The Accidental Public Servant

by El-Rufai, Nasir

  Petroleum. When the time came to put National Oil (Nolchem) on the auction block, the attempted bid

  rigging and kickback schemes could not have been more open.

  National Oil was the former Shell Nigeria downstream business in which the government had bought

  a majority stake though Shell remained technically a partner and shareholder. The first bidding round

  yielded no actionable prices from our perspective. We cancelled the auction, waited a few months

  and re-launched the bidding. I do not know what’s so difficult to understand about the concept of an

  auction, but this time around we had a group of potential buyers who were under the impression that

  ’highest price wins’ does not necessarily have to mean that the highest price actually wins.

  Engen of South Africa, which was the former Mobil South Africa, pre-qualified, as had Mike

  Adenuga of Consolidated Oil and another friend of Atiku’s, Chief Igweh, the owner of Bolingo Hotels

  in Abuja. Shell and a consortium led by Mr Kola Abiola also submitted bids. When we opened the

  bids and were writing the evaluation report, President Obasanjo sent for me. He asked what was

  going on with National Oil, because Shell’s management had come to him complaining that they

  wanted to buy it back, but we had frustrated them. From Engen’s corner, South African President

  Thabo Mbeki had also called President Obasanjo and said Engen’s bid was being unfavourably

  considered.

  “Mr President, Sir. Let me explain what is going on.” I said. “This is what Shell wanted to buy the

  company for and we think it is worth more than that, it is even below our reserve price, which is why

  we cancelled the bid in the first place. I cannot recall the exact numbers but think Engen was bidding

  something like 28 naira per share, Bolingo was bidding 34 naira per share and Mike Adenuga was

  bidding something like 36 naira per share and that was the highest price. This is the deal we’re being

  offered. We are recommending the highest price for acceptance because all the bidders have

  submitted sound business plans and so are technically qualified.”

  The president waited a moment to see if I had anything else to say, which I did not. “Ok,” he said

  finally. “This is what is on the surface. Now tell me what is behind the scenes. Who is behind which

  company?”

  Obasanjo always wanted to know what was happening behind the scenes – he never entirely believed

  what was on the table was all there was. I think this was when I had begun to know him a bit better

  and he also had begun to trust me a bit more. My sense was that he began to realize I was open with

  every piece of information I had. I did not hide anything because I did not care who won the bid, I just

  wanted to sell the companies I thought were draining the economy and move on.

  “Well, the face behind this company is Bolingo, - Chief Igweh, Atiku's friend and PDP financier,

  ConPetro is Mike Adenuga’s and this company is Engen South Africa.”

  “Has the vice-president spoken to you in favour of any particular company?”

  “Yes, he did. He told me that both former President Ibrahim Babangida and Oba Sikiru Adetona, the

  Awujale of Ijebuland, had asked him to intervene in favour of Mike Adenuga, for Consolidated

  Oil/ConPetro. I had told the vice-president that no one could do anything to influence the outcome, so

  just to tell Adenuga to submit the highest price that he could pay. There was no other way to cut

  corners. ConPetro did submit the highest price and we therefore intend to recommend that the

  company be sold to him.”

  Obasanjo appeared satisfied with my explanations.

  That is what happened. Everything was all properly done, bids were publicly opened, and the highest

  bid price won. We signed and sealed the agreement and payments were made. The six-month

  transitional period embedded in the share sale agreement during which sudden board and management

  changes needed prior BPE approval began. That should have been the end, right? Wrong. Mike

  Adenuga had no intention of complying with the transitional provisions regarding board

  reconstitutions and job security during the period to enable a proper governance audit. He stormed the

  company’s head office with a detachment of armed mobile policemen like a cowboy, and asked the

  managing director, Mr Ojo, to vacate office immediately and leave the building, and also demanded

  that respected former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, should step down as chairman of the

  board without the prior knowledge and approval of the NCP. I was away from Nigeria on assignment

  and was livid on being briefed of these violations of the sale agreement. I therefore directed that the

  share certificates conclusively evidencing the sale should not be handed over by the BPE to

  ConPetro, until the Director of Legal Services reviewed the agreement, recommended options for us

  and appropriate sanctions. That was when the games started!

