Posted by By Yusuf Ali and Segun Olatunji on
INDICATIONS emerged on Saturday that President Olusegun Obasanjo has short-listed three governors, one of whom may succeed Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
INDICATIONS emerged on Saturday that President Olusegun Obasanjo has short-listed three governors, one of whom may succeed Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
But the consideration of the likely successor coincided with a statement by the Atiku Campaign Organisation that the Paris based BNP Paribas Bank has faulted the EFCC's report on Globacom Limited.
The three governors are Adamu Muazu (Bauchi); Ahmed Makarfi (Kaduna) and Umar Musa Yar' Adua (Katsina).
While Muazu and Yar' Adua are from the North-East with the vice-president, Makarfi is from the North-West.
Investigations showed that the president limited the VP's successor to the three governors after consultation with some of his political confidants.
A source said, 'The President had interacted separately with the three governors on the possibility of being picked as the new vice-president if Atiku is removed by the National Assembly.
'The governors have also been requested to ensure the success of Atiku's impeachment plot."
The source added that the President was non-committal on whether he would still support any governor succeeding Atiku for the presidential election in 2007.
None of the affected governors could be reached on Saturday but some of their aides spoke with our correspondents.
The Kaduna State Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Adamu Shekarau, said 'Let things take shape before we start talking.
'I cannot speak on that now. We know that the governor does not like to pre-empt something. He does not even like speculations. Maybe when things take shape, he will speak.
'And if he is among those to be considered, I think it is not the right time for him to say anything.
On the Ota meeting, he added, 'My governor was not there because he had been in Kaduna. Even today, we attended a function.
'Let us hope that whatever is coming is for good."
It will be recalled that Makarfi had on August 6, 2006 indicated that he was willing to be a vice-president in 2007.
The Bauchi State Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Ibrahim Zailani, said, 'I am not aware that my governor is being considered for the post of VP. I do not even have a hint."
Notwithstanding, part of the plans to remove the vice-president, it was learnt that the President met with pro-third term lawmakers in Ota farm on Friday.
Findings revealed that the President urged the National Assembly members to support his move to initiate impeachment proceedings against the VP.
A source in the Presidency said it was usual for people to flock to the farm whenever the president was around.
'Anytime the President is in Ota, people turn out en masse to discuss issues with him. It is a normal thing which you should not read meaning into."
It was gathered that both the Deputy President of the Senate, Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu and Dr. Jonathan Zwingina might coordinate the impeachment plot in the Senate.
The President had on Friday paid a strange visit to the National Assembly to inspect a N26bn contract at the complex.
Only Mantu was on hand to receive the President as neither the President of the Senate, Chief Ken Nnamani, nor the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari, was informed of the visit.
Although the visit had political colouration, Mantu said the visit had nothing to do with the impeachment proceedings against the VP.
He said that he was not being enlisted by the president to remove the VP.
He added, 'The visit has nothing to do with the letter from the president. The letter was not an impeachment notice, it was just by the way of information."
Meanwhile, the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation on Saturday said that a Paris-based BNP Paribas Bank had confirmed that it provided the loan with which Globacom Limited paid for its licence in 2002.
A statement by the Media Consultant to the vice-president, Mallam Garba Sheu, said the BNP's statement faulted report by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that the deposit of the Petroleum Trust Development Fund was used to pay for the licence.
The statement said, 'Both the EFCC and the Ministerial administrative panel reports had falsely claimed that Globacom paid for its licence with the $115 million deposit by Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF).
'However, a copy of BNP Paribas 2002 Annual Report obtained online by the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation on Saturday, clearly showed that the bank remitted $180m directly to the Federal Government of Nigeria on August 30, 2002 for the payment of Globacom's GSM license fee.
'The payment was made eight months before PTDF placed $115m in Equitorial Trust Bank owned by Otunba Mike Adenuga.
'It is therefore wicked and malicious for the EFCC, the ministerial panel and their sponsors to try to link the vice-president approval of the placement of PTDF deposit in ETB with payment for the Globacom GSM license. In any case, both the principal and interest of the deposit have since safely been returned to the PTDF on request.
'BNP Paribas put its dealings with Globacom at about $400m.
'The Paris based bank is a global financial institution with a total consolidated assets of 710.0 billion Euros as at December 2002.
'It has huge investments in Alcatel, Globacom's technical partners, Bouygues Telecoms, Peugeot and Totalfinaelf."
As at press time, Sunday Punch discovered that the BNP's Annual Report 2002 was on its website.