The former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, Chief Olu Falae, was recently named as one of the beneficiaries of the $2.1bn anti-terror arms procurement fund allegedly diverted by a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), for the re-election campaign of former President Goodluck Jonathan. The ex-Minister of Finance tells ADE AKANBI about the role he played in the process
You have admitted to having collected N100m for the 2015 electioneering but the money is said to be part of the slush funds from a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.). How did it happen?
I never took even one naira from Dasuki. Beyond that, I want to assert that I never had any contact or relationship with Dasuki. I knew Dasuki way back in 1986-87 when he was the Aide-de-Camp to (former military dictator) Gen. (Ibrahim) Babangida and I was the Secretary to the Government (of the Federation). Since he left that government around 1987, I had no contact or dealing with him; absolutely none! The N100m they are talking about in the media and what I know about happened as follows: Chief Tony Anenih, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, phoned me late January last year (2015) and said he would like to see me and he would like to come from Abuja to see me in Akure. And he came. He came with someone and I too invited someone to be with me. The four of us were together in the meeting and he said they were observing that my party, the Social Democratic Party, had no presidential candidate and they would want us to ask our supporters to vote for his party’s candidate, (then) President Goodluck Jonathan.
I told him that in principle, there is nothing wrong with the two parties collaborating, but that the collaboration must be a principled collaboration: it must be based on principles. I told him that there were certain things we desired the government to do but they had not done for the people, and that if we were going to support their candidate, they must commit themselves to making changes in those areas. He said which were the areas? I said, ‘One, your party must be prepared to restructure Nigeria from this unity system, and the best way of doing that is to fully implement the report of the National Conference 2014. Two, the party (PDP) must commit itself to a policy of zero tolerance for corruption,’ because I saw that corruption was monumental in what they were doing. Three, I said the party in government must destroy Boko Haram and give stability to Nigeria. Four, there was mass unemployment and the youths were getting frustrated; that they must articulate programmes to create jobs for the unemployed. Five, I observed that the party in government was spending virtually our entire revenue on recurrent expenditure; that they must reduce recurrent expenditure to generate surpluses to finance capital development like roads, schools, hospitals, etc. Six, if we accepted this tide and accepted them, then if the party won the election, we will expect reasonable participation in that government. And he (Anenih) said they were totally happy with all the strict conditions; that it was acceptable to them and that there was no problem at all; that, in fact, they were already implementing some of them.
On that note, he left me. But after he left, I decided to write to him in order to document this relationship. In the letter I wrote to him, again, I enlisted the six conditions which I had mentioned in our oral discussion. And three days later, he wrote back to me saying that he had consulted all the stakeholders of his party, including the President, and they were all happy to accept those conditions to work with the SDP in the election that was forthcoming.
Having accepted our conditions, I then proceeded to Abuja to summon the meeting of my party’s executive and decision making organs, and made the presentation to them. There was a very robust debate and at the end of the debate, the executive committee of my party endorsed their (PDP’s) request that we should work with Jonathan in the election. I want to emphasise here that the most critical factor that turned the debate in favour of Jonathan was because he had said he would restructure Nigeria and that he summoned the National Conference as a great step in that direction. And to most of us in the SDP and in Afenifere (Yoruba socio-political group), restructuring Nigeria is the most important, single political objective that we pursue in Nigeria today. And whoever commits himself to that objective, we will support him.
I want to remind you that in 2007, when General Muhammadu Buhari was running for president on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, six parties at that time — including my party, which was then called DPA (Democratic Peoples Alliance) — called for similar collaboration and we were going with them. In fact, they turned round to make me the Chairman of the Buhari Campaign Committee in the South-West, although I was not a member of their party. And in that collaborative effort, I and some other friends of General Buhari contributed money to run the campaign. We held a mammoth rally at Adamasingba Roundabout in Ibadan. So, what I am saying is that collaboration between two parties is normal in democracy. And for the collaborating parties, it is normal for them to contribute money to ensure that their joint project is implemented. That was exactly what happened on this occasion (between PDP and SDP).
How and why did the collection of N100m take place?
After we had endorsed the candidacy of President Jonathan — I think after a week or two — Chief Anenih phoned me and said he knew that SDP didn’t have funds to campaign effectively for our candidates. Therefore, they would be sending us some money to enable us campaign effectively for who was now our joint candidate. That was the note on which he sent the N100m they are talking about. On receiving the N100m, I promptly sent it into the account of the SDP at FirstBank in Abuja. From there, I set up a committee of the party to work out the modalities for distributing the money among the various state branches of the party and campaign organisations. Taking to account, for example, the number of candidates; whether the candidates for state House of Assembly, Senate, House of Representatives, governorship; and they did it (the sharing) rationally and fairly. The money was added to our own money, which was more than the N100m, and it was distributed to the state organs for executing the campaign and the elections. That was all that happened.
