Adeola Aderounmu.

 

CACOL is an organisation that all Nigerians should belong to. This is the kind of association that should not be undervalued or underestimated. It should be supported by all and sundry.

Whoever the brain is behind this organisation gets my highest recommendation. I hope you stay on course. I hope you’ll never derail. I hope you’ll never become or that you are not yet a tool in the hands of some crazy politicians or socialite seeking vengeance.

With the kind of courage shown so far by CACOL, the people’s revolution is not far. This action by CACOL should symbolize what lies ahead for the corrupt leaders /politicians in Nigeria. The clock is ticking on them and their time is almost up. The people will rise up and take what is theirs. It is a function of time, it will happen.

Evil will not prevail for too long, voices of reasoning are emerging and coalitions upon coalitions will emerge. The people will seize power on the long run and their votes will count-in a time not too long again. It will come to pass…the people’s revolution is looming.

Nigeria Nov 14 2007.

Youths this morning under the aegis of Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, (CACOL), stormed the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) in Lagos to demand the immediate arrest and prosecution of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. The youths, carrying placards and chanting songs, alleged in the petition they submitted to EFCC that the ex-president illegally accumulated billions of naira while he was in office.

They said that there are at least three main reasons why the EFCC must arrest the former president who is no longer covered by immunity.

Among the reasons cited are the setting up of the Bells University of Technology, Ota, with the sum of N40 billion; the lunch of his “private” library during which N6.5 billion was donated by Nigerian businessmen and top government functionaries while he was still in power and the Obasanjo Farms in Ota, worth billions of naira.The petition reads: “The Bells University was established between 2001 and 2007 when Obasanjo was the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.“The university has a gross asset of about N40 billion. The former president is the sole owner and financier of the library located in Abeokuta, the Ogun State Capital.

 

“For eight years, while he was in power, Chief Obasanjo sustained a devilish desire to strengthen his chicken farm while exploiting the power of his office to mortally destroy his competitors.”

 

The chairman of CACOL, Mr. Debo Adeniran, said that after the petition, if Yar’Adua and Ribadu did not summon enough courage to arrest and prosecute Obasanjo, they will be telling the world that some people are above the law.

 

The youths were singing “Obasanjo lo so ra, Obasanjo be careful o, iku to pa Sani Abacha lai yo kondo, ko ma si eni ti ko le pa.”

 

CACOL added that if these main reasons are not enough for EFCC to begin investigating Obasanjo, they must look into the claim by the former Abia State governor, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, now standing trial for alleged corruption, that he gave the former president $1 million for his 1999 presidential campaign or ask Obasanjo to explain how the N521 billion given to the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) was tilized.

To help the EFCC not to mistake the former president for another person while effecting his arrest, the group described Obasanjo vividly as follows:

“Obasanjo currently lives in Ota, where he could be found and apprehended. He spends most of his time in the day at the Obasanjo farms in Ota and could be seen at home in the evenings with his friends, most time playing draft.
“He is dark, 5.9 feet tall, stocky, with brown eyes. He is easy to anger, pugnacious, infuriated easily by logical arguments in almost every encounter and easily provoked by the least of matter.” 

Copied from http://www.thenewsng.com/modules/zmagazine/article.php?articleid=20459(The News: Nigeria’s Leading Weekly News Magazine)__________________________________________________________________________

This group, CACOL, not only stated what they wanted, they also followed it up with action. This is similar to the monks’ protest in Burma. It will be nice to know more about CACOL, their contact information, website and membership requirements.

In the future, CACOL should make public announcements to sensitise more people to join their protests, they should send sms to several mobile phones and do all they can to involve as many people as possible. If the ountry stands still for several days just to bring corrupt people to face the law, it is more than worth it! They should make it a massive protest, sustain it for several days (depending on several factors of course), stay focus on their demands and make things uncomfortable for the administrators until they start to yield to popular voices.

 All Nigerians should join in the course of bringing corrupt politicians to judgment. Not only Obasanjo, the list is endless and very long. Ibori, Odili, Atiku, Lucky Igbinedion, David Mark…..I am sure CACOL have a list they are working on. This should just be the beginning and you have my full support.   

….. AND I hope the EFCC will start to act on this impulse they have received. To do nothing means that we can start to ask for the scrapping of the EFCC and then we will find alternatives to bringing looters to judgment.

……We have no trust in Aondoankaa, his mission is clear enough: Emphasis the rule of law to save corrupt politicians! We all know why he is doing this. It’s so obvious. Protect the people you served while you were a nobody. Protect the people who nominated you for AGF. Very useless attitude but for a good personal reason. A very irresponsible human being is made the AG for personal reasons. Where is the reason that would serve the benefit of the down-trodden, the hungry people, the helpless masses who cannot spend 100 naira a day as individuals or as a family? The fake attorney general will soon realise that:

The voices and actions of the people remain the strongest influence in governance. Now is the time to act, Arise O compatriots!