Obasanjo Under Fire For "Helping" Ghana Police

President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria has been locked in dispute with an overwhelming majority of Nigerian legislators over an alleged $13 million - Ghana Gov't claims it was $1.3 million -, interest free, loan he gave the Ghana Police Service last April without budgetary approval.

The legislators who cut short their recess to table a motion of indictment against Obasanjo said the $13 million loan to Ghana was against federal constitutional provisions and was also granted at a time when the Nigerian Police were about to embark on a strike, for the first time, over unpaid entitlements. A Public Accounts Committee report which the Nigerian Senate voted to debate in secret on June 18, this year, stated that public spending by President Obasanjo’s government was in breach of constitutional rules and contributed to a “virtual slide to financial anarchy”. It said “The $13 million interest free loan made to Ghana Police Service in April and a $10 million to the government of Niger” were cited as “glaring examples of mismanagement” of public funds.

A couple of weeks ago, majority of the House of Representatives adopted a motion to force President Obasanjo to either resign or face impeachment charges and, the $13 million loan to the Ghana was among his charges. The report said “In spite of the fact that all the budgets have been passed by the National Assembly for the past three year (2000, 2001 & 2002), Mr President has incurred a lot of extra-large expenditure, i.e. $13 million to the Ghana Police Force, review of the National Stadium contract, provision of money other than budgeted for the National Identity card program, purchase of 1,00 vehicles for the Nigerian Police without budgetary approvals and spending more money than the amount approved for his rampant trips abroad.

The motion for President Obasanjo’s resignation or impeachment which was sponsored by 87 members and moved by All National People’s Party (ANPP) leader in the house, Alhaji Mohammed, was based on three charges monumental inadequacies, ineptitude and gross misbehaviour.” Meanwhile, Obasanjo’s government has dismissed some of the accusations of corruption and mismanagement of public funds ad described as “grandstanding” by his political opponents.

Special advisor on budget matters, Oby Ezekwesili, the woman who was given the task of “deriding” the report of the Public Accounts Committee has said that there cannot be mismanagement of public funds because Obasanjo’s commitment to an “anti-corruption drive” has led to the establishment of a panel that vets all public expenditure.

Efforts by the “Chronicle” to contact the Ministry of Finance for comments were unsuccessful, secretaries to the special advisor to the Minister for Finance and deputy Finance Minister, Dr Agambila, were all said to be attending an IMF meeting.

The Ghana Police Service has been a recipient of new Peugeots car from Nigeria. Less than a month ago, the service received another consignment of 100 brand new ones which was displayed at the police headquarters in Accra. Back here in Ghana, when the first set of Peugeots were imported into the country by the government, several Ghanaians eyebrows and fingered the government for not passing it through the house for scrutiny and approval.

The government came under fire from the opposition and some civil society groups who said that the deal was too expensive, since the same brand of Peugeots were selling cheaper in European countries such as France.

“Chronicle” sources in Nigeria said that the controversy over Obasanjo’s so-called spending spree has heightened and that the motion adopted by the majority of the House of Representative catalogued various huge expenditures made outside the budget. The motion for Obasanjo’s resignation or possible impeachment also stated that the president had committed a lot of security blunders and had proven incapable of solving the security problems of the country resulting in lawlessness and increase in armed robbery.