Posted by By Lanre Issa-Onilu on
The former Inspector General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, who is currently facing a 70-count charge at a Federal High Court, Abuja, for alleged money laundering and stealing may have written a letter to President Olusegun Obasanjo, pleading for his intervention in his current ordeals.
The former Inspector General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, who is currently facing a 70-count charge at a Federal High Court, Abuja, for alleged money laundering and stealing may have written a letter to President Olusegun Obasanjo, pleading for his intervention in his current ordeals.
Balogun, according to Presidency sources, had written Obasanjo a week before he was apprehended by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and subsequently detained.
In the letter, the embattled former IG was said to have pleaded for the assistance of the President in averting the imminent humiliation, while also dissociating himself from certain statements of threat to expose certain misdeeds of the President which were credited to him.
THISDAY checks reveal that following the forced retirement of Balogun over allegation of corruption and facing an imminent trial, some prominent individuals were said to have pleaded with the President to ensure that the former IG was not humiliated.
These men, former government functionaries, who had expressed disappointment at the revelation of corruption at that level, however felt that the former IG could be made to forfeit all such illegally acquired wealth, without subjecting him to undue ridicule.
Balogun reportedly decided to write his letter to the President following the complaints the President made to these men over how Balogun had lied to him, each time he had confronted him in the past over allegations of corruption. Obasanjo was also said to have expressed anger at some of the utterances credited to the former IG where he allegedly threatened to expose certain misdeeds of the President.
The President was reportedly miffed by the threat and had challenged the former IG to go ahead with his revelations. But, in Balogun's letter, he was said to have flatly denied issuing any such threats, while pleading for the President's assistance in warding off humiliation.
According to a top government source, the President had "on three different occasions, invited Balogun and confronted him with these reports, which showed that the former IG had been dipping his hands into public funds, but he denied flatly. 'The first time that the President invited him, he denied, but the President himself was not sure whether the allegation was true, so he let the matter be, after warning him. But the second time, when another report reached the President, he was sure of the veracity of the report, but yet Balogun denied again, even then, the President strongly warned him. So, it makes sense that when another report came the third time, there was nothing the President could do than to take action against him," said one highly placed source.
Meanwhile, indications have since emerged that President Obasanjo may have ignored Balogun's letter, as the former IG was taken to court in handcuffs the previous week when he was formally drafted before the court by the EFCC. He is currently standing trial on a 70-count charge over allegation of embezzling about $13 billion. Balogun's efforts so far at securing bail has not been successful, following objections from the prosecuting counsels. Further hearing into the request for bail has been postponed.