In summary, we had no contact whatsoever with Dasuki. We took nothing — not a kobo — from Dasuki. The money that came to us was from the PDP through Chief Anenih to me as the Chairman of SDP, which I then passed on to my party. My party had held a press conference on Monday, January 11, 2016, where they declared that I gave them the money in full promptly and they used it for the election. So, those who said money was given to Falae are lying; the money was only sent through me to my party and my party has acknowledged receipt in full. The money did not come from Dasuki but from PDP.
I read in the press when Chief Anenih said, in fact, the money he sent to me and some other people was his own money he sent on behalf of his party, not from Dasuki; and later he got reimbursement from Dasuki. All that has nothing to do with us; we knew nothing about it, we did not approve of anything. It is not our duty — either legal or moral duty — to begin to find out where PDP was finding money to pursue its campaign. We took no money from Dasuki; the money given was for the party, not for me. It was delivered to the party and the party has acknowledged receipt in full in a press conference.
How come some state chapters of the SDP are saying they did not receive any share of the N100m?
It is only Ogun State. We have effective branches in about 33 states. I was surprised to read that Ogun said they did not get their share. The truth was that the allocating committee in Abuja was supposed to send N8m to Ogun State. I know the amount was from the campaign fund; this (the N100m) was not the only money we used for the campaign; that was just a small part of what we spent on the election. Our own contribution was more than the N100m. The committee said it was going to send N8m to them (Ogun) but Chief Olusegun Osoba said the money available for the party was too small; that N8m could do nothing in Ogun, that he would take care of the needs of the party in the state; that we should leave what we were going to give to Ogun to states that were in need. Ogun knew about it; something was allocated to them but they declined to take it because they said they could take care of their needs. So, it is not true that they were not aware about the money.
Do you think your involvement in the scandal can rubbish your personality?
Of course, that is the whole point. From what I have told you, there is nothing that is legally or morally wrong with what took place. It is a party cooperation; it is normal. When there is such cooperation, the various participatory parties will contribute money to actualise the objective of the cooperation. We did it in 2007 when we adopted General Buhari, ANPP, DPA and other parties; there was nothing absolutely wrong with this. We did not go to Dasuki for money; it was the PDP that sent us the money. For the PDP to decide where they got their money is not our business. The PDP sent us the money, I sent the money to the party, the party said they got it in full and it was used for the purpose it was meant, which was the election.
So, anybody that is raising issues is merely trying to start a smear campaign and that is the truth of the matter. But, I am totally at peace with myself because my conscience is absolutely clear. Indeed, I am proud of my track record and with my performance even in this state (Ondo). I read an article in a newspaper where someone said in his opinion, the transparent manner in which I handled this matter should be a standard for other political leaders to copy. I am still very happy about that. There is no issue at all whatsoever. Those who are peddling such castigations have embarked on political vendetta: they have no basis for it.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said the money should be refunded and your party said no. What is your take on this?
I want to tell you that up to this moment, whether EFCC or anybody, nobody has even got in touch with me about this matter because they know the truth that I did not take money from Dasuki; it was the PDP that sent money to the SDP though me and the money was delivered to the SDP. It was legitimate, normal and non-controversial! That tells you that there is a smear campaign going on. Some newspapers said I will have to refund money when nobody has been in touch with me about the money. That report showed bias, malice and campaign of smear.
I have been a public officer all my life. I became a Permanent Secretary at the age of 39, I did not abuse my office; I became Managing Director of a bank at 42, I did not abuse my office. The signature of an MD of a bank is money, yet I did not take one kobo illegally. And at that time, my bank was one of the fastest growing banks in the country; I did not receive one single query from the Central Bank of Nigeria. Then, I became the Secretary to the Federal Government of Nigeria and a substantial amount of security votes was under my control, I did not touch one kobo illegitimately. Then, I became Minister of Finance of Nigeria, both naira and dollars were under my control at the Central Bank of Nigeria, I did not abuse the office. So, people should look at my type of person and say, ‘Can this person do this?’ As a young man, I needed money for many things; I didn’t take anything that was improper. When you grow old, the less you enjoy money. That is the truth of the matter. I feel ashamed that some people in the Nigerian public can be repeating this lie. It is absolutely false and there is no basis for it at all.
Do you agree with those who see this development as a plot to disunite the Yoruba nation?
