El-Rufai in wrongful accusation controversy
From Laolu Akande,
New York
IT was a classic case of identity mix-up when the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, at the weekend in New York, accused a United States (U.S.)- based Nigerian lawyer, Mr. Emeka Ugwuonye, of fuelling anti-government feelings abroad using a false name.
Ugwuonye was until last month the chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO). He is also one of General Abdulsalami Abubakar's lawyers in the human rights violation case currently going on in a U.S. federal court.
The minister levelled the allegation while receiving a merit award from a prominent U.S.-based professional association, the Nigerian Lawyers Association (NLA). He alleged that Ugwuonye in March used a false name, Kennedy Emetulu, to "embarrass" the Federal Government by using the Internet to organise a campaign against dollar denominated salaries for the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Olu Adeniji.
Ugwuonye has denied the allegation of using a false name while Emetulu, a former journalist in Nigeria, who now lives in London, has also issued a statement refuting the minister's claim, saying he is a different person from Ugwuonye.
El-Rufai caused a stir at the prestigious yearly law dinner when he accused Ugwuonye of false declaration, arguing that the U.S.-based lawyer called himself Emetulu and signed a petition of Nigerians in Diaspora that protested the dollar salary on the Internet.
The petition drive, which was addressed to the United Nation's Development Programme (UNDP) and published by The Guardian, grew fast on the Internet with hundreds of signatories.
El-Rufai argued that Emetulu and Ugwuonye are one and same person. Adeniji is receiving a yearly salary of $120,000 (about N18 million), while Okonjo-Iweala gets $245,000 (about N36 million). The Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc) Act 2002 provides for N794,085 for ministers, which their other colleagues are receiving. A suit challenging the salaries by activist lawyer, Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi (SAN) is still in court.
After defending the salaries of the two ministers, El-Rufai expressed surprise that Nigerians abroad could oppose it, being the principal beneficiaries in government's attempt to encourage them back home.
He revealed how he contributed to the idea to secure the acceptance of Okonjo-Iweala, who was then the World Bank's Vice President.
Ugwuonye was at a dinner along with several dignitaries who included Attorney-General and Justice Minister Akinlolu Olujinmi, Nigeria's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Aminu Wali and a U.S. Congressman Charles Rangel.
Also at the event were some National Assembly members and Nigerian embassy officials. The list also included former leaders of the NLA Shamