Hidden Agenda to nail Ex President, Goodluck Jonathan to the cross

The planned probe of former President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience, over his alleged link with a militant group – Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) by the Muhammadu Buhari administration, has added another twist to the crisis in the country’s oil-rich region.

Jonathan, who lost last year’s presidential election to Buhari after his party’s 16-year unbroken rule has been accused of being behind the activities of a militant group that has claimed responsibility for most attacks on oil installations since March this year.

The former president, who hails from the crisis rocked region, is not standing alone in the accusation of sponsorship of the Avengers. His wife, Patience, some officials of his administration and political associates, have also been linked to the militant group either as sponsors, members or sympathisers.

Those alleged alongside Jonathan by a splinter group of the NDA – Reformed Niger Delta Avengers (RNDA) – include Governors Nyesom Wike (Rivers) and Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa); former Akwa Ibom State governor and Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio; wanted exmilitant leader, Government Ekpemupolo (alias Tompolo) and chairman emeritus of DAAR Communications Plc, Chief Raymond Dokpesi.

Others on a 22-member list released by RNDA are Tompolo’s media consultant, Mr. Paul Bebenimibo; former Director-General of Nigeria Maritime Administration Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Patrick Akpobolokemi; Niger Delta activist, Ms. Annkio Briggs; former presidential adviser on Amnesty, Kingsley Kuku; former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh, among others.

While the above mentioned have all denied any link with the Avengers, spokesperson of RNDA, Cynthia Whyte, had in a statement, said NDA was formed after the bid by the then PDP-led Federal Government to get the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) – a foremost militant group in the region – to endorse Jonathan for the 2015 presidential election, failed.

The statement read: “Like every sponsor, sympathizer and operative earlier mentioned, who has equally denied links with the Avengers, we can understand the wisdom behind their decision, as their participation was always meant to be covert.

“After a clandestine meeting in 2014 between the grand patron and several unidentified persons, ahead of the presidential election campaign of 2015, it was agreed that the Okah brothers (Charles and Henry being held for terror acts in Nigeria and South Africa, respectively) should be contacted to reach out to MEND to endorse former President Jonathan and work with the group of persons to ensure victory for the PDP and Jonathan.

“At the time, because MEND was the suggested tool, the NDA as a body was not yet formed. A meeting of some select top government officials was convened to visit Charles Okah and they reported back that they had visited him in Kuje prison at night with the promise of his release along with others should he cooperate to get MEND to endorse Jonathan.

“It therefore, came as a shock when MEND did the opposite and endorsed Buhari. Dr. Jonathan was livid with anger and swore that the Okahs would rot in prison. Following the failure to get MEND’s endorsement, they agreed that ex-militant leaders should put up a show of force in Yenagoa and threaten war should the electorate vote in Buhari’s favour.

“As election day approached, certain stakeholders were mobilised to form a force to ensure total anarchy in the South-South and South-East within 24 hours if the election results were not favourable to Jonathan.

It took everyone by surprise to learn that Jonathan had conceded defeat, even before the results were released. The standby force, which was to attack specific targets were told to stand down.

They were all compensated in US dollars, cash. “The Niger Delta Avengers was born from the failure at the polls and would now be used as an organ to make the Buhari government inactive, bring economic hardship and cause hatred for the administration towards failure at the 2019 general election.”

FG’s intelligence report

While the RNDA spokesperson threatened more sordid details on the Avengers should its sponsors and operatives provoke the group with further denials of the revelation, the Federal Government is said to have ordered a discreet investigation of Jonathan and his wife over the matter.

The government’s directive was hinged on what it described as “intelligence reports,” which established that some of the oil installations recently bombed in the Niger Delta, had actually been mined while Jonathan was in power by some of the militants and operatives known to be very close to him at the eve of the 2015 elections.

A presidency source, who disclosed the directive last week to some newspapers, said the intelligence report showed that the former president met severally with the militants before the general election.

He said: “The initial plan was to declare Niger Delta Republic after Jonathan’s electoral loss but the NDA members were taken aback when the ex-president conceded.

