How Fayose erred with his allegation against Aisha Buhari

Governor Fayose unknowingly erred with his allegation against Aisha Buhari confusing the Halliburton scandal of 1994 with the Jefferson corruption of 2005  both of which happened at least 11 years apart.

A report on Premium Times has shown how Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti state unknowingly mixed up the Halliburton scandal of 1994 with the Jefferson corruption of 2005 in his allegations against the first lady Aisha Buhari. 

Both cases came to public awareness again after Governor Ayodele Fayose relived the controversy on Monday, June 20, stressing the role played by the first lady Aisha Buhari in the messy Halliburton scandal. The governor’s outburst came after his personal account in Zenith Bank was frozen by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

According to Fayose, his rights have been trampled on by the anti-graft agency. READ ALSO: Aisha Buhari Vs Fayose: Who is telling the truth? In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, Fayose said President Buhari was far from being a clean man.

“Even the President cannot claim to be an angel,” the governor said, in reaction to the freezing of his Zenith Bank account by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. “The estate he built in Abuja is known to us. His wife was indicted over the Halliburton Scandal (sic). When that American, Jefferson, was being sentenced, the President’s wife was mentioned as having wired $170,000 to Jefferson. Her name was on page 25 of the sentencing of Jefferson. We can serialize the judgment for people to see and read,” the statement added.

Fayose repeated the claim in a statement he released on Wednesday, June 22, by his chief press secretary, Idowu Adelusi. He said Mrs. Buhari refused to travel with the president to the United States because of her involvement in the scandal. He said: “It is on record that the President has visited USA three times and his wife did not travel with him.

Equally, she ought to have visited the USA last year September to chair a United Nation programme but she sent wife of the Senate president, Mrs Toyin Saraki to represent her.” However, Premium Times’ fact check has shown how Governor Fayose erred in his allegation against Mrs Buhari. According to the media platform, Fayose’s had clearly confused the Halliburton scandal with Jefferson corruption case when he said “Buhari’s wife was indicted over the Halliburton Scandal.” 

William Jefferson case Although, he cited the Halliburton scandal in his allegation against Aisha Buhari, Fayose was actually referring to the William Jefferson case of 1994. Jefferson, between 2000 and 2005, used his position as member of the U.S. House of Representatives to offer illegal services to private companies for cash rewards.

However, investigations into the Jefferson bribery started in 2005 after an investor alleged he paid $400,000 in bribe through Jefferson, for him to help persuade top government officials in Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon approve the use of a Kentucky-based technology company, iGate’s two-way broadband technology. It was gathered that Jefferson and his family, according to US authorities, received the mentioned amount through his firm, ANJ Group, for services rendered to iGate, an American broadband technology provider. On 30 July, 2005, FBI agents videotaped Mr. Jefferson receiving $100,000 in $100 bills in a leather briefcase at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Virginia. He was also recorded telling an investor Lori Mody, who was acting undercover for the FBI that he needed to bribe former Vice President Atiku Abubakar with $500,000, which he described as a “motivating factor” to secure the broadband contract for iGate in Nigeria but unknown to Jefferson, Mody was wearing a wire.

In August 2005, FBI agents raided Jefferson’s home and congressional office and part of the documents found mentioned that an Aisha Buhari transferred $170,000 to him through a proxy firm. “Government Exhibits 36-87 (6/26/02 $170,000 wire transfer from account in Nigeria in the name of Aisha Buhari to an account in the name of The ANJ Group, LLC, identifying “William Jefferson” as Beneficiary),” the U.S. Government Sentencing Memorandum said on page 22. Jefferson was subsequently sentenced to 13 years in prison for the bribery on November 13, 2009 and will be released from prison in 2023.

Halliburton Scandal There is every possibility Fayose had mistaken the Halliburton scandal to Jefferson’s case due to gravity of the fraud in the latter which is said to be the “Biggest Scandal in Nigeria’s History.” The Halliburton bribery scandal dates back to 1994. It concerned the payment of over $182 million to senior Nigerian officials, including, allegedly, past heads of states, by officials of an American firm, Halliburton, to secure a construction contract for a liquefied natural gas plant in Bonny Island in the Niger Delta.

The Halliburton bribery scandal was so large that even the former US Vice president, Dick Cheney was indicted by Nigeria and cleared after Halliburton worked out a $35 million settlement. The Halliburton scandal also named publicly top Nigerian dignitaries in connection with the scandal. Several foreigners involved in the matter have been prosecuted and some jailed in their home countries, but there has been no action on the Nigerian side. In June 2015, soon after he was sworn-in, President Buhari promised to reopen investigation into the scandal.