February 27, 1984

Awolowo defends Governors

Chief Obafemi Awolowo

Brigadier Tunde Idiagbon, Chief of Staff, announced recently that three UPN ex-governors - Ajasin of Ondo, Bola Ige of Oyoh and Bisi Onabanjo of Ogun, had admitted receiving kick-backs worth N2.8 million on a contract given to a French company.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo has issued a statement defending the conduct of the three men.

Below we reproduce Chief Awolowo's statement:

The National president of the banned Unity Party of Nigeria, (UPN), Chief Obafemi Awolowo, has said that he was certain that the three former UPN governors Mr. Adekunle Ajasin, Mr. Bisi Onabanjo and Mr. Bola Ige did not receive any 'kickbacks' from any contractor.

Chief Awolowo was reacting to the statement made by the Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, Brigadier Tunde Idiagbon, that the three former governors admitted receiving N2.8 million kick-backs from Bouygues Nigeria Limited and Shote Dawodu Consultants, out of a contract worth N28.5 million.

Said Chief Awolowo: "On Friday, February 10, 1984, Brigadier Idiagbon, Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, made a categorical statement that three former governors, Chief Bisi Ona banjo (Ogun State); Chief Bola Ige (Oyo State); and Chief M. A. Ajasin (Ondo State) - admitted receiving 'kick-backs' amounting N2.8 million from Bouygues Nigeria Limited and Shote Dawodu Consultants, out of a contract worth N28.5 million.”

"Brigadier Idiagbon also stated categorically as follows: "They have all confirmed receiving the money and they will give us the money. I did not know how much they have got left in their account...

"When I read these allegations, though I was not directly affected, yet I was very much embarrassed for two reasons. "Firstly, the three persons concerned are my close personal friends and political associates of long-standing, in whose probity I had always trusted. "Secondly, there is an English saying which is not inapplicable in the circumstances. It says: 'Show me your friends, and I will say who you are.' "My immediate reaction was that the story could not be exactly as Brigadier Idiagbon had stated it.

But there was no means of hearing the other side because on Thursday (9/2/84), the date before Brigadier diagbon made his statement concerning the three ex-governors, the military government had banned all contact with all political detainees in Kirikiri 'with immediate effect."

"Therefore, I instituted a private investigation; and as a result, I am now in a position to state the correct and true facts hereunder:

The contract was awarded by the company to the contractor for N28,501,109.01.

The price of the contracts, as computed by the quantity surveyor, is N28.9 million; that is N398,890.99 more than the price at which the contract was awarded to the contractor. The company paid the contractor advance payment (otherwise known as mobilisation fee) of N5.7 million.

The contractor agreed to repay to the company this amount of N5.7 million in twelve equal instalments. In respect of (4) above, the contractor procured from a Bank advance payment bond to cover twenty percentum of the total value of the contract which amounts to N5.7 million.

Execution of the contract commenced about September 1983. The foundation and basement car park are now being constructed; and by the end of this month, the contractor expects to reach above ground level.

The contracting parties in this matter are Great Nigeria Insurance Company The contractor of his own volition Limited (the company) and Bouygues Nigeria Limited (contractor). gave the sum N2.8 million as donation to the banned Unity Party of Nigeria.

A certified cheque, dated 5th July, 1983, was issued by the company in favour of the UPN, and delivered to the national accountant of the party. An official receipt No. 10850, also dated 5th July, 1983 and signed by the national accountant of the party, was issued in favour of "Anonymous G.N.S. Ogun, Ondo and Oyo States." The amount was correctly described in the receipt as donation.

"There was another donation of N1 million on 18th July, 1983. This was paid in cash to the national accountant who issued an official receipt No. 6962 of the same date.

In parenthesis, I want to state that it was with some difficulty that I succeeded in obtaining a photocopy of the original receipt issued to the contractor for N1.8 million. I could not secure the original or even a photocopy of the receipt for N1 million. A photocopy is, however, in one of the files removed from my private secretary's office at Park Lane which was broken into and entered by some soldiers.

