Posted by By LUCKY NWANKWERE, Abuja on
The dust kicked off by the damning interview of President Olusegun Obasanjo's son, Gbenga, is far from settling as top government functionaries mentioned in it are up in arms against the young man.
The dust kicked off by the damning interview of President Olusegun Obasanjo's son, Gbenga, is far from settling as top government functionaries mentioned in it are up in arms against the young man.
Apart from Vice President Atiku Abubakar who was labelled greedy and corrupt by the president's son, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Mallam Nasir el- Rufai, is said to be fighting hard to redeem his image.
Dismissed as dubious and corrupt by the young Obasanjo, el-Rufai was said to be receiving bribes on every plot of land sold in the territory using Jimi Lawal as a front.
The Federal Capital Territory minister was said to have been shocked to the marrows by the published interview and Gbenga's allegation of corruption against him, necessitating his decision to head to Ota from Lagos where he had gone to confer with the president.
Aides of the minister, who spoke to the Daily Sun in Abuja Monday said he was angered by the aspersion cast on his reputation by the interview, adding that he would stop at nothing to redeem his hard earned image.
However, as a loyal member of the present administration, they said el-Rufai's action would be guided by the outcome of his meeting with his boss, President Obasanjo.
In response to a question bordering on the friction between his father and his deputy, Atiku Abubakar, the president's son took the vice president and el-Rufai to the cleaners over what he claimed was their role in the BPE.
"On Atiku, I think people get it wrong thinking that baba is working against him. Atiku just thinks that the presidency is his birthright. Look at AP and the privatisation process. They just sold the entire country to themselves.
"Look at the Pentascope deal, they stole over one billion dollars from Nigeria without fixing a single telephone line. This was done between el-Rufai and VP Atiku. Go to the Corporate Affairs Commission and see those who own Pentascope. You will see fraud perpetrated against Nigeria", he alleged.
Reminded that el-Rufai was one of his father's favourites, the young Obasanjo quipped: "That doesn't make him clean. Look at what he did with Jimi Lawal through the BPE. They paid him back all the money he looted from Alpha Merchant Bank with interest.
"He was rehabilitated by el-Rufai and made a consultant selling land in Abuja. He is el-Rufai's shadow man in Abuja. He collects bribes for land sales in Abuja on behalf of el-Rufai. We know that these things are still going on", he further pointed out.
It was not immediately known what action the accused minister would take in the bid to redeem his image, but Daily Sun was told that given his stand on such a matter, he might decide to head to court to prove his innocence.
Special Assistant to the Minister on Information and Strategy, Hajia Amina Salihu, however, said el-Rufai would not react formally to the allegations for now, "since the presidency has already spoken on the issue."