it, there is nothing good that can come to the economic health of any nation where the President by his corrupt practice gets to choose winners and losers of industry.

Given the proclivity of our so-called leaders to engage in corrupt practices and discreditable acts, I suppose one should not be entirely surprised that the President will engage in the act described by the writer. However, to describe the arrangement as a blind trust is at best, laughable. If it is a blind trust, the peeping hole is big enough not just for the two eye balls but for the entire head to peep through. It is an open trust, if there is any such a thing!

[edoji]

Baba's Boys and Their Deals-TheNEWS

From inception, it was designed to be a favoured son. Conceived by President Olusegun Obasanjo, midwifed by a select group of 32 key players in the economy to whom he handed it over, and still being spoonfed by the president, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria plc, simply called TransCorp, cannot but be a pampered child. Incorporated on 17 November 2004 and formally launched on 2 July 2005, it is already the proud owner of the five-star Nicon-Hilton Hotel, Abuja, which has been renamed TransCorp Hilton.

On take-off, the corporation was granted, among other concessions, approval to build a $250 million (about N33.25 billion) 400,000 barrels per day refinery in Lekki Free Port Zone, a licence to build an independent power plant, access to the federal government cassava report to facilitate its construction of a cassava processing export facility, and oil blocs to enable it participate actively in the upstream sector of the oil industry.

A wide advantage, indeed, TransCorp has. That privilege is, however, becoming an albatross. Last week, when the corporation added the ailing Nigeria Telecommunications Limited, NITEL, to its seemingly endless string of acquisitions, all hell broke loose. Tongues are beginning to wag on the manner of the creation of TransCorp and on the transparency, or lack of it, in its purchase of federal government’s assets from the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE. To Pat Utomi, a political economist and presidential aspirant in the 2007 election, TransCorp was formed to cream off the little growth being recorded in the economy. "That is the problem with the TransCorp idea. A few individuals who have access to power are taking away all the gains personally, directly," Utomi fumed.
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Definite conflict of interest and abuse of office!

[Abraxas]

Hi, folks!

The obvious answer to the question is: Yes, and with IMPUNITY!

> Muchas gracias, mis amigos.>
>
>
lace w:st="on">U.K. & Ireland">
> >
Don Juan Carlos ABRAXAS (III)

[BiafranPrincess]

Atiku has finally started firing his shots in his war with Baba. Think this story just fell out of nowhere? Think again. Atiku may not eventually get the presidency but you can be sure that he will rubbish Baba by revealing the real corrupt OBJ for all to see. Atiku is perceived to be very corrupt and he probably is but has anyone wondered why he has the guts to taunt OBJ to reveal his corrupt practices? Well the answer is simple. Like IBB HE IS A VERY SMART THIEF who has covered his tracks so well that Ribadu may find no dirt on him. OBJ on the other hand has left seriopus signposts of his corruption which I'm sure Atiku has been documenting religiously. 2007 will be very interesting indeed! Nigeria will have the last last on both of them.
That being said, for me right now, Pat Utomi is the man who'll get my vote. I need a different type of leadership, all these Atiku, IBB, OBJ.... ALL SEEM TO THINK AND ACT EXACTLY THE SAME WAY BUT IN DIFFERENT GUISES!
By dec 2006 we will see real fireworks in Naija politics as the boys will be seperated from the men.

[omoba]

BiafranPrincess you are right on the money with that comment. Atiku has threathened to open a can of worms and no one has summon the courage to either call his bluff or dare him to sing. That is indeed strange. Even the dreaded Nuhu Ribadu is conviniently acting deaf and dumb each time Atiku speaks.

Here is what bothers me. The biggest act of corruption Atiku has been accused of till date is that while he ran the show at the NCP (National Council for Privatization), he sold Nigeria to his friends and cronies. Now OBJoke stepped in to "rescues" whatever is left of the country and what did he do?, selling whatever is left to HIMSELF!!.

I am convinced there is a lot we will know after 2007.

[DoubleWahala]

Nkire, I'm with you, all the way, in your analyses.

There is nothing blind about this trust.

It is not blind when the trust was formed, seemingly for the sole purpose of facilitating transactions with Transcorp, with the obvious knowledge and assent of the president.

It is not blind when the president, through executive fiat or otherwise, ensures the apportionment of very juicy deals to Transcorp, knowing fully that he is a major beneficiary, by virtue of the transcorp shares purchased on his behalf.

It is not blind when you take the 'Nigerian factor' into consideration, in the sense that the President, in all his breath-taking power and glory, can and will influence those appointed to manage the trust (Trustees)

The resort to legalese, by the president and his crew, does not and cannot detract from the fact that most Nigerians will see this Transcorp arrangement for what it truly is: sophisticated thievery.

DoubleWahala

[Willy]

Could Samuel Famakinwa take the next logical step by investigating Obasanjo Farms' tax returns in the last 20 years? Has there been a sudden jump in tax payment in the last 7 years? THISDAY has the resources and the political reason to dig deeper.

