In a 2007 interview, the late legal luminary, Gani Fawehinmi described the immediate former Vice President at the time, Atiku Abubakar as a thief.
Fawehinmi described then-President Olusegun Obasanjo and Atiku’s eight-year tenure which ended in May 2007 as “eight years of self-centred disposition, eight years of ‘wayo,’ eight years of deception, eight years of creating a few rich people, eight years of anti-masses programmes, eight years of deliberate junketing all over the world, eight years of make-believe, eight years of dictatorship, eight years of lack of coherent policies, eight years of so much wealth coming to the hands of government out of which Nigerians received aggravated poverty and economic pain”.
In the interview in which Fawehinmi described Obasanjo as the “most corrupt Nigerian,” said if not because of Obasanjo and Atiku’s rift at the time, Nigerians wouldn’t have known about Atiku’s corruption.
The late legal luminary, who died on September 5, 2009, after a prolonged battle with lung cancer at 71, said in the interview, “I am appalled, because if not for the feud between him and Atiku we may never have known that Atiku was messing up with the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF.
“Obasanjo cannot say that he did not know that Atiku was stealing the PTDF, established in 1973, meant for the welfare of our country by training our brilliant students in the universities with the fund.
“A fund meant for the improvement of our petroleum technology, a fund meant to ensure that the sons and daughters of poor parents who have the intellect can engage in research work.
‘But alas! this fund was used, not only to pay lawyers but to establish just one company alone. Now, Atiku dipped his hand into it, (businessman Oyewole) Fasawe dipped his hand into it and Mr. President dipped his hand into it for personal reasons. We want to have the full story of PTDF and other agencies of government.”
Last Thursday, Atiku, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 presidential election, thanked Fawehinmi (SAN) for inspiring him to dig into President Bola Tinubu’s past.
The former Vice President lost to Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election.
Atiku said this at a world press conference in Abuja, two days after his lawyers through a United States court obtained the academic records of Tinubu from the Chicago State University (CSU) which showed discrepancies with what the sitting Nigerian president submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before the February election.
The Registrar of CSU, Caleb Westberg, earlier said that the diploma Bola Tinubu submitted to Nigeria’s electoral body was not issued by the school.
Westberg, however, insisted that the Nigerian president is an alumnus of the school.
Though Atiku’s case challenging Tinubu’s election was dismissed by the Presidential Election Petition Court in September, the PDP candidate is hoping to use the case of the forged certificate as a strong argument against Tinubu in his appeal to the Supreme Court.
Speaking at the conference, Atiku said, “I wish to pay tribute to the late human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, who inspired us on this path of discovery. Now, he can truly rest in peace in the assurance that what he started about 23 years ago has come to fruition. Gani’s vindication today gives credence to the saying that no matter how fast a lie runs, the truth will someday overtake it.”
Shortly after Atiku’s world press conference, Omoyele Sowore, the candidate of the African Action Congress in the 2019 and 2023 presidential elections, said Atiku ignored Fawehinmi and let him die a broken man when he (Fawehinmi) exposed Tinubu as a fraud and a certificate forger in 1999.
He asserted that the late Fawehinmi was humiliated and his car was smashed, while Atiku then went ahead to form alliances with Tinubu because it suited him and his ilk politically.
Sowore, who said this on his verified X (formerly Twitter) handle last Thursday noted Nigeria had been kept down by the size of its evil and selfish opportunists who celebrate crooks and vilify the just amongst its citizens
He wrote, “When late Chief Gani Fawehinmi exposed @officialABAT as a fraud, a certificate forger, in 1999 he was humiliated, his car was smashed, the @atiku’s ignored him and he died a broken man.
“Atiku then went ahead to form alliances with him (Tinubu) because it suited him and his ilk politically. When in 2008 @SaharaReporters got hold of his drug forfeiture case file in Chicago, the platform was ridiculed and we were threatened. It is the case for those fighting relentlessly and selflessly for the betterment of our society either as advocates in the temple of justice, journalists, citizens throwing themselves on the frontlines to bring about a sane society.”
“I just read @atiku’s press statement today praising Chief Gani Fawehinmi to high heavens for starting this journey of discovery. This why our position remains a revolutionary change of political order. #RevolutionNow,” he added.
