Posted by By YINKA FABOWALE on
One-time Petroleum Resources Minister, Prof. Tam David-West, at the weekend castigated former President Olusegun Obasanjo for reportedly subverting 'due process" in respect of contracts for the National Integrated Power (NIP) projects currently under probe by the House of Representatives.
One-time Petroleum Resources Minister, Prof. Tam David-West, at the weekend castigated former President Olusegun Obasanjo for reportedly subverting 'due process" in respect of contracts for the National Integrated Power (NIP) projects currently under probe by the House of Representatives.
Ex-Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had said, last week, while testifying before the House Committee on Power and Steel inquiring into the squandering of about $13 billion in the power sector, that due process was not followed in the award of the contracts.
Due process refers to the rigorous cost-saving procedure of having contracts assessed and certified by the Due Process Office set up under the Obasanjo administration to check cases of corruption, especially inflated contracts.
According to Okonjo-Iweala, Obasanjo had approved a waiver for the disbursement of $2.5 billion recommended by former Minister of Power and now Governor of Cross River State, Liyel Imoke, for the execution of the projects.
David-West described the former president as the greatest hypocrite, who acted contrary to what he professed.
His words: 'Obasanjo is the greatest hypocrite, political and religious. He has shown himself to the nation and the world that he's the greatest anti-corruption crusader in the history of Nigeria. And to buttress this, the first law he made is anti-corruption Act in 2000. It had formidable 72 sections, more than the Code of Hamurabi, an Amorite, who had this code in 17 BC, where a lot was said about stealing and corruption. Obasanjo's Act is more formidable.
But he has turned out to be a preacher of sermon and not action. He does not practice what he preaches and demands from other people."
Quoting Oliver Goldsmith, David-West said: 'You can preach better sermon with your life than with your lips," adding: 'What Obasanjo has done is tantamount to asking God to waive the 10 Commandments, so he can steal.
'Obasanjo gave waiver for due process so that he can sin. That's what he has done. It's the greatest shame."
Lending his voice to persistent calls for the probing of Obasanjo, the former oil minister said: 'I wonder why he's still at Otta farm. If it were another person, Obasanjo would have arrested him and get him locked up."
He charged President Umaru Yar'Adua to immediately arrest and prosecute his predecessor, saying failure to do so would be a minus to his administration.
'There should be no sacred cows. Obasanjo said that so many times. We cannot live in Animal Farm, where some are more important than the others. He shouldn't be allowed to get away with all these atrocities. He who goes to equity must have clean hands," he said.