The Iyabo Case

Comfort Obi

I like Dr. Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, a Senator, and former President Olusegun Obasanjo's daughter. My likeness for her began just before the general elections of 2003 when she wrote an article in ThisDay entitled: “Why I Will Vote For My Father.” What impressed me was her objectivity. She was not patronising. She pointed out her father’s weaknesses. She didn’t endorse some of his actions and methods. But she made the point that all things considered, he had done well, and deserved a second chance.
My admiration for her shot up the day I listened to her speak at a public fora. Her brilliance, and grasp of the subject under discussion, was awesome. As the Ogun State Commissioner for Health, she did well. I disagree with those who insist she was made a commissioner because of her sur-name. It may have helped. But she is eminently qualified. Yet, I lost a little respect for her each time I read her interview, and she talked about her father’s late wife, Stella Obasanjo.She had no kind word for her.
But when Stella died, she impressed me by what she did. She took charge. She shared in the family Asoebi, unlike her brother, Gbenga. And she stood, solidly, by her father. When she indicated interest in running for the Senate, I rooted for her. Here is a courageous woman, I said. At the Senate, she is not a bench-warmer. And I was full of admiration, until the scandals started.
I was not moved by the story in a couple of newspapers over her being a wanted person in the USA because she brought her son back to Nigeria without clearing with a court. That was nonsense. Who was she going to leave her son with in the USA? If a man cannot take care of me, why should I bother to leave my underaged child with him? And the man was even asking for child support! But I worried when her name got entangled with a Power contract with M. Schneider. I was scandalised that she used an alias in her dealings with them. And tried to justify it. I felt it was stupid to allow the case to linger until it became public. Was the alias necessary? Yet, the M. Schneider scandal pales before the current tango with the EFCC, which has made her go underground. How did Iyabo, a Senator, become a fugitive?
It started with the revelation that the sum of N300 million had been fraudulently frittered away at the Federal Ministry of Health. It was an unspent amount from the 2007 budget which the President, Umaru Yar’Adua, had ordered all ministries to return. Instead of doing that, top officials of the ministry decided to share the money amongst themselves through phoney contracts, and Christmas bonuses. The Senate Committee on Health, of which Iyabo is the chairman, requested for and got from the ministry, the sum of N10 million which it said was for a retreat in Ghana. So you wonder: Why in Ghana? Why not in Nigeria? But I digress.
The squandering of the N300 million cost the Health Minister Professor Adenike Grange, her deputy, Arc. Aduku and some other top officials their jobs. They were subsequently arrested by the EFCC, detained and taken to court for prosecution. Iyabo is one of those who the EFCC says is guilty of the same offence, and should be prosecuted like others. But she has refused to appear before the EFCC and/or the court. Her plea is that she has no case to answer. And has sued the EFCC. The EFCC disagrees. Penultimate week, its operatives laid a siege on her Abuja residence for hours. An army General’s daughter, she evaded them. The EFCC has declared her wanted. Nigerians concur. But her colleagues have given her a clean bill. She broke no laws, they said. But question: Why doesn’t she come out and clear herself?
Truth is, I have never been in support of some of the methods of the EFCC. I hate it when it paints a suspect like a criminal. It criminalises people on the pages of newspapers and magazines. One should be treated with respect until found guilty. Even then, a guilty person is still a human being and deserves to be treated as one. But not in Nigeria. Which explains why one looks like a walking, dehydrated corpse after a stint in a Nigerian Prison.
In the case of Iyabo Obasanjo, I am not moved by her lamentations. She says she is being persecuted because she is an Obasanjo daughter; that the hatred most people now have for her father is being passed unto her. Perhaps. But who cares? The chorus is that Iyabo should have a taste of her father's pill. People were sacrificed, disgraced, and humiliated on the altar of high-wired politics, as dictated by her father, using the EFCC. That is why not many people are sympathising with Iyabo. That is why she has no sympathy in the media, and not because of her insult of the media in her interview with the BBC where she alleged the press had been paid to destroy her. Can she prove such an irresponsible statement if taken up on it?
Having said that, the question is: Is her surname her problem? To answer that question, more questions follow. For instance; Did Iyabo know that the N10 million she took from the Health Ministry was from the N300 million that ought to have been returned? If so, when did she know this? The EFCC insists that she was told where the money came from upon her earlier appearance before the Commission. At the time, the Commission says, the money was still intact, and she was asked to return it. True? Did she go ahead to share the money, and proceeded to Ghana in defiance of the EFCC, and by extension, the Presidency? If so, why? Members of the House Committee on Health returned their own. Why didn’t members of the Senate Committee, under Iyabo, return their own? If they knew, and still shared the money, it sounds like Iyabo saying: Nothing will happen.
Yet, I think the EFCC should find a more subtle manner in dealing with the all-out “war” against Iyabo. Laying a siege on her house is unnecessary. Slapping her PA, as she alleged, is indefensible. That may have happened under her father, but we had since agreed it was a crude period. Her PA should sue the EFCC.
But back to Iyabo. She should come out of hiding, go to the EFCC (or the courts), and clear her name. This hide and seek game between her and the EFCC is, to put it mildly, unbecoming.