A former presidential candidate of the defunct All Peoples Party
(APP) and Alliance for Democracy (AD), and Chairman of the Social
Democratic Party (SDP), Chief Olu Falae, has been in the news in the
last few months.
From his abduction by some Hausa-Fulani herdsmen in his farm in
Ilado, Akure North area of Ondo State, to his alleged receiving of N100m
from the $2.1 billion arms money from the immediate past National
Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki, the former Finance
Minister and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) speaks,
in this interview, on the issues.
Excerpts:
What’s your involvement in the $2.1 billion arms money from Dasuki
I want to say with all emphasis that I never took even one naira from
Dasuki. Beyond that, I want to assert that I never had any relationship
with Dasuki. I knew Dasuki way back in 1986-87,when he was ADC to
General Babagida and I was Secretary to the Federal Government. Since he
left that government around 1987, I had no contact or dealing with him;
absolutely none.
The N100 million they are bandying about in the media, the one that I
know about, it happened as follows: Chief Tony Anenih, a former
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, phoned me late January
last year and said he would like to see me; he would like to come from
Abuja to see me in Akure. And he came. He came with someone, and I, too,
invited somebody to be with me. The four of us were together in the
meeting; and Chief Anenih said they were observing that my party, SDP,
had no presidential candidate and, therefore, they would want us to ask
our supporters to vote for his own party’s candidate, President Goodluck
Jonathan.
I told him that, in principle, there was nothing wrong with the two
parties collaborating, but that the collaboration must be a principled
collaboration: it must be based on principles. I told him that there
were certain things we desired the government to do but they had not
done for the people, and that if we were going to support their
candidate, they must commit themselves to make changes in those areas.
He asked for the areas? I said number one, their party must be prepared
to restructure Nigeria from the colossal unity system, and the best way
of doing that was to fully implement the report of the National
Conference 2014.
Number two, that the party must commit itself to a policy of zero
tolerance for corruption because I saw that corruption was monumental in
what they were doing. Number three, I said the party in government must
destroy Boko Haram and give stability to Nigeria. Number four, there
was mass unemployment and youths were getting frustrated, that they must
articulate programmes to create jobs for the unemployed. Number five,
that I observed that the party in government was spending virtually our
entire revenue on recurrent expenditure, that they must reduce recurrent
expenditure so as to generate surpluses to finance capital development
like roads, schools, hospitals, etc.
Item number six, that if we accepted this tide and accepted them,
then if the party won the election, we will expect reasonable
participation in that government. And he said they were totally happy
with all these strict conditions, that the conditions were acceptable to
them; in fact, he said they were already implementing some of them. So,
on that note, he returned to Abuja. But after he left, I decided to
write to him in order to document this relationship. The letter I wrote
to him, again I listed the six conditions which I had mentioned in our
oral discussion. And three days later, he wrote back to me saying that
he had consulted all the stakeholders of his party including the
President and they were all happy to accept those conditions to work
with the SDP in the election’s that were forthcoming. So, having
accepted our conditions, I proceeded to Abuja to summon the meeting of
my party executive and decision making organs and made the presentation
to them. There was a very robust debate and, at the end of the debate,
the executive committee of my party endorsed their request that we
should work with Jonathan in the elections.
CRITICAL FACTOR
I want to emphasize that the most critical factor that turned the
debate in favour of Jonathan was because he had said he would
restructure Nigeria and that he summoned the National Conference as a
great step in that direction. And to most of us in the SDP and in
Afenifere, restructuring Nigeria is the most important, single political
objective that we pursue in Nigeria today; and whoever commits himself
to that objective, we will support him. I want to remind you that, in
2007, when the then General Muhammadu Buhari was running for the
President on the platform of ANPP, six parties, including my party; we
were then called DPA, went for similar collaboration. In fact, they
turned round to make me the Chairman of the Buhari Campaign Committee in
the South-West, although I was not a member of their party. And in that
collaborative effort, I and some other friends of Buhari contributed
money to run the campaign. We held a mammoth rally at Mokola, Ibadan.
So, what I am saying is that, collaboration between two parties is
normal in democracy; and the collaborating parties, it is normal for
them to contribute money to ensure that their joint project is
implemented. That is exactly what happened on this occasion.
Now, after we had endorsed the candidacy of President Jonathan, I
think a week or two, Chief Anenih phoned me and said that he knew that
SDP didn’t have fund to campaign effectively for our candidates.
Therefore, they will be sending us some money to enable us campaign
effectively and Jonathan was now our joint candidate. That was the note
on which he sent the N100 million they are talking about.
And on receiving the N100 million, I promptly paid it into the
account of the SDP at the First Bank in Abuja. And from there, I set up a
committee of the party to work out the modalities for distributing the
money among the various state branches of the party and campaign
organisations. Taking to account the number of candidates for House of
Assembly, Senate, House of Representatives, governorship, weight was
attached to it and they did it rationally and fairly.
