He narrated additional that President Olusegun Obasanjo received in 1999 and he despatched a letter to every Governor to ship three names to take a look at, in order to make one his minister.
Mustafa stated: “our Governor then said since we initially had an agreement that I will be the ministerial nominee, there was no need to send three names. But some people, who may have had ulterior motives, claimed that President Obasanjo may object, but Gen. Babangida called late Kure and advised him, ‘go and ask Mustafa to give you two other names of his choice to make the list of three,’ so I gave two names, the three were invited to Abuja for a ministerial retreat. There, Obasanjo just wanted to know the people and listen to their views or opinions on the type of system to guide his governance, so after going through all the screening etc. we were sworn in as ministers on June 30th, 1999.”
Speaking on how he jumped on the duties earlier than him, Mustafa stated he rigorously drafted a plan and shared with the Permanent Secretary on easy methods to transfer the nation ahead by means of the ministry of Commerce.
According to him, “Eventually, when I realized that the in-situ capacity to develop the Draft Action Plan did not exist, I sat down myself, sketched what I wanted us to achieve over our first three years in office, and shared with the Permanent Secretary and Departmental Directors for input, including the Chief Executives of Agencies under us. At that time, we had CAC, NEPC, the Consumer Protection Council, NEPZA, Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, Tafawa Balewa Square Complex, and Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority. Some of these agencies were inaugurated after my assumption of office as they only existed in law and not operational.”
He disclosed additional how he later introduced his Action Plan to the cupboard, narrating that the president was out of city on the day he did, and that it was the Vice President that chaired the cupboard assembly.
Quoting the then Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, the previous minister affirmed: “he said ‘Mr Minister, you actually don’t need approval for something that was assigned to you as your responsibility, so go and implement and then report implementation.’ I thanked the cabinet for the “No Objection” and we instantly swung into motion.’’
He stated one of many merchandise of that Action Plan right now is the CAC, stating that when he assumed workplace, it was utterly analogue or pre-analogue, however the improvements he introduced in modified the story.
Corruption battle
Speaking on the corruption battle beneath the administration, the previous minister stated, “Remember when President Obasanjo first came in 1999, he came hyper-sensitive on any corruption issues. Before becoming president, I was later made to understand that he had an application to register a company with CAC which had been in process for a long time. So, when he became president, he set his first trap at the CAC to use as an example. He gave his boy, following the registration process, some amount to use and push the process fast and it worked. Within a week or two, the Registration Certificate was out. Surely, a dormant ‘Volcano’ was activated.”
Mustafa additional disclosed how an order from Obasanjo led to the sack of the complete administration employees of CAC.
He quoted the previous president as saying, ‘Mustafa, go and fire the entire management of the CAC and when you do so, come back and let me know what you have done’.
He stated, “We thereafter organized an open and clear technique of recruitment of a brand new administration that noticed the appointment of Mal. Ahmed Al-Mustafa as the brand new Registrar-General of the CAC. With him, we have been in a position to push ahead the transformation plan of the CAC of the analogue years to a totally digital, customer-friendly Corporate Registry primarily based on an IT-Architecture I personally designed. The CAC that was drawing from the general public appropriation as at 1999 is right now a contributor to the Federation Account.
“We equally subjected the Free Zones Authority to a holistic x-ray that remodeled it to what it’s right now, an entity that can also be self-financing. The Consumer Protection Council that existed on paper, we circled into an efficient vanguard of the general public and right now generally known as a Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. The Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority that additionally existed in legislation was put to operation and right now equally self-financing. The Nigeria Exports Promotion Council that was equally inactive was given life by means of a Presidential order, secured by me, that allotted 0.5 per cent out of the 7 per cent surcharge collected on all imports into the nation to help it fund its Exports Development applications.
“By 2002, on the completion of the lifetime of the 3-year Action Plan I earlier on introduced to the cupboard, I ready a report accounting for the implementation of the Action Plan and filed with the cupboard secretariat. Luckily for me, the day the memo was listed for presentation was truly precisely three years on the dot from the primary day I introduced in 2000. I solicited for absolutely the consideration of my cupboard members for the significance of the report, and introduced my motion plan implementation account. By the time I completed, many members of the cupboard raised their arms to talk. I recall Gen. T Y Danjuma spoke first and stated ‘Mr. President, I thought when we left government in 1979, I had seen my last best, but I did not know that I was yet to see that last best. Mr President, I think you should commend Mustafa’, ‘’ he stated.
Obasanjo provide of NIPC job
Narrating how he discovered himself on the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, NIPC, he stated, “In November 2003, at about the time CHOGM Meeting was to take place in Abuja, I was in Lagos on my way to Mozambique to attend the World Economic Forum Southern Africa Meeting, when I got a call from President Obasanjo asking; ‘Mustafa, have you reported?’ I asked Mr President; ‘Report where Sir?’, and then I think he realized he’d not even spoken to me about an appointment, he said ‘ok where are you’ and I told him he said, “see me when you return”.
Revealing one main factor the previous president did for him and others, he stated: “I need to state that one factor he did for me and others which I’ll always remember is that if he trusts you, likes and appreciates you, he doesn’t abandon you. He will all the time search for you with none prompting or solicitation.
“When I returned, I went to him and he stated ‘Mustafa I want to send you to NIPC’, I didn’t say something, he repeated it thrice with no response from me, so he obtained up and stated ‘when you make up your mind, come back to me’.
“So, as I left him, I instantly proceeded to Gen. TY Danjuma to share with him what transpired and defined to him my fear – from a ministerial accountability to a subordinate to a minister of the identical ministry I used to be superintending, and secondly individuals would assume I used to be desperately searching for one thing to do when in actuality I wasn’t.
“Gen. Danjuma immediately said, “Mustafa, go and do it,” I don’t assume the president meant to decrease or cut back your price, I’m certain he desires to boost the standing of that workplace, assist him clear up an issue, and he sees you as the one supplier of the answer.’’
He revealed how he additionally met Mal. Adamu Ciroma to hunt his recommendation.
He stated, “I left him and went to Mal. Adamu Ciroma, defined the identical and he stated; ‘Minister, if the president says you should go and head the people who sweep the streets, go and do it, it’s an honour for him to even acknowledge you’. I left him and went to see Mal. Sani Zangon Daura on the identical subject, he too stated go and do it, I went to Alhaji Sule Lamido, he stated ‘why are you wasting time, go and do it’. I went to Malam Lawal Batagarawa, he too stated go and do it, ‘look at me, I dropped from a minister to an SA’.
“So, after about two weeks, I went back to President Obasanjo and said, “I am now ready,” he stated ‘okay, the very first thing I need you to do is go and fireplace all the administrators in that workplace. And anyone who stands in your means, clear him, I’ll stand by you.
“My problem on such a Presidential instruction was that of getting to stability between discharging such instruction and evaluating the implications on him as a president, given the truth that most of these administrators got here from one zone of the nation, the North-East.
“I, however, went ahead and organized 3-month long review meetings with the directors of all documents produced by consultants on the NIPC in the past but were not used or implemented. As the reviews went on, decisions on recommendations in those documents were taken by consensus, meaning all directors were part of the agreement,” he narrated.
“By 2002, on the completion of the lifetime of the 3-year Action Plan I introduced to the cupboard a report accounting for the implementation of the Action Plan and filed with the cupboard secretariat. Luckily for me, the day the memo was listed for presentation was truly precisely three years on the dot from the primary day I introduced in 2000, I solicited for absolutely the consideration of my cupboard members for the significance of the report, and introduced my motion plan implementation account. By the time I completed many members of the cupboard raised their arms to talk, I recall, Gen. T Y Danjuma spoke first and stated ‘Mr. President I thought when we left government in 1979 I had seen my last best, but I did not know that I was yet to see that last best. Mr. President, I think you should commend Mustafa’.
“Mal. Adamu Ciroma (late) additionally spoke, Chief Tony Anenih (late) spoke, Dr. Kema Chikwe who was sitting subsequent to me, I may see her shedding tears because of two causes, based on her, on one, she stated, she was not in cupboard the day I introduced the Action Plan to immediate her, and two, {that a} colleague had achieved one thing spectacular that’s giving the cupboard a very good picture. Mrs. Modupe Adelaja equally added her voice simply as Mal. Sani Zangon-Daura, Wakilin Adamawa, and lots of others did. By the top of it all of the Cabinet Approved that the complete Report be publicized as a part of the general achievements of the Obasanjo Government.
“So, in effect, I have perfected the art of giving life to dead public institutions through first planning and moving the entity to a level higher than where it was to a platform that guarantees sustainability and prosperity. That was exactly what I did to the commerce ministry and by the time I left the ministry became one of interest to all ministerial appointees and today the 3rd most important Ministry,” he added.
Resigning to contest an election
On his resignation to contest an election beneath PRP, he stated Obasanjo was reluctant in permitting him to depart.
According to him, “Actually, President Obasanjo was reluctant in permitting me to go and contest however needed to for sure different causes.
“So I left and went to contest beneath PRP although initially it was beneath PDP however the governor then exploited a weak spot within the regulation by the occasion beneath the variety of delegates to his benefit by conscripting about 290 Special Advisers in a single day as particular delegates to the congress.
“In the regulation they listed all of the delegates on the statutory facet and people who have been elected, after which particular advisers with out being particular on the quantity, so one cheeky Attorney-General noticed this and so they exploited this, in a single day they recruited 290 particular advisers who grew to become computerized delegates. When I observed this, I wrote in protest to the PDP nationwide Headquarters and when no motion was taken I moved over to the PRP.
“In these days, PRP was the one possibility, APP was not ideologically favorable to our aspirations and had their very own candidate. By the top of the elections, and based on what was declared, they stated we obtained 280,000 votes, the governor obtained 508,000, however, apparently, I had extra votes than Sen. Bukola Saraki who obtained 180,000 votes to win governor in Kwara. I appreciated that our efforts have been worthwhile and we nonetheless take pleasure in respect for the individuals of the State a few years after the unlucky course of.
“After the elections, supporters insisted we should go to court, but I got insider information from other sources that advised otherwise that we should close that chapter, so we left it there and moved on. Immediately after that Frieslandcampina WAMCO, the makers of Peak Milk, invited me to join their Board and I did in September 2003 for a brief period.”
On the challenges he confronted at NIPC, he stated after the sack of the administrators, “We confronted numerous petition writing on these terminated, and in direction of the top of his term I went and beneficial to President Obasanjo that if we introduce tenured appointment on our Directors of two four-year term the remaining would depart the NIPC earlier than his exit in 2007 and that may utterly discharge his first instruction of sending away all of the Directors once I first got here to the Commission. This is what, I think, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye later adopted within the public service and made it common.
“Upon approval of that tenured suggestion, I instructed the Finance Director to pay into the accounts of these we have been to terminate, all their entitlements up to the terminal date forward of the date. He did so, and we paid them and we gave them two weeks to see who will report irregular move of cash into their account, none did, and by regulation, after two weeks, when you maintain such cash you will have accepted. So we gave them termination letters. Then petitions began once more after the exit of President Obasanjo believing that President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua would reverse that call. That by no means occurred.
“When Amb. Babagana Kingibe came as the SGF thought they could use sentiment to secure sympathy; again he could not help them. They resorted to all sorts of mischievous writings on my person, in the office all in an attempt to bring an end to my tenure in the course of which we were invited a countless number of times to the EFCC, ICPC, until they got tired. I was however never tired as I knew we stood on truth. That one too did not help their case.”
On the turnaround of the NIPC from an invisible company of presidency to very outstanding one, he stated, “When I arrived NIPC in 2003, I intentionally invited the NTA and stated simply assist me, stand in entrance of the gate of the NIPC and randomly cease individuals passing by and ask them ‘what do you know about NIPC?’ And proper there, somebody will ask ‘do you mean NNPC?’ or ‘where is it?’ And, ignorantly, it’s proper there in entrance of them so I knew we had a visibility problem which I should have needed to deal with.
“To try to handle the difficulty of visibility, I pleaded with the President to exclude my company from these to be given nominated Board members, as a substitute I might suggest for his consideration names that can entice consideration to the Commission which he willingly obliged. So I gave him the names of Alh. Aliko Dangote, Mr. Jim Ovia, Mr. Festus Odimegwu, Chief Femi Otedola, the massive gamers of the Nigerian financial system, whom I knew anytime they got here across the Commission the press would gladly need to be round. The President on his personal introduced Chief Felix Ohiweirei to be the Board Chairman.
“And I bear in mind he was then sitting beside his late spouse Stella, he patted her lap and stated ‘Ohh this woman go kill me if I don’t put a lady on this Board o’, later on Mrs. Salome Jankada was introduced in, and different institutional representatives.
“Our main downside once we began was to scale up the Foreign Direct Investment or FDI capital coming into Nigeria. And President Obasanjo had instructed me, on the onset, that ‘look Mustafa even if it’s 2 o’clock within the morning, or at any time you will have a critical investor and also you assume I need to see him, carry him I’ll meet him’.
“So we had this limitless opening and entry, and we had the belief from a pacesetter who does nothing aside from work, work and work. And we have been streaming guests in funding delegations to his workplace and he by no means confirmed any signal or indication that we have been a burden to him or his time. I actually appreciated figuring out him and dealing for him and serving him and his Government. He had such a capability that no Barometer can measure. He has no equal at such a time.
“So President Obasanjo personally contributed to enhancing the visibility of NIPC and in an effort to additional help trade operators in problem which he was so enthusiastic about, he later on instructed we type a Committee on Problems of Investors whose responsibility was to handle the person trade operators issues, and subsequently institutionalized at a One-Stop-Shop facility throughout the NIPC for traders, and all people wanting a wait-and-get answer was coming.
“I must state that I inherited an NIPC with debt of N200M in 2003 and when leaving I left it rich with over N2.86B. I left a sustainable means of revenue for the Commission that made it today financially self-reliant and anybody who claims that he either returns money to treasury annually without telling the people of this country how that money was generated and the source is only trying to earn undeserved credit. The NIPC of today was my architecture and it shall continue to survive on that model until the policy support instrument that we created that enables it to generate income disappears. Here again is a clear showcase of my capacity to revive a dead agency and give it life like I did at the Commerce ministry.”
Obasanjo’s character
On the true nature of Obasanjo, he stated: “So many detrimental issues have been stated about President Obasanjo, as somebody who labored carefully with him, how true are all of the allegations?
“Surely it takes one to work carefully with him to know him nicely. But those that say detrimental issues about him are absolutely ignorant or mischievous or each. Indeed each of our previous leaders had comparable insinuations so this could not be the primary nor shall this be the final. One of his largest attributes is that he’s completely unbiased and never beneath the management or regulation of any particular person or block on this nation or overseas. This high quality had helped him tremendously in his skill to make selections relying solely on steering and recommendation from his trusted lieutenants as his regulators and moderators.
“If, for example, you take committee recommendations to the President he would look at it item by item, tick, this one approved, this one, no, no, no, not approved. If however you explain to him very clearly and give him valid reason he’ll say ok and tick, and when he finishes he endorses “above approved as ticked”. His belief has nothing to worry. He emboldens the arrogance of these he trusted and stands by them.
“Another spectacular high quality and capability of President Obasanjo is that when you drop a memo in his workplace earlier than 12 o’clock by six within the night you’re going to get a response from him, when you drop it after 12 midday by 9 o’clock within the morning of the subsequent day you get a response. If he travels, he goes with a few of his recordsdata to work on within the flight and by the point he returns all pending points get addressed.
“He can name you at 03:00-am to ask you for a clarification on a topic he’s reviewing and thereafter ask you to see him the identical morning at 07:00-am. You can’t beat him on that.
“There is not any doc you’ll ship to him that he is not going to learn totally, you come to the cupboard conferences with cumbersome paperwork he would be the one driving the evaluate of such volumes; instance ‘on page 9 I don’t like this language or change this…’ he takes you from web page one to the top, so it was a problem for you as a minister to not learn your total cupboard assembly doc as you might be embarrassed when you don’t. He certainly embarrassed a few of our colleagues for not being organized.
“He created an Economic Management Team or EMT, during which I used to be a member. We have been assembly each Wednesday from 8.30am to 10 am and selections can be taken to the FEC that begins assembly instantly by 10 o’clock and after, the cupboard secretariat will summarize selections of the EMT and it will likely be adopted for implementation and circulated to the assorted companies for motion. Each such Agencies could be required to account for the implementation of the related resolution by the next week’s EMT assembly. That’s how the federal government was transferring and taking inventory on a weekly foundation.
“Things have been actually being pushed onerous to maneuver, moreover that there was additionally a Saturday Forum, launched by President Obasanjo the place totally different sectors could be invited to work together and brainstorm on challenges or wants of their industries and selections taken, so all people was truly up and energetic from the general public to the personal sector.
“President Obasanjo was such a pacesetter that when individuals communicate negatively about him I simply smile, look, there was a time he instructed me that ‘do you know my younger sister is a Muslim?’ I stated, ‘is that so Mr. President, he said yes, I promised to give him a copy of the Holy Qur’an to ship to her. When I finally did ship a replica of the Holy Qur’an to offer her and he did, he instructed me ‘she was so happy when I gave her’.
“This is the same person who fasts with us during the month of Ramadan, and invites people to break fast with him each evening in the Presidential villa in batches, the only difference is that he adds 10 days and makes his 40 in total after we would have broken ours.”
Explaining how and why Nigeria finally joined the Islamic Development Bank, IDB, Mustafa stated: “When it was ultimately concluded I was not in the cabinet but at the beginning of it I recall that the then Minister of Finance Mal. Adamu Ciroma (RahimahulLah) presented a Memo to Cabinet requesting for approval of cabinet for Nigeria’s membership and payment of the dues to join the Islamic Development Bank. Unfortunately that day some non-muslim members of the Federal Executive Council, who misunderstood “Islamic Development” to imply the Bank was being introduced in to “Develop Islam”, objected to it.
“President Obasanjo, on the council assembly, instructed the minister ‘Mal. Adamu withdrew your memo’, so the minister did as he was instructed.
“We took it that, that was the top of the difficulty. Little did we all know that the President had a special plan completely. I bear in mind being one of many few that adopted him to his workplace some few days later to ask his consideration to how delicate the topic was and the necessity to deal with it with care.
“He assured me to not fear. On certainly one of our journeys to China I raised the difficulty with him once more and stated ‘Sir, what transpired earlier had gone out and particularly the Muslim community were not happy’ and I suggested the difficulty be revisited, and I quote him, stated to me; ‘ Mustafa, I will take Nigeria into the IDB and whoever does not want Nigeria in IDB can leave Nigeria’. I knew that the case was lastly settled. I thanked him for his dedication to equity.
“On his second term, there have been modifications within the cupboard and most of those that opposed weren’t within the cupboard anymore, and the present WTO Director-General, Her Excellency Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was then the Minister of Finance.
“President Obasanjo instructed the Minister of Finance to take a look at the difficulty once more and lift a memo and she or he did and defended it very nicely, the cupboard permitted and that was how Nigeria seamlessly obtained into the IDB. I may bear in mind clearly when she was requested by the media after the cupboard assembly on the identical topic she defined that it was a traditional monetary establishment identical to every other. She even assured that the final word beneficiaries of IDB in Nigeria might finish up to be those that all of us least count on. That’s precisely what is going on right now.
“These are a part of the attributes of President Obasanjo, he’s brave, daring, robust, he might be explosive, however when you can handle him nicely, get him to relax and perceive you, he’ll get alongside with you. And if he trusts you he doesn’t disappoint you, he defends you, protects you and stands by you.
“But when you give him an iota or an inch or room to suspect you’re doing hanky-panky, you and him will half methods.
“Many people have been trying very hard to paint President Obasanjo in a different form but unless you work with him you’ll never appreciate him, he is indeed one of the best leaders that Nigeria ever had.”
Life after NIPC
Narrating what occurred after he left NIPC, he stated: “I left NIPC in February 2014, the place of the Governor in my State, Niger State had rolled again to our zone as such I made an effort to aim it once more, sadly, the Governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, had his personal candidate that he hoped to repair as his stooge, in consequence he should do every little thing doable to disable all different contestants. Dr. Aliyu was my junior in the identical Arabic Teachers College, Sokoto by one yr, and it was in their very own household home, Gidan Sarkin Hausawa in Minna that each one of us from Kontagora would usually sleep within the Zaure a part of the home every time we had something to do in Minna, the then Provincial capital. Truly I remained within the course of to verify if Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu would sit me publicly and embarrass me. He did and we retaliated within the common elections by ensuring that neither him nor his candidates made it to any place as nicely. AlhamdulilLah every certainly one of us has been taught a lesson from those that grew to become governors free to those that labored onerous to make it to the identical workplace however have been forcefully prevented, each has now recognized the worth of an workplace.
“I went by means of the primaries, they stated I obtained 57 votes, I stated okay, we stated we’ll be sure we crew up with the opposing occasion to defeat you, and that was precisely what occurred.