  First, Mike Adenuga sent one of his senior people with an envelope containing cash to Tijjani

  Abdullahi as his ‘thank you’ and demanded for the share certificates. Tijjani declined both the offer

  and the request. Then a couple of days before my return to Nigeria, the vice president called Tijjani,

  over-rode my directives, and instructed him to hand over the share certificates to Mike Adenuga

  without further delay. Thirdly, a day after I returned to the office, a BPE deputy director, Charles

  Osuji came to me to say he had a message from Mike Adenuga – a person I was quite upset with at

  that point. I was a little surprised because Charles was not working on the NOLCHEM transaction,

  but on the privatization of Nigeria Airways. The message he carried was a Zenith Bank account

  statement with twenty five million naira, then the equivalent of about US$250,000 in an account in

  some name I did not know.

  “What is this?” I asked.

  “Well, Mike Adenuga gave this to me to give to you as a ‘thank you gift’ for selling the company to

  him, so I opened an account to receive the money.” he said.

  “I did not sell the company to him,” I replied. “The federal government sold the company to him and

  everything was done properly until his violations of the share sale agreement. We all did our job, and

  that was nothing special. We do not need anything from him. We are reviewing the agreement to

  decide on the next steps.” I looked at the bank statement. “Whose name is this?”

  “Well I went and opened an account in this bank with a fictitious name. It is to show you that I will

  transfer the money anywhere you want.”

  “No, I do not want anything.” I said. “Charles, you are a nice guy, a good staff, do not get involved in

  this kind of thing. I will consider this as a first serious infraction and not report to the council, so just

  go back to Mike, give him his money back, tell him I do not want it, I do not work like that. And

  advise him not to test our will by violating the share sale agreement again.”

  So Charles left. A few days later, he was back.

  “Mike said in addition to the money in the account, he wants you to have an additional one hundred

  thousand dollars in cash. He thought the amount will now be adequate.” Charles said.

  Furthermore, Mike had apparently given him the $100,000 in cash, and it was sitting right outside in

  his car parked downstairs. I was supposed to go with him and collect it.

  “Charles, you ar
e not listening. Did not you understand what I said to you? Take back the money. If

  you do not take back the money, I will have to report this first to the privatization council and you

  will be fired. You will lose your job, and possibly, be prosecuted as well.”

  “You can’t do that to me, Sir. I am trying to help you. You have nothing. Since you came here, what

  have you got?”

  I shook my head.

  “I do not need anything. Did you think I came here because I needed something? I am here voluntarily

  to work, not to collect bribes. Who appointed you the custodian of my interests? Did I ask you to do

  this?”

  “No, but it is my duty as your staff to look after your interests because you are being foolish.”

  I may be naive, but till today, I believe that Charles believed he was doing the right thing, and

  probably thought he meant well for me.

  “Look, thank you very much, take back the $100,000 and give him back his 25 million naira and bring

  me zero balance in this account you have showed me so that I know he has got his money back.”

  “Ok sir, but Sir, you are making a mistake. Nigeria is not worth suffering for.”

  “Just do it and come back quickly.”

  The next day Charles came back.

  “Mike said he will not take the money back and that I should tell you that the vice-president, Atiku

  Abubakar, was consulted before offering you this gift.”

  As chair of the privatization council, the vice-president was my boss.

  “Really?” I said.

  “Yes.”

  “Tell him I still do not want his money. Bring me the zero balance tomorrow.”

  I then went to the vice-president’s office and told him the story. At the end, I said,

  “Now, I have just been told today – I was going to report this to you if he did not do what I said. I am

  keeping it under wraps because I think I can handle it. So I am giving him a chance to just get out of

  this and we will retain his services, which is why I have not yet reported it formally to you and the

  council. I have just been told that Mike Adenuga had your prior consent to offer this money. Is this

  what you are doing? Your administration is verbally fighting corruption and encouraging this kind of

  offers?”

  The vice-president appeared shocked. “Nasir, he is lying. It is not true.”

  “Well, Mike sent Osuji to tell me that you knew about the cash offer.”

  So he picked up his land-line phone and said, “Get me Mike Adenuga.” On getting a

  connection, he put Mike on speaker phone.

  “Mike, how are you? Did we ever discuss Nasir El-Rufai with you?”

  “Yes sir,” said Adenuga through the speaker.

  “And what did I tell you?” asked the vice-president.

  “Sir, you told me he is a straightforward person and that I should not try to give him any money or try

  to thank him in any way.”

  “So why did you send him money even though I told you not to?”

  “I am sorry sir. I just thought they did a good job and I ought to thank him as the leader of BPE. I am

  sorry sir.”

  The vice-president hung up the phone, turned to me and asked, “Now do you believe that I told him to

  do it?”

  “Well sir, what do we do now?”

  “Well, Charles must be fired immediately. You should bring a memo immediately to approve his

  disengagement.”

