Obasanjo's man loses post over Sahara

The Weekly Insight carries that one of President Olusegu Obassanjo's closest confidants has been given the boot for his alleged role in securing the Sahara Oil deal from the Government of Ghana.

The paper quotes the July 4, 2001 issue of "Africa Energy Intelligence" (AEI) published in Paris, France, saying that Patrick Dele Cole, a member of the Nigerian President’s "Kitchen Cabinet" was forced to resign along with three other Ministers.

The AEI claims that Cole was suspected to have used his influence to help the Sahara Energy Resources oil company-headed by his son, Tonye Cole to win a contract to lift 30,000 barrels of crude oil to Ghana.

Tonye Cole allegedly stepped forward on June 25, 2001 to defend his father against corruption charges levelled against him by the Nigerian press.

Senior Cole and Obasanjo met when they both worked on behalf of Nigeria's military government in the 1970's. Cole later served as Nigeria's Ambassador to Brazil but then threw in his lot with politicians who decided to cancel the presidential election victory of Moshood Kashimawao Olawale Abida in 1983.

The Insight says in Ghana, President J.A. Kufuor has put a lid on the Sahara deal insisting that there would be no investigations into it while the opposition NDC had called for a full-scale probe into the Sahara affair.

Ghana reportedly, pays the Sahara Energy Resources Company more than ?14 billion a year for lifting crude oil from Nigeria.

“Energy experts insist that there are many qualified Ghanaians who could have done the job for next to nothing,” states the Insight.