“Findings confirmed that the ex-president and others being probed resuscitated the NDA plan when the Federal Government initiated a probe into the oil sector. “We suspect that the expresident is afraid that the way the investigation in the oil industry was going, he and his wife will be questioned.

“The fact that some of the conditions put forward by the NDA, including not going after Government Ekpemuopolo Tompolo, and stopping investigation of all corruption probes, have confirmed some of the intelligence.

“Intelligence report also showed that the evidence of the attacks of oil installations was planned before May 29. The NDA and other militants had mined these installations before the handover.

“But following the probe of the oil sector, they were mandated to start detonating it. The mining was meant to be a Plan B should they be removed from Aso Rock. The plan then was to cause confusion if the 2015 presidential election did not go as expected, in favour of the then incumbent.”

“However, when the former president surprisingly conceded the election to President Muhammadu Buhari, there was both disappointment and confusion in the camp of those who had designed the plan, causing a suspension of the whole agenda.

“But by February this year, it was learnt, the plan was reopened as several of the backers were getting investigated on different corruption cases. Jonathan himself was concerned that he and his wife could be prosecuted, including on money-laundering charges where investigators said evidence against the wife has already been amassed.”

The source further disclosed that “the game plan of Jonathan and his associates backing the NDA was to cause enough economic damage in order to force the Buhari administration to pursue a political solution to the corruption cases on which investigations were already advancing against them. This is to avoid prosecution and the attendant unprecedented shames of having a former president go to jail.”

Avengers and their mission

Who are the Avengers, many have asked. The group publicly announced its existence in March this year and has since then attacked oil producing facilities in the Niger Delta, causing the shutdown of oil terminals and a fall in Nigeria’s oil production to its lowest level in 20 years.

The attacks caused Nigeria to fall behind Angola as Africa’s largest oil producer. The reduced oil output has hampered the economy as the country depends on earnings from crude oil sales for its revenue.

The group’s declared aims are to create a sovereign state in the Niger Delta and have threatened to disrupt Nigeria’s economy if their aims are not met. It also claims that its members are “young, educated and well travelled.”

The group has also criticised President Buhari, for having never visited the oil producing region since he assumed power and his detention of the Biafran independence activist, Nnamdi Kanu.

Jonathan’s denial

While the former president was quick to distance himself from NDA, when the accusation was made the splinter Avengers group, he has once more denied any link with the group in reaction to the government’s intelligence report.

Describing the allegation as libelous and disservice to Nigeria’s image, Jonathan warned that those bent on promoting such allegations in the media are not only toying with libel but are doing a lot of disservice to the collective good and image of Nigeria.

A statement by his media office, signed Mr. Ikechukwu Eze, read in part: “There is no doubt that there exist such people who may have scores to settle with the former president but are now feeling frustrated by the fact that his national and international profile has continued to rise, despite their recourse to endless muck-raking character assassination.

Such people will stop at nothing to continue to throw obstacles, albeit futilely, on his path. “We are aware that the same people approached other wellmeaning newspapers with the same false information, but they were wise to turn it down on account of its absurdity.

Our media houses should then be careful not to make the country a laughing stock by being hoodwinked into passing off the perverted voices of irritant groups as that of our well respected official and security authorities.

Apart from toying with the serious issue of libel, those newspapers lending themselves to be so cheaply used by miscreants are also doing gross disservice to our collective good and the image of the country.”

Doubts persist

Despite Jonathan’s insistence that he has nothing to do with the NDA, there are calls in some quarters for his arrest and consequent probe. An ex-militant leader, Israel Akpodoro, who belong to this school of thought, said the accusation against the former president is not a surprise as his group – National Coalition of the NIger Delta Ex-Agitators (NCNDE-A) held the view long before now.

According to the Urhobo-born ex-militant leader, no amount of denial will convince Nigerians on Jonathan’s innocence because “the rascality of the then president played out at the collation centre where his kinsman, Mr. Godsday Orubebe, attempted to impede the electoral process in a coup allegedly orchestrated by those who wear many faces.”

