Ex senate leader, minister charged with corruption

Nigeria’s former senate president and sacked education minister have been charged with corruption as President Olusegun Obasanjo continues his crusade against officials who fail “to toe the line of honesty.” Adolphus Wabara, who as senate president was the country’s third-ranking official until his departure last week, was charged with five other lawmakers. They were accused of taking a bribe of 55 million naira (US $410,000) from former education minister Fabian Osuji to mark up his budget figures. The accused, who face up to seven years in jail if convicted, pleaded not guilty to the crimes alleged by the anti-graft watchdog set up by Obasanjo four years ago, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC). Hearings are to start 15 May and the accused have been granted bail. Another senator, Chris Adighije, who publicly admitted to partaking of the bribe, was not charged, triggering local media reports that he may appear as a prosecution witness. Appearing before the Senate Ethics Committee on Monday, sacked minister Osuji said the lawmakers through Wabara had demanded what he said was not a bribe but a “welfare package” as the condition for approving higher education budget proposals after big cuts the previous year. “I did not consider the episode bribery, and I still believe I acted in the overall interest of the education sector, and the nation,” said Osuji. Obasanjo fired Osuji on 22 March, marking the start of a fresh offensive against widespread corruption that has seen a second minister fall and a former police chief charged in court with embezzling nearly US $100 million. Obasanjo on Tuesday dismissed criticism that his anti-corruption war was targeted at his political enemies and renewed his resolve to battle Nigeria’s culture of graft. “Those doing bad are the enemies of Nigeria. They are not my enemies,” he told reporters in Abuja. “If you are part of this government, you must toe the line of honesty.” He denied reports published in some local newspapers that millions of dollars have been traced to US bank accounts belonging to his son, Gbenga Obasanjo, and said people with the evidence must provide it. “Let the can of worms be opened up,” Obasanjo said. The country of 126 million people is ranked third from bottom by the global corruption watchdog Transparency International in its 2004 Corruption Perceptions Index, doing just netter than Bangladesh and Haiti. Obasanjo, who was elected president in 1999 after 15 years of military rule, began to tackle the problem after his re-election for a second and final four-year term in 2003. But critics point out that no top official has actually been convicted and jailed for corruption since Obasanjo came back to power.