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Senate corruption revealed
07/10/2003 16:34 - (SA)
Abuja - A Nigerian minister told a parliamentary inquiry on Tuesday that leaders of the senate had attempted to extort more than $300 000 from him to ensure his appointment.
Nasir el-Rufai, recently confirmed as minister for the federal capital territory (FCT) and a former head of Nigeria's privatisation agency, told the senate ethics committee that he had refused the demand.
His much anticiptated testimony came on the same day that Nigeria was once again named the world's second most corrupt country by global watchdog Transparency International.
El-Rufai said that deputy senate president Ibrahim Mantu and deputy majority leader Jonathan Zwingina had met him and asked for 54 million naira ($420 000) to smoothe his way into office.
"Mantu said money will be needed to recruit an army of senators to act as my defenders and stated that 54 million would be needed to secure the support of the majority," el-Rufai told the committee.
"He added that many senators said that I had made money as the director general of the BPE (Bureau of Public Enterprises), and should therefore cough up part of that," he said.
"Zwingina added that senators also said that it would be hard to get much from me once I became minister, and it was safer to have something up front," he added.
Few expect heads to roll
Whatever the truth of the minister's allegation, few here expect heads to roll. Since President Olusegun Obasanjo came to power in 1999 not a single senior political figure has been convicted of corruption.
But the testimony gave an intriguing insight into the murky world of Abuja power politics, as el-Rufai explained how the two ruling party lawmakers leant on him ahead of his confirmation hearings.
"I explained that I did not believe in paying for any job, which in any case was likely to be a difficult and a thankless one," he said.
"I said that I did not make any money at the BPE. I was actually indebted to a couple of banks at the time," he said.
"Zwingina opined that I was being difficult, and added that he knew I was being posted to the FCT, where the sale of a single plot (of land) by the minister would make up for the so called investment."
As minister for the Federal Capital Territory, el-Rufai now has control over planning in Abuja, Nigeria's fast growing purpose-built capital, which is undergoing an extraordinary property boom.
- AFP
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