allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Obasanjo Fails to Appear Before Reps (Page 1 of 1)

Against all expectations, former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday failed to appear before the House of Representatives Committee on Power and Steel investigating the alleged expenditure of $16 billion on the power sector during his administration, saying he was "slightly indisposed."

Apparently following his former boss' footstep, former vice president Atiku Abubakar also said yesterday that he would not appear before the committee because he has no insider's information to give to the committee.

This is just as the last finance minister during Obasanjo's regime, Mrs. Esther Nenadi Usman, has disclosed that Obasanjo waived due process for the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) to fulfill campaign promises, adding that she paid out $1.2billion on power contracts as minister.

Atiku Abubakar also failed to honour the invitation, but sent a message to the committee that he could not get a flight back to the country from abroad where he is attending to some other engagements.

Obasanjo, who sent his special assistant, Mr. Taiwo Ojo, with a letter to committee, explaining why he could not honour the invitation in a 17-page memorandum titled, "Olusegun Obasanjo, insights and perspectives into the Nigerian power situation: a presentation in response to invitation to appear at the public hearing on the power sector by the House Committee on Power", said his administration expended only $6.5 billion on power in eight years.

Obasanjo said he was prepared to shed light on any issue that may not have been addressed by his paper and urged the committee to contact him if it wanted additional information on any matter pertaining to the investigation.

In the letter addressed to the chairman of the committee, Hon. Ndudi Godwin Elumelu, dated May 11, 2008, he said, "After I have prepared my presentation, to put before your committee based on the letter of invitation signed by you, I became slightly indisposed.

"Since I have on my own decided to personally respond to your invitation, I do not intend to hold you up. I have a fairly comprehensive written presentation, which I am sending to your committee through my special assistant, Mr. Taiwo Ojo. You will note in the paper my strong desire to personally present the insights and perspectives of mine and power situation

"I hope the presentation will satisfy the unspecified allegations, counter-allegations, and approvals that you referred to in your letter of invitation in addition to the insights and perspectives. If, however, there are other points that you want me to elucidate on, I will act appropriately, if you will let me know.

"Please convey my warm regards and regrets at the same time to all the Honourable members of your committee".

Meanwhile, Mrs. Usman told the committee that former power and steel minister, Senator Liyel Imoke, sold the idea of waiving due process to the former president, explaining that Obasanjo's desire to deliver on his campaign promises of putting right the power problem may have informed his decision to approve the request. She however said only $3.2 billion was expended on the sector during the period under review.

"The then minister of power and steel, Imoke, in his haste to see that something was done about power situation, wrote a letter to the then president for due process waiver on payment. If you want to know the reason why he wrote the letter, you could ask him, but he did write the letter and the former president approved.

"I think sometimes public officers are overzealous, when trying to deliver on campaign promises and sometimes shorten the process here and there. Because I believe President Obasanjo was the father of due process itself; so for him to have done that, between him and the former minister (Imoke) they must have decided that they wanted to put something on ground to solve the problem."

On why unregistered companies were given contracts, the former finance minister said there was nothing wrong with that provided the award of such contracts had been approved by the Federal Executive Council.

She also threw light on the loan obtained by the Federal Government to build power plants in the country, saying the facility was in order since it was meant to solve the problem of power.

"Why was the loan given? The loan was given to build a hydro-power plant because the issue of power had become a critical issue. So if we still think that is still a critical issue and we still want to take the loan to build power plant, why not?", she asked.

She denied having anything to do with award of contracts, saying the contracts emanated from the Ministry of Power and Steel and only the former minister could explain how they were awarded.

Atiku, who had accepted to appear yesterday before the Hon. Elumelu-led committee, but later changed his mind, said in a letter to the committee chairman that even though he had a desire to state the little he knew of the National Independent Power Project, his plans were affected by the difficulties in getting flight back home.

His words, "I was already out the country when your invitation arrived. I have tried without success to book a flight back last weekend. I was only able to get a confirmed seat for Tuesday, May 13, 2008. But I have since found out that my presence would no longer be needed at the committee hearing. I sincerely believe that if we as a nation must make progress, we must constantly review and reappraise the past to determine were we are, where we want to be and whether the actions we have taken will get us there.

"I have no problem whatsoever with any arm of government wanting to know what happened during our tenure of office, especially if such inquiry will help our country. Unfortunately, I am in no position to offer useful information on the emergency power projects because I was not involved in them. It is clear from all of the revelations made in the course of the public hearing that there was no allegation against me as the former vice president in person or office."

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