I had laid it down as a rule of guidance that photocopies of all receipts issued to donors should be forwarded to my Situation Office, which is under the control of my private secretary; so that whenever I could make the time, I could see from the file how much donations were received.

This file had been taken away by the army, and a similar file in the Party's national secretariat is either there under lock and key by the Army, or in the possession of the military or the NSO.

"I assert, in the same categorical way, as Brigadier Idiagbon had done on Friday, February 10, 1984, that the points made in sub-paragraphs 1 to 9 above represent the correct and incontrovertible facts of the matter.

"Now, I would like to make a few observations.

"Firstly, it is crystal clear, as a matter of commonsense and logic, that the version which I have given above and the statement made by Brigadier Idiagbon on the same matter cannot both be true, one must be false.

"But I insist that the version given by me is the TRUE one.

"Secondly, in the course of my investigation, I discovered that the representative of the contractor and Mr. Shote, project manager, have made to one or more of the Federal Military Government's investigating teams statements which are substantially the same as the one given by me above.

"Thirdly I am informed (I dare say reliably) that up to the midnight of Sunday, February 12, 1984, more than two whole days after Brigadier Idiagbon made his statement to the Press, none of the three ex-governors concerned had been questioned about the allegations made against them, let alone to admit them as categorically stated by Brigadier Idiagbon on Friday, February 10, 1984.

"Fourthly, the best and most charitable appraisal one can make of Brigadier Idiagbon's allegations against Chief Bisi Onabanjo, Chief M. A. Ajasin, and Chief Bola Ige, is that he must have been most grossly misinformed by some sections of his intelligence crew who, it is clear, had not taken the trouble to ascertain all the available facts before making their final reports to the Military Government.

"Fifthly, apart from anything else, two fundamental principles of law and natural justice appear clearly to have been inadvertently (I won't like to say deliberately) overlooked.

"The first is the principle of AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM

"The second principle is that no citizen shall be adjudged guilty of any offence until he has been duly tried by a court of competent jurisdiction.

"Sixthly, the following facts are unassailably established:

The three ex-governors have not received any "kick-backs" from the aforesaid contractor They did not, at the time Brigadier Idiagbon spoke, and cannot thereafter, admit receiving such "kick-backs."

The contract price was not by any stretch of imagination, inflated:

The advance payment was part of the contract price; and the contractor agrees to pay it back in full, and has BONAFIDE given and undertaken guarantee by a Bank to pay it back in full.

In other words, neither the governors receive nor the company loses a kobo in the transaction as alleged.

The donation given by the contractor to the banned Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) was a legitimate transaction conducted above board, in that the contractor himself issued a cheque directly to the UPN and not even to the governor for onward transmission to the UPN.

Again, in other words, there is no diversion of one kobo of government's or the company's money to any one pocket or bank account.

"In closing, let us all, and more especially our rulers, bear strictly in mind, always in whatever we say or write, one of the MAXIMS of journalism to which 'FACTS ARE SACRED'..."

FIRM DENIES AWOLOWO'S STATEMENT

The company cited by leader of the defunct UPN, chief Obafemi Awolowo, as having freely donated N2.8 million to the party and not to its three governors as alleged by military authorities, has denied ever making such payment. Bouygues Nigeria Limited, the construction company, admitted that it was awarded a contract to the tune of N28 million and was given a mobilisation fee

But, according to the company, it was informed by the consultant of N5.7 million, as claimed by Chief Awolowo. architects, Femi Kuforiji and Partners, that the project managers had instructed that the mobilisation fee included advance payments for sub-contractors in the sum of N2.8 million.

The consultants, therefore, instructed Bouygues to refund this amount to the project managers, Messrs Shote Dawodu and Company immediately, by a certified cheque.

The company said it complied with the directive by issuing cheque number 491575 for N2.8 million in the name of Messrs. Shote Dawodu and Company, and not to the UPN.

- National Concord, February 20th, 1984.