He therefore called on the Federal Government to invite reliable members of the splinter group, investigate the allegation through a commission of inquiry to ascertain the involvement of the former president and his associates.

But a group, Coalition of Niger Deltans for Justice and Development (CNDJD), absolved Jonathan of any plot to destabilise Nigeria, saying the former President has proved himself to be meek and honest man with the unity and togetherness of Nigeria uppermost in his heart.

“These dissatisfied and angry elements after their failed predictions are fanning ember of disunity, destabilisation, disintegration and liquidation of Nigeria. They are plotting to set Jonathan and Buhari on a collision course with consequence that could be monumental,” the group said.

Who is after Jonathan?

The arguments for and against Jonathan’s involvement with the militant group, notwithstanding, the questions over the spurious allegation are: Who wants the noose on Jonathan’s neck and for what reason? What does the former president stand to gain if he sponsors a mission to cripple Buhari’s government?

Is there any similarity between the allegation of Buhari sponsoring Boko Haram during Jonathan’s administration and the one against Jonathan? While only time will proffer answers to the questions, Jonathan is not unaware of the various plot to probe his administration, and some analysts say, linking him with the militants could be the easiest way to nail him.

It was argued by those who hold this view that efforts to get some officials of the immediate past administration currently under probe for corruption and other related offences, including source of PDP campaign funds in the last election, to rope Jonathan in has not yielded the desired result.

Premonition of probe

Jonathan could be said to have had a premonition of what is currently playing out, when he advised Buhari before leaving office not to single out his administration for probe.

He said at a valedictory session of his cabinet that if Buhari must investigate him and his administration, he should do the same for past governments in Nigeria. His words: “Some people are even calling for the probe of this government.

I agree that in Nigeria, there are a number of things that we will probe; very many things. Even debts owed by states and this nation from 1960 up to this time. They are saying it is Jonathan’s administration that is owing all the debts.

“I believe that anybody calling for probe must ensure that these probes are extended beyond the Jonathan administration, otherwise to me, it will be a witch-hunt. If you are very sincere, then it is not just the Jonathan’s administration that should be probed.

Probe limited to Jonathan’s govt

Despite the “appeal” that the probe be extended to administrations before his,’ the Buhari government insisted that that it would only make sense to look into the activities of the immediate past government rather than delving into all other past administrations.

Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, said “it would be a distraction to begin digging into all former administrations but for a proper takeoff of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, there is the need to look into the immediate past government.”

He, however, made it clear that the probe is not a witch-hunt, as only persons who looted the country’s funds would be made to return such loots, adding that Buhari will not waste time in probing the administrations of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Abdulsallami Abubakar, Sani Abacha and Ibrahim Babangida.

Setting precedence

The probe of Jonathan’s government has set a precedent as no former leader has been compelled to answer to questions on his stewardship. Perhaps, the only time Nigerians witnessed an attempt in that direction was in 1984 after the fall of the Second Republic.

Interestingly, it was a Buhari-led military regime that arrested and put to trial, key actors in that dispensation. Some of those tried bagged jail terms running into hundreds of years.

A similar attempt by the Obasanjo, who set up a committee to study the report of the Pius Okigbo-led committee on the $12.4 billion Nigeria earned from crude oil sales during the 1991 Gulf War and how it was managed by the Babangida regime, ended in a fiasco.

Since then, only a handful of former governors had been forced to render account for how they managed the peoples’ commonwealth either through inquiries initiated by their respective successors or in most cases, the two anticorruption agencies – Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC).

But, in what seems a break from the past, where a president comes to power and overlooks actions and inactions of his predecessor, President Buhari, who is known for his hard stance on corruption, is probing his predecessor (Jonathan).

The question against this trump up charge is: Will Jonathan trail the path of Obasanjo, who was jailed by Abacha over the former’s alleged participation in an aborted coup based on testimony obtained via torture?

    Source : New Telegraph