More heads roll in crackdown on top-level corruption

The leader of Nigeria's Senate resigned on Tuesday after being accused of bribe-taking. He quit less than 24 hours after President Olusegun Obasanjo sacked his housing minister for trying to sell off government houses on the cheap to people of power and influence. “I hereby step aside as President of the Senate to enable me to attend to all the allegations against me,” Adolphus Wabara told the Senate chamber as he announced his decision. "I pledge to make myself available to all panels investigating the allegations," he added. Wabara's departure had been widely expected following public accusations that he and several other legislators had shared a $410,000 bribe paid by former Education Minister Fabian Osuji to ensure parliamentary approval of an inflated education budget. Shortly after the information came to light last month, Obasanjo sacked Osuji. On Monday the presidential axe fell on Mobolaji Osomo, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development as his campaign against corruption in the highest level of government continued. Obasanjo sacked Osomo following weekend revelations that she had arranged to sell off 207 government houses in a plush suburb of Lagos to senior figures in the government and other people of influence. Obasanjo stopped the deal and ditched the minister after discovering that two sisters and a brother of his wife Stella were among those in line to buy the luxury residences at knock-down prices. “Following an unsatisfactory explanation offered by the minister of housing…her appointment has been terminated forthwith by the president,” the government said in a terse statement. Osomo cleared her office as former police chief Tafawa Balogun appeared before the high court in Abuja on Monday to be formally charged with 70 counts of graft and money laundering involving a total of 13 billion naira (US $98 million). Balogun, who pleaded not guilty to all the charges, resigned suddenly as Inspector General of Police in January after three years in the job. He was subsequently arrested on the order of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The charges filed against Balogun include one that he forced a local bank to pay him a bribe of 30 million naira (US $227,000) to prevent the withdrawal of police security from its branches. The institution, Societe Generale Bank, has since been closed by Nigeria's central bank for insolvency. Balogun was remanded in custody until 18 April, when his application for bail will be heard. Wabara is the most powerful head to roll so far in Obasanjo's current crusade against graft. As President of the Senate, he was third in line to the head of state. But the politician's downfall was assured after Obasanjo went on national television two weeks ago to denounce him for bribe taking. The final straw came on Monday when Wabara was instructed to resign by Obasanjo's People’s Democratic Party, which has a comfortable majority in both houses of the federal parliament. On Tuesday, the Senate unanimously elected Ken Nnamani, a 57-year-old senator from Enugu State southeastern Nigeria, to replace him. The irregular deal to sell of government houses in the wealthy Lagos suburb of Ikoyi meanwhile threatens to claim further victims. The list of alleged beneficiaries, which was sent anonomously to Obasanjo and was subsequently published by several Nigerian newspapers, included several ministers and state governors. However, some of those named have publicly protested their innocence, saying they had not applied to buy any of the houses or had rejected offers made to them. The government statement which announced Osomo's sacking apologised to those whose names appeared on the list of would-be house buyers, who were actually innocent of any wrongdoing. Corruption is a deep-rooted problem in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and the continent's top oil exporter. The country of 126 million people is ranked third from bottom by the global corruption watchdog Transparency International in its 2004 Corruption Perceptions Index, just above Bangladesh and Haiti. But Obasanjo, who was elected president in 1999 after 15 years of military rule, has begun to tackle the problem since his re-election for a second and final four-year term in 2003. In January last Obasanjo sacked his then Labour Minister, Husseini Akwanga, for receiving bribes from a French company to help it secure a contract to produce national identity cards. Akwanga was later put on trial along with two other former ministers, but the case has faced long delays and is yet to be concluded. Government critics often point out that no top official has actually been convicted and jailed for corruption since Obasanjo came back to power through the ballot box six years ago after serving as military head of state from 1976 to 1979.