Date Published: 09/08/11

Why Okonjo-Iweala was sacked by Obasanjo

Ngozi Okonjo Iweala

Olusegun Obasanjo

Fresh facts have emerged as to why current finance minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala was fired by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Okonjo-Iweala who was top shot at the World Bank but  returned  to assume duties as substantive finance  minister under President Goodluck Jonathan,  was curiously  removed by Obasanjo as finance minister and redeployed to the foreign Affairs ministry for undisclosed reasons.

She is currently tagged the " supervisory " minister by President Goodluck Jonathan, a title that has  put permanent frowns on the faces of her colleagues who feel the elevation was unnecessary.

Okonjo-Iweala  negotiated a landmark deal in which the Paris Club of rich sovereign creditors wrote off USD 18 billion of debt Africa's largest debt cancellation. Nigeria then usedwindfall earnings from oil exports to pay off another USD 12 billion in debts and arrears.

However the figure of $34 billion in foreign put forward in 2006 by her office and that of the former Governor of Central Bank, Charles Soludo was disputed by Senator Farouk Bello Munza who maintained that the figure was about $9 billion.

Shortly after she was removed as minister, Obasanjo relieved her as chairman of his economic think tank.  

But in a chat  with Pointblanknews.com in Abuja, former presidential candidate for the Peoples Mandate Party (PMP), Dr Batos Nwadike insisted Obasanjo fired Okonjo- Iweala  because of the debt buy back deal. He said further that even though the deal appeared legitimate, there were some moral questions that cast doubt on the intentions of the former minister .

According him, even though Obasanjo saw her as the one with the magic wand, the former President was upset when he discovered went happened in the back room.

Nwadike maintained that Obasanjo discovered that the firm that brokered the $12  Billion debt buy back deal had links with Okonjo Iweala . He alleged that ex minister's  sibling was a a top official of the firm, which got about $2 Billion as commission from the deal.

He said " Why was she removed. Of course there was a commission in that deal. There was a company that facilitated the deal, and of course people know the owners of the company. This woman had collected her salaries in dollars. About $2billion was paid as commission to the company that facilitated that debt buy back. The company is owned by her siblings..it's not a secret no more.If you check the records of the Paris Club and World Bank you will find the owners."

Nwadike who took shots at the proposed six year single tenure  continued "  Some can say it was legitimate, but I don't think so. I think it smacks of corruption. One of the magic wand she came with was to pay back the debt arguing that we were paying so much in interest , therefore okay to just pay back. President Obasanjo bought into it, and decided tom pay back. Was not strategic to pay all back.Her siblings are part owners of the the company that brokered the deal. Of course something must have accrued to her."

The former presidential candidate who also condemned the sacking of the former President  of the Court of  Appeal, Justice Ayo Salamai, said " Obasanjo got angry because the way he celebrated her was amazing because he believed she had the magic wand. Why was she reassigned. Obasanjo got pissed off when he smelt corruption, no need changing his winning team. She was winning by paying back. It was celebrated. So why the sudden change of mind. he will tell us someday, and I will vindicated . When  She was removed as chairman of the economic  team , she left. Knew the game was up. She benefited from the deal, and Obasanjo found out...they got 10 per cent. "