Anybody can have a conjecture or hypothesis to explain a phenomenon but it is a possible hypothesis. Those people, whether in Yorubaland or outside, who don’t want us to be united must have been worried about what has been happening. You remember when I was released by my kidnappers, Yoruba leaders met in Ibadan for the first time in many years. Yoruba leadership was united over my issue and they said if Nigeria could not protect the Yoruba race, Yoruba will protect themselves. That might have given the impression in certain quarters that ‘so, Olu Falae has the potential to galvanise the Yoruba.’ And those who don’t want Yoruba unity can now see whether they can smear me, linking me with Dasuki fairly or unfairly. And Yoruba people are very critical; once they hear you are linked with a dirty person, they will be the first to condemn you. This is what is going on. It is a possible hypothesis. One has no facts but it does make sense that anyone who doesn’t want Yoruba to come together may be doing this to discourage the Yoruba from seeing me as a possible rally ground.
Assessing the ongoing anti-corruption campaign by Buhari’s administration, do you think it can lead the country anywhere?
It is getting out of hand. They know that there is no charge they can bring against me, that is why smear campaign is used as a substitute so that over time people will say I am a bad man. I read some articles in the paper that talked about “the increasingly controversial anti-graft war.” It is truly becoming controversial because it is no longer reasonable; it is beginning to look selective. How could you link me with Dasuki? The person I have not seen for more than 20 years. The man I had no dealing with whatsoever. It is important to clean Nigeria up. When we were launching SDP in Abuja in 2014, the title of my speech was ‘Nigeria Must Kill Corruption So That Corruption Does Not Kill Nigeria.’ I have been an anti-corruption campaigner all my life, so I support (any) anti-corruption campaign conducted within the confines of the law and fairness.
What do you think the present administration should have done differently?
Let me tell you a story: In 1985 when Buhari was the Head of State, then, I had retired from the civil service; I had joined the banking industry. This kind of thing was going on. Once a public officer is always a public officer, so I went and met with the then Head of Civil Service, Mr. Grey Longe, and I advised him to advise the government that they could not be going on sacking and probing people. There are two models to clean up a society: the Sampling Model and the Total Revolution, like the French Revolution. The one that might be suitable for our situation is for the government to take cases that are unambiguous and take such people as an example; take the money from them and send them to jail as examples to the system. Then, put that behind you and go ahead with the development of the society. But if you take all the time looking for every criminal to send to jail, that will be an endless journey. At the beginning, the people will hail you because they like to see big men fall, but as more and more people are destroyed, then, more and more members of the general population will be affected.
For some, their brothers or fathers or friends have lost their jobs and at the end of the day, the tide will turn and people will turn against that government. But to avoid that, my recommendation was to take a few people and make them scapegoats. Similarly, on this occasion, my advice will be those people who are the criminals in this system, whose crimes are unambiguous and documented, take them, apply the law, confiscate the loot they have taken, try them, let them go to prison. Do that for a couple of months and leave the rest for the police to do their jobs in a normal way. This omnibus anti-graft campaign phase would have been over but the police would continue to monitor the system and catch thieves and criminals. Then the government would focus on the development of the society.
There are many issues calling for attention right now. For example, the drop in oil revenue is worrisome because for 40 years when I was in the planning ministry, we have recommended that we should use the oil money to diversify the economy so that we can have other sources of income. For instance, they should develop solid minerals. Solid minerals have more potential for revenue than oil. If they had implemented the recommendation that time, we would not be where we are today. Secondly, we said government should generate 6,000 megawatts of electricity by 1980; it is in the national plan. If that was done in 1980, today we shall be talking of 100,000 megawatts; we will not be where we are. If we had diversified the economy by developing small industries and agro-businesses, we would not be where we are today. These are the problems crying for attention. If the government now tries to implement these recommendations, it takes time before the projects will begin to yield revenue. In the meantime, how are we going to cope? Iran has not entered the oil market; it is going to pump more oil and send prices down. I think we have a real economic crisis for now and I believe all hands must be on deck so that the system survives.
One of the reasons you supported Jonathan was to implement the 2014 confab report, but it seems the body language of Buhari’s government is not in support of the report. What do you think is happening?
They are not interested in the report; even when we were at the National Conference, the APC opposed the conference. And this is one of the reasons why we did not support the candidate of the APC because what is most important to Afenifere is the restructuring of Nigeria so that each area can develop at its own pace in accordance with its own priority. If we don’t do that, the crisis will continue. Restructuring, to me, is the number-one priority and we believe in it. And those who opposed it are naturally opposed to what I stand for, and I will not be surprised if such people work against my interest.
What will happen if eventually the report is not implemented?
Then, Nigeria will be as it is till eternity. Governments come and go but a day will come when one government will see the need to implement this report because, for the first time in the history of Nigeria, over 450 people from various sections of the society sat down for about six months in a very cantankerous society like Nigeria. And by some divine grace, we passed over 600 resolutions by consensus. To me, that was a miracle. I believe God had a hand in that confab and I believe that the document is going to save Nigeria.