Plus our own money, which was much more than the N100 million, the
money was distributed to the state organs for executing the campaign and
the elections. In summary, we had no contact whatsoever with Dasuki. We
took nothing, not a kobo from Dasuki. The money that came to us was
from the PDP through Chief Anenih to me as the Chairman of SDP, which I
then passed on to my party. My party held a press conference on Monday,
January 11, 2016, where they declared that I gave them the money in
full, promptly and they used it for the elections. So, those who said
the money was given to Falae are lying, the money was only sent through
me to my party and my party has acknowledged receipt in full. The money
did not come from Dasuki but from the PDP.
By the way, I have read in the media where Chief Anenih said that
the money he sent to me and some other people was his own personal money
and given on behalf of his party, not from Dasuki and later he got
reimbursement from Dasuki. All that has nothing to do with us: we knew
nothing about it, we did not approve of anything, not our duty either,
legal or moral, to find out where PDP was getting the money to pursue
its campaign. So, in summary, we took no money from Dasuki, the money
given was for the party and not for me, it was delivered to the party,
the party has acknowledged receipt in full.
But some state chapters of the party have openly distanced
themselves from receiving any money from the national secretariat of the
SDP as you claimed.
A: It is only Ogun, we have active branches in about 33 states. I was
surprised to read that Ogun said they were not aware. The truth is
that the allocating committee in Abuja was supposed to send N8 million
to Ogun but I know the amount is something from the campaign fund.
This is not the only money we were using for the campaigns, that was
just a small part of what we spent on the elections. Our own
contribution was much more than the N100 million, so, the committee said
they were going to send N8 million to them. But Chief Osoba said the
money available for the party was too small, N8 million could do nothing
in the state; so he would take care of the needs of the party in Ogun;
we should leave what we were going to give to the state to states that
were in need. Ogun knew about it, something was allocated to them but
they declined to take it because they said they could take care of their
needs. So, it is not true that they were not aware.
From your explanation so far, would it be right to say this is a smear campaign?
Of course, that is the point. From what I have told you, there is
nothing legally or morally wrong. It is a two-party cooperation, normal;
when there is such a collaboration, the participating parties
contribute money to actualize the objective.
We did it in 2007 when we adopted General Buhari: ANPP, DPA and other
parties, there was nothing absolutely wrong with this. We did not go to
Dasuki for money, it was PDP that sent us the money; for the PDP to
decide where to get their money was not our business. The PDP sent us
the money, I sent the money to the party; the party said they got it in
full and it was used for the purpose it was meant, which was the
elections. So anybody that is raising issues is merely trying to start a
smear-campaign, but I am totally at peace with myself because my
conscience is absolutely clear. Indeed, I am proud of my track record
and my performance even in this state.
Have you been queried or invited by the anti-graft agency ( EFCC) on the need to refund the N100m?
Up to this moment, EFCC has not got in touch with me about this
matter because they know the truth, that I did not take money from
Dasuki; it was PDP that sent money to SDP through me and the money was
delivered to SDP. Legitimate, normal and non-controversial. That tells
you that there is a smear campaign going on. Some newspapers are saying I
will have to refund the money when nobody has been in touch with me
about the money. Those reports showed bias, malice and campaign of
smear. I have been a public officer all my life. I became a Permanent
Secretary at the age of 39. I did not abuse my office. I became the
Managing Director of a bank at 42. I did not abuse my office.
The signature of an MD of a bank is money, yet I did not take one
kobo illegally and, at that time, my bank was one of the fastest growing
banks in the country. I did not receive one single query from the
Central Bank. Then I became the Secretary to the Federal Government of
Nigeria and substantial amount of security vote was under my control. I
did not touch one kobo illegitimately. Then I became Minister of
Finance of Nigeria, both naira and dollar were under my control at the
Central Bank, I did not abuse the office. So people should look at my
type of person and say, can this person do this? When as a young man
that I needed money for many things I didn’t take anything, now that I
am old, what will I be doing with it? When you grow old, the less you
enjoy money. So that is the truth of the matter. I feel ashamed that
some people can be repeating these lies. It is absolutely false and
there is no basis for it.
You submitted that you are a target of a smear campaign. Is it not meant to cause problems among the Yoruba?
Well, anybody can have a conjecture or hypothesis to explain a
phenomenon but it is a possible hypothesis. Maybe some people in
Yorubaland or outside who don’t want us to be united have been worried
about what has been happening . You remember when I came out of
kidnapping, Yoruba leaders met in Ibadan, for the first time in many
years; Yoruba leadership was united over my issue and they said if
Nigeria could not protect the Yoruba race, Yoruba will protect
themselves. That may have given them some impression in certain quarters
that I have the potential to galvanize Yoruba and those who don’t want
Yoruba unity can now see whether they can smear me, linking me with
Dansuki fairly or unfairly and Yoruba people are very critical; once
they hear you are linked with a dirty person, they will be the first to
condemn you . This is what is going on. So it is a possible hypothesis,
one has no fact, but it does make sense that anyone who doesn’t want
Yoruba to come together may be doing this to discourage the Yoruba from
seeing me as a possible rally ground .
