Posted by By ANDY ASEMOTA, Katsina on
Former deputy Senate president, Senator Mamman Danmusa, says the on-going probes of the administration of ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo is an indication that it is time for past leaders to begin to pay for their sins in office.
Former deputy Senate president, Senator Mamman Danmusa, says the on-going probes of the administration of ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo is an indication that it is time for past leaders to begin to pay for their sins in office.
Danmusa, who is also one-time speaker of the defunct Kaduna State House of Assembly during the regime of Alhaji Balarabe Musa, said that the God of retribution is already at work in Nigeria and as such, no attempt to shield an evil leader from prosecution will work.
He decried the level of corruption allegedly perpetrated during the eight-year rule of president Obasanjo and declared that it was time for him to give account of the huge funds allocated to various sectors of the economy without any commensurate result.
While emphasising the need for an urgent holistic probe of the Obasanjo administration, the elder statesman warned leaders to be careful of what they do in office, stressing that the fact that Obasanjo's tracks could not be covered by the regime he imposed on the nation is a strong signal that nemesis has caught up with the ex-ruler.
He said revelations coming from the power sector probe is a scandal that has exposed the darkest parts of the Obasanjo's administration. His words: 'History will just get to repeat itself. Nigeria is not a poor country. Really, people who committed crime against their people for so many years forgot that they would be caught until Almighty Allah is ready to visit them with his anger.
'So, you see, to me, this is the beginning of the end. There is nothing either Yar'Adua or anybody can do to stop this truth or this revelation at the power sector probe.
'Then, what will happen? Only God knows. Certainly, it is a good thing for Nigerians. Now, people will know their leaders whose conduct worked against their chance to live as normal human beings."
Danmusa explained that Yar'Adua has no reason not to probe Obasanjo because examples abound worldwide where successors in office probe their predecessors.
'It happens everywhere in the world and Nigeria cannot be an exception. There are still leaders who committed crime against humanity during the World War II. Even now, they are being tried.
'The Comoros leaders in Cambodia, who committed crimes in the 70's, are being tried now. So, all those who committed crime against Nigerian people, whatever they think they are, whether they are connected to the military or whatever, in God's own time, they will pay for it. In which way they will pay for it, only God knows," he stressed.
Danmusa said if President Yar'Adua was genuinely committed to the rule of law, he should order the arrest of Obasanjo, following the weight of the revelations coming out from the power sector probe. According to him, 'if Yar'Adua is following due process, as he is claiming, certainly he will order the arrest of Obasanjo. And if he really hates corruption, he has the machinery. The EFCC is there and there are so many agencies.
'You know, this happened in Zambia. The same thing will happen here because the former president handpicked the incumbent president.
'So, within two months, he had to detain him on allegation of corruption. Now, he is on trial in Zambia. The same thing happened in Peru. There are so many examples. So, whether Yar'Adua likes it or not, God, in his own good time, will visit Nigerian leaders and they will pay for their sins."