“When I left government the same FrieslandCampina WAMCO, the makers of Peak Milk, invited me again to come back and join their Board in 2016, and while I was there Mr. Jim Ovia of Zenith Bank, by virtue of our established relationship over time as my Board Member at the NIPC and before then while as Minister, invited me to serve on the Board of Zenith Bank on which I currently am. I remain appreciative of the honor and privilege.”
Life regrets
Speaking about his life regrets, he stated, there have been no critical regrets contemplating that no matter occurred to him had been taken as a part of his life expertise.
He stated, “Not actually, as a result of every little thing that occurs to 1, I take as an expertise and a part of future for one, and so I don’t get sad with anyone and neither do I regard anybody as both the impediment or the issue. Indeed I’ve many extra associates and few individuals who antagonize me or any of my efforts, throughout the confines of my information. However, one wouldn’t say that in life she or he by no means mirrored and expressed some type of regrets because of an motion of omission or fee by another particular person, group and even authorities. In my very own case, the latter is most worrying for me to the extent of expressing some degree of remorse. Please check out the next information that we inherited in 1999 which was a transferred legal responsibility from 1998 when the then Military Head of State died, and profile over the present Political dispensation that’s now about 23 years; These are what we inherited as at 1999; GDP progress fee of about 3%, agriculture contribution to the GDP of about 3%, inhabitants progress fee of practically 3%, the primary 3 above clearly reveal as we produced we consumed as such the financial system was stagnant, energy obtainable to the entire nation about 1,380 MW, overseas reserve of solely about USD$3.8-Billion barely sufficient to cowl 3-Months imports payments of the nation, debt burden of USD$33-Billion, with a mean annual curiosity cost of over USD$1.5-Billion with the principal nonetheless rising, lower than 15% Manufacturing capability utilization, 86 Commercial Banks with whole property worth lower than that of 2-Banks at the moment, mining sector monopoly, very low wage regime that was an incentive to corruption, no such merchandise as; Consumer Credit Scheme, Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Sustainable Pension Scheme (PENCOM), Federal Mortgage Bank monopoly, no Primary Mortgage Institutions, no monetized advantages that we later universally launched that have been giving staff sufficient to pay rents, both save the balances or use identical to pay college charges, not sufficient authorized and regulatory setting to assist doing enterprise, and large scale corruption in consequence, issues have been in a hay-where state of affairs.
“Our arrival ushered in a rescue plan and program that noticed the wiping out utterly of the debt burden by means of very prudent and disciplined monetary (fiscal and financial) administration, a technique of which gave start to MDG’s that subsequently benefited many rural communities, introduction of all of the measures and incentives earlier on acknowledged in addition to the creation of a number of regulatory establishments that supported creation of excellent doing enterprise setting and public confidence. GDP rose to 12% by 2012 and stabilized at 8.5% till the revaluation of the complete financial system, Agriculture contribution moved up to 7%, manufacturing capability utilization moved up to 75%-85%, and so forth.
“Salaries were scaled up 20 times and suddenly the morale of public officers got a boost and corruption associated with routine official transactions disappeared nearly completely as the pay package of public and private sector officials was more than enough to maintain and even save or invest in Mortgages or consumer related schemes. Lot more thermal power plants were built to address the power generation capacity of the country, people were actually happy and you could read that in their faces.”
Speaking on present hardship, he stated the good points of the previous management beneath Obasanjo had been utterly worn out beneath the present dispensation.
“However, today, even though we know that COVID-19, which appeared only in 2019, added to existing hardships, it pains one to see that a lot of these gains have been rolled back or wiped out completely. Indeed I can speak in a lot more detail on our economic transformation programs at another session when the time permits,” he lamented.
Obasanjo’s 3rd term agenda
On the alleged 3rd Term Project of the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, he stated he was a part of those that drew the exit plan for the previous president, stating that after they met the president amid speculations that he was going for a 3rd term, he listened to them and plan for his exit commenced virtually instantly.
He stated: “In, or about finish of 2006 or early 2007 there have been speculations right here and there that began that includes on each social, print and different digital media that the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo, could also be contemplating discovering methods and technique of extending his tenure and the size was rising exponentially to a probably popularity damaging degree to the integrity of the President and the workplace.
“I equally recall that at that time, I and the then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and currently serving Governor of Kaduna, Mal. Nasir Ahmed el-Rufa’i decided to meet the President on how we could mitigate the potential damage to his office and reputation the circulation was intending to do. We went to him, as usual, we neither needed nor required any appointment as he was available 24/7 and while occupied doing some work on his table, he looked up at us after salutations and said “yes!”.
Mal. Nasir stated “Mr. President, who are your friends in the North that we can arrange, mobilize for you to meet with to speak to on this ‘3rd term’ noise fast moving around, so as to bring it to a close, hearing from you”?. He checked out each of us and pointed his finger at I and Nasir. Mal. Nasir responded again by saying that “Mr. President, we are serious”! and he instantly responded by saying “So am I!”. He then dropped his pen on his desk and stated; You (that means Mustafa Bello), You (that means Nasir A. el-Rufai), Adamu (that means Adamu Maina Waziri), Lawal (that means Lawal Batagarawa) and Modibbo (that means Dr. Aliyu Umar Modibbo), go and meet on this and are available again to me at a time we’ll agree throughout the week.
We instantly, upon leaving the workplace of the President, positioned calls by means of to all the opposite three for a gathering in the home of the FCT Minister Mal. Nasir Ahmed el-Rufa’i the identical day within the night as the topic was an pressing one searching for an “Emergency” response as time was fast-moving. At that assembly and with none effort or try to persuade anybody of us of the viability or in any other case of the speculated “3rd term” tenure extension venture, there was consensus that if in any respect the speculations could also be an current or contemplated plan, it will not befit Mr. President as it will undoubtedly dent his integrity and diminish his worth and utterly erode the belief primarily based on which Nigerians voted him into workplace in 1999. Indeed the choice then was that vacating the workplace on the applicable time was extra honorable to him than no matter different advantages the extension would carry to the nation. As such we agreed to suggest to Mr. President to desert such a plan, if in any respect it existed or being promoted by another teams to him for these causes. We appointed Mal. Adamu Maina Waziri to be our chief and the one to talk at that first assembly Mr. President would invite us later within the week.
“Surely by the 4th day we secured an appointment to see him on the home by 8:30-pm or thereabout and introduced our discussions place which he agreed with completely and directed that we design an exit plan for him in order to assist him use as information and monitor implementation. We left, did as he instructed and requested for a 2nd assembly which we obtained on one other night at which we introduced the Plan and he thanked us and took away a replica of the plan to check after which prepare a 3rd assembly to debate the plan. By the 3rd assembly, Mr. President got here with an enhanced model of that plan to his personal comfort and at which late Chief Tony Anenih was invited as chief of the Party, the then-Senate President, Sen. Ken Nnamani was invited and the Speaker of the House of Representatives was additionally invited each of whom weren’t in a position to attend as the warmth on the topic was brewing. The President directed the chief of the Party to share this system with these two arms of Government.
“After this meeting, another 4th meeting was convened at which I was not in attendance but I was later made to understand that it was indeed the final. After that some of us among the five decided that we must do everything possible to save the name and honour of Mr. President and our efforts brought it to an end as we saw it. That is the true story and nothing more, nothing less.”
What else…..?
The final issues I’ll state are that I’m certainly most appreciative of the chance given to me and my household of seven, a spouse, three ladies and two boys, by the individuals of Nigeria to serve beneath an lively chief and President, mentored, guided and guarded by an especially humble Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Abdullahi Mohammed, within the midst of Distinguished personalities like VP Alh. Atiku Abubakar, who described me as “one of the cabinet’s 5 best’” Gen. T. Y. Danjuma, Maj. Gen. Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, the NSA, Mal. Adamu Ciroma, Mal. Sani Zangon-Daura, Chief Tony Anenih, Alh. Hassan Adamu, Wakilin Adamawa, Alh. Sule Lamido, Alh. Lawal Batagarawa, Mal. Adamu Maina Waziri, Dr. Aliyu Umar Modibbo, Dr. Kema Chikwe, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, Prof. A B C Nwosu, Chief Ufot Ekaette, the SGF, different cupboard colleagues, in addition to later serving President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and President Goodluck Ebele Johnathan. I’m not certain many have been as fortunate to be in the sort of cluster as myself. It was certainly a really uncommon privilege and alternative that President Ibrahim Babangida supported my ministerial nomination and I’m assured I didn’t disappoint him or the President and his authorities I served or certainly the individuals of Nigeria. I’m certainly most grateful!