What’s your assessment of the anti- corruption crusade by the Buhari administration.
It is going out of hand. They know that there is no charge they can
bring against me. That’s why smear campaign is used as a substitute so
that, over time, people will say I am a bad man . I read some articles
in the paper that say the anti-graft war is increasingly becoming
controversial. It is truly becoming controversial because it is no
longer reasonable, it is beginning to look selective. How could you link
me with Dasuki? The person I have not seen for more than 20 years. The
man I had no dealing with whatsoever.
It is important to clean Nigeria up. When we were launching our
party, SDP, in Abuja, in 2014, the title of my speech was; Nigeria must
kill corruption so that corruption does not kill Nigeria. I have been an
anti-corruption campaigner all my life; so I support anti-corruption
campaign but it should be conducted within the confines of the law and
should be fair.
How best can the administration fight corruption?
A: Let me tell you a story. In 1985 when Buhari was the Head of
State, I had retired from the civil service and had joined the banking
industry. This kind of thing was going on. But, you know, once a public
officer is always a public officer. So, I went and met with the then
Head of the Civil Service, Mr Gray Longe, and I told him to advise the
government that they could not be going on sacking people, probing
people. There are two models to clean up a society: The Sampling Model
and Total Revolution, like the French Revolution.
The one that might be suitable for our own situation is for the
government to take cases that are very unambiguous to court and make
such people as examples, take the money from them and send them to
jail. Then put that behind you and go ahead with the development of the
society. But, if you take all the time looking for every criminal to
send to jail, that will be an endless journey. At the beginning, the
people will hail you because they like to see big men fall, but, as more
and more people are destroyed, more and more members of the public will
be affected. For some, their brothers or fathers or friends would have
lost their jobs and, at the end of the day, the tide will turn and
people will turn against that government. To avoid that, my
recommendation is that government should make some people who are found
to be corrupt scape goats.
Similarly, my advice will be that, those people who are the criminals
in this system, whose crimes are unambiguous and documented, take them,
apply the law, confiscate the loot they have taken, try them, let them
go to prison. Do that for a couple of months and leave the rest for the
police to do their jobs in a normal way. This omnibus anti-graft
campaign phase would have been over, but the police would continue to
monitor the system and catch thieves and criminals and the government
would now focus on the development of the society .
There are many issues calling for attention right now . For example,
the drop in oil revenue is worrisome because, for 40 years, when I was
in the planning ministry, we recommended that we should use the oil
money to diversify the economy so that we have other sources of income.
For instance, they should develop solid minerals. Solid minerals have
more potential for revenue than oil . If they had implemented the
recommendation that time, we will not be where we are today. Secondly,
we said government should generate 6,000 megawatts of electricity by
1980,
it is in the national plan; if that was done in 1980, today, we shall
be talking of 100,000 megawatts; so we will not be where we are. If we
had diversified the economy by developing small industries and
agro-businesses, we will not be where we are today . So, these are the
problems crying for attention. If the government now tries to implement
these recommendations, it takes time before the projects begin to yield
revenue. In the meantime, how are we going to cope because Iran has now
entered the oil market? Iran is going to pump more oil and send the
prices of crude oil further down. I think we have a real economic crisis
for now and I believe all hands must be on deck so that the system
survives .
Let’s talk about the report of the 2014 National Conference.
Any hope that it will see the light of day under this present
administration?
They are not interested in the report. Even when we were in the
National Conference, the APC opposed it and this is one of the reasons
we did not support the candidate of the APC because what is most
important to Afenifere is the restructuring of Nigeria so that each area
can develop at its own pace in accordance with its own priority. If we
don’t do that, the crisis will continue. So restructuring, to me, is
number one priority and we believe in it and those who oppose it
naturally oppose what I stand for and I will not be surprised if such
people work against my interest.
Is there going to be any backlash if the report is consigned to the dustbin?
Then Nigeria will be as it is till eternity; governments come and go,
a day will come when one government will see the need to implement this
report because, for the first time in the history of Nigeria, over 450
people, from various sections of the society, sat down for about six
months and, in a very cantankerous society like Nigeria and by some
divine grace, we passed over 600 resolutions by consensus.
To me, that was a miracle. I believe God has a hand in that confab
and, therefore, I believe that document is going to save Nigeria if it
is implemented. That is the panacea to our myriads of problems as a
nation.
‘Nobody can prosecute me for the N100million we collected:Falae
Reviewed by Spencer Reports
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