A time in this country, LAGOS State was in the opposition, led by Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu. General Olusegun Obasanjo did his best, to silence and crush the opposition, including withholding the statutory allocations of Lagos State.
Nigerians rose in support of Tinubu, but Obasanjo stood his ground. The only means of survival was to improve the internally generated revenue of LAGOS State. So, Alpha Beta came on board, and an agreement was entered into between a private company and Lagos State, to shore up its revenue profile, upon valuable consideration.
Nigerians kicked against it and some people even wrote petitions to the EFCC. At the peak of it all, Tinubu’s successor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, defended the contract and even took up paid adverts, to attack the EFCC, for attempting to dabble into a purely civil contract.
As I write this piece, the 37 local council development areas of Lagos State, are yet to be listed officially, in the Constitution of the federal republic of nigeria, yet these LCDAS execute contracts daily, they conduct elections, they forcefully collect revenue from people daily, and in bizarre cases, they arrest citizens and detain them. But we see nothing wrong in all these, because “our” people are involved.
As part of resolving peace in the Niger Delta, President Yaraadua introduced Amnesty. Many of the militants were encouraged to embrace it, and they did. One of them entered into a contract with the Nigerian Navy, to recruit divers from the creeks of the Niger Delta, for training, in Navy Town, Ojo.
Many militants embraced this, as it created huge employment benefits, to be trained as underwater engineers and wielders, to qualify them to be recruited by oil companies. The project became a mega success and they decided to set up a private world class training institute for divers, right inside the mangrove in the Niger Delta. It was conceived purely as a private project.
Meanwhile, it was observed that foreign and local vessels were colluding with corrupt government officials, to defraud Nigeria of revenue. So a private company undertook an assessment of the revenue of NIMASA and undertook to monitor all vessels and ensure compliance with all income legislations.
An agreement was executed between the company and NIMASA, upon condition that if it could beef up the revenue of NIMASA, a sharing ratio of the differentials, would become payable. Experts, auditors and assessors were invited to determine the existing standing profile of NIMASA, at the time. The project started and grew to be a huge success.
Meanwhile, the divers training school was nearing completion, when government approached the promoters to buy it over. Offers were made, experts were invited and contracts were duly executed.
The above is a summary of the case of Tompolo.
If it was right for me to support Tinubu, to raise up the revenue of Lagos State, through a private company to survive the wicked onslaught of Obasanjo then, it certainly cannot be wrong for me to defend Tompolo, for agreeing to shore up the revenue of NIMASA, upon valuable consideration.
If we supported Fashola, SAN, then, that EFCC could not investigate or prosecute Tinubu or Alpha Beta, based upon a private agreement, I cannot see why Tompolo should become a criminal now, for an agreement that was duly executed, in writing.
I am a Yorubaman, but also a Nigerian, and I believe in justice, for all. Something cannot be white, under Tinubu and Fashola, and it will suddenly turn black, because Niger Delta people are involved.
I take it that corruption is a cancer that must be destroyed, but I will not join to destroy or condemn people purely upon media hypes, unless and until I get to know the TRUE FACTS.
I will like to stand alone, among the regular human rights activists, to continue to assess Buhari, and say the truth, as I see it. The various policies that we all agreed upon in our various Aluta meetings and rallies, as totally wrong and wicked, under Jonathan, for which we criticized and abused him thoroughly, cannot now be right under Buhari, just because Yoruba people are saying so.
I beg to be different.
*Adegboruwa, a human rights lawyer writes from Lagos
Follow Us