  Charles was a deputy director, so I could not fire him; I had to bring a request showing cause to the

  council to authorize his firing. The vice-president said, “Bring it, I will approve as chairman of the

  council and the council in full session will ratify it at the next plenary session. He has got to go, this

  conduct is not acceptable in a privatization agency.” As instructed, Mrs Modupe Abiodun-Wright

  took all the steps leading to drafting the memo for VP’s approval and Osuji’s appointment was

  terminated.

  A few weeks later, I reported the matter to the council for ratification in full session. Some members

  of the council were very angry. The attorney general, Bola Ige, opined that both Charles and whoever

  offered the cash should be prosecuted. Furthermore, the VP and I were obliquely accused of being too

  lenient with Charles and the council accordingly decided that Charles’ termination was to be

  converted to dismissal. Now, dismissal means he had lost everything – he receives no terminal

  benefits, he receives no retirement benefits, nothing. That was what finally happened. He lost

  everything. As for Adenuga, when I reported the matter to the council, I did not reveal his identity; I

  just stated the facts of the case. Once the attorney-general realized who was behind the scenes pulling

  the strings and sending the 'thank-you' cash, his resolve to prosecute considerably weakened, contrary

  to the desires of the council at large. The extent to which Adenuga’s attempted payment served to not

  only thank me but to give a taste of what was to come from successful bids of his in future

  privatization ventures I do not know, but at the BPE we became cautious with anything related to him

  from that point on. He did finally get a telecommunications license which was not issued by the BPE

  but another regulatory agency, with the help of the vice-president and concurrence of the president.

  As for whether I ever gave receiving the money a second thought, I can say in no uncertain terms that I

  did not. This is where some people have a difficult time understanding me to the point of disbelief,

  but I am really very proud of my parentage, person and my family name and would hate a situation in

  which I would be caught red-handed doing something dishonest. I do not know how I would be able

  to live with myself. I was really more concerned with Charles' bad judgment and future consequences

  on his career than anything else. I was and am still convinced that he was misguided into believing

  there is anything like free cash. He therefore situated himself as the negotiator and conduit of the

  gratification, thought I deserved to have it, convinced delivering it would make him look more useful

  in my eyes, and saw nothing wrong morally with his actions. I was quite certain he was just a pawn

  and at the end of the day he would be the loser because anyone worth a billion dollars has the

  capacity to limit what damage can be done to him. Mike Adenuga was worth more than a billion

  dollars at the time and I therefore knew nothing adverse would happen to him in a country like ours,

  while Charles would ultimately be the fall guy, and that was exactly what happened in the end. I tried

  my best to avoid that outcome, but Charles just did not see it.

  As soon as I left the BPE, Charles launched an effort to get back into the organization using the usual

  route in Nigeria - petition to a parliamentary committee headed by someone from his ethnic group.

  That attempt at reinstatement failed in spite of the willingness of BPE's leadership at the time to

  accept him. He made another attempt during the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee hearings on privatization

  from 1999 to 2011, which I understand was set up to ‘nail El-Rufai’ (again!). Charles Osuji appeared

  before the committee, and admitted under oath on national television - that he took monies from

  Adenuga to pass on to me, but never did. The committee chairman and members appeared shocked,

  one even called him a criminal - yet he walked out of the Committee Room a free man, suggesting that

  he was procured by my
political adversaries to give that testimony in the hope that the pre-arranged

  newspaper headlines the following day would damage my reputation. The DG of BPE, Bola

  Onagoruwa, who was Assistant Director (Legal Matters) at the time of the incident, and therefore

  familiar with the case immediately discredited the testimony there and then, and testified that Charles

  lied under oath about the details of what happened.

  Once the National Oil saga was over, there were not many more attempts to bribe me in that manner

  while I was at the BPE. Word about this got around and everybody got the message, not unlike my

  days in the private sector. The construction industry – and this seems to be the case in any country

  around the world, for some reason is widely acknowledged to engage in practices that were not

  always above board. At El-Rufai &Partners, we were constantly offered money in virtually every

  construction consulting job we had in the first five years of our practice. We always politely refused.

  Quantity surveyors keep the construction industry books, the financial accounts, so anyone wanting to

  do anything financially dishonest needs to have the quantity surveyor on his side. Eventually, word

  went around that these El-Rufai & Partners guys are crazy, they do not accept money, will not be

  compromised, and we began to get clients who heard that we could not be bribed. Anyone who took

  us on as consultants would be comfortable in knowing that we would not allow his or her money to go

  to waste, so we got a lot of work, particularly from private sector clients, because of that reputation.