[Citizen O]

I agree. Much as I find the 'blind trust' and the president's rumored ownership of 200 million shares in Transcorp suspicious, this article doesn't rise beyond the level of innuendo to provide a sympathetic reader like myself with any proof of corrupt practices. It is your average political hatchet job probably paid for by the Atiku/IBB/Kalu elements of our polity. Are there documentable instances of OBJ influencing the sale of NITEL etc. to Transcorp? Some way of substantiating the allegation that this trust managing his assets is not truly 'blind'? It is all well and good to allege corruption at every turn when it comes to Naija politics, but unless facts and figures can be reeled off as in the cases against Ayo Fayose, Joshua Dariye, Alams and company, I have to say that these stories are no more substantial than a tabloid gossip page.

We have to demand full, in-depth reporting from journalists, rather than unsubstantiated rumor-mongering. If President Obasanjo is proven to be corrupt, it will be a huge story around the world and will completely destroy his administration while making an international career for the person who breaks the story. Beyond tax returns, let's have real earnest reporting on the allegations about the president's alleged university, Presidential library and so on. Are these truly corner-corner projects, or just the weak accusations of those seeking to divert critical attention from themselves? Articles like these, however, read like third-rate smear jobs paid for by political enemies rather than honest nyansh exposal of the sort we are eagerly waiting for on our politicians.

[Labaran]

This is no blind trust...It is Blind Trucking of looted national asset. Part problem of the local media in Nigeria. They will see white and call it red. This is not the first time Obasanjo would steal national assets. The whole Operation Feed the Nation became Obasanjo Farms of Nigeria (OFN).

The only duty of the "Economic Management Team" which I call, "Economic Vultures Team" is to turn Nigeria's economy into a carcass and descend on it. It has happened! It is here before your eyes...
Nothing, Walahi, nothing but a reveolution-Orange, Red, Green or Black will save Nigeria. I have spoken...

[DoubleWahala]

Originally Posted by Citizen O

Are there documentable instances of OBJ influencing the sale of NITEL etc. to Transcorp? Some way of substantiating the allegation that this trust managing his assets is not truly 'blind'? It is all well and good to allege corruption at every turn when it comes to Naija politics, but unless facts and figures can be reeled off as in the cases against Ayo Fayose, Joshua Dariye, Alams and company, I have to say that these stories are no more substantial than a tabloid gossip page.

Citizen O, much as I understand your stand-point, I beg to disagree with your conclusion.

First off; correct me, if I'm wrong, but Obasanjo and his crew have not denied the revealation, published by ThisDay Newspaper.

Only a political neophyte, with regard to Nigeria, would be insisting on "documentable instances", in this context, when it is a known fact that the sale of such magnitude as that of NITEL, or Nicon Noga Hotel, or the granting of oil fields for exploration, to Transcorp, could not have happened without the President's assent, however informal it might be.

There is such a thing as circumstantial evidence. There is such a thing as Ethics, where perception of potential corruption, or wrong-doing is even more important than reality. It is there for all to see.

Finally, you have to understand, just like BiafranPrincess posited, it is all a game, a sad, but none-the-less complex web being spun by the Big Boys Club, with IBB, OBJ, and Atiku, as founding members. Nigerians are the ultimate victims.

DoubleWahala

No matter what Obasajo steal, guess who is going to purge him? Ribadu. He has only one track mind and if he remains, he will purge him. If Rbadu does not, others will. Now, what are all these old men going to do with all the money? Spend it in hell like Mobutu. Baba has very little time left, and if he banks on his successor, it means, he is even more foolish than I thought.

[salstep]

There is nothing new in the story. The claim of 200 million shares holds no water. Why u ask? Because the paper haven't shown us any documentery proof. We all know OBJoke has a hand in Transcorp. But i hate this kind of journalism where innuendo are made. Where is the proof?
Thisday or Atiku or someone should be able to do better.

[kiibaati]

What's the big deal about Obasanjo having N200 million shares in Transcorp?

At inception, the shares were sold for N1 per share and anybody who could afford the minimum subscription and was interested applied and was allocated shares.

Obasanjo declared publicly at the inauguration that he will buy and he has bought. Now that it's public knowledge, I might as well advise shrewd investors to take up a few shares at the IPO. The price is bound to keep shooting up!


A word is enough for the wise!

[Auspicious]

Hmmm..Kiibati has spoken. What do the Villagers think? I am inclined to agree
with him.

[DaBishop]

Obasanjo declared publicly at the inauguration that he will buy and he has bought.
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Do we still have a blind trust here?

Next;
If he declared and bought shares, is he an ordinary Nigerian? Did he have the power to favor Transcorp as President and C-in-C? What Minister of Petroleum gave Transcorp the oil wells.

I now understand why a certain Masters did not want any questions asked about quess what - conflict of interest.