Nigeria hit by new scandal
2005-04-01 21:52
Abuja - Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo angrily demanded a halt on Friday to the secretive sell-off of 207 state-owned houses in Lagos's plushest district to senior officials and even to his own in-laws.
Obasanjo is engaged in a renewed anti-corruption drive and appears furious the sale was being conducted behind closed doors, with homes privately offered to ministers, state governors, lawmakers, police chiefs and military top brass.
The president is struggling to convince foreign creditors that he is serious about tackling public-sector graft and has warned politicians not to undermine his appeals for the cancellation of Nigeria's $35bn external debt.
"I must express my great displeasure, in very clear terms, about the way you seem to be handling the sale of federal government property in Lagos," the president said, in a letter to housing minister Mobolaji Oshomo.
"I have a document sent to me anonymously where 207 people had been allocated or offered land or property for sale surreptitiously; some with full payment, some with a deposit and some without payment at all," he told her.
My wife's family
"I also feel personally embarrassed that almost all members of my wife's family are on that list," he said, in a message made public by the presidency on Friday.
Obasanjo's first lady is Stella Obasanjo.
"As it is, the entire list will now be cancelled without fail, the money collected should be refunded and all the property will be advertised for sale.
"Report faithful compliance with this instruction," he concluded.
Vice-president Atiku Abubakar and Central Bank governor Charles Soludo said in separate press statements that they had been offered Lagos residences by the housing ministry, but had turned them down.
Finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was quoted in the Daily Trust newspaper as confirming that she had been offered a house, but had also rejected it.
Under the table
"As for me, I'm not interested in getting anything under the table," she said, according to the paper. "It should be advertised for public bidding."
Nigeria's overworked anti-graft agency has spearheaded a renewed drive in recent months to root out corruption and has claimed some notable scalps.
Former national police chief Tafa Balogun is in custody and is expected to be charged next week with fraud and money-laundering after investigators found $7.5m in a network of secret bank accounts linked to him.
And, last week, Obasanjo sacked his education minister, accusing him of bribing the president of the senate, Adolphus Wabara, who is reportedly planning to resign next week.
According to the list of potential house-buyers released by the presidency, Wabara had paid a $380 000 deposit on one of the properties, a waterfront mansion on Lagos' upmarket Ikoyi Island valued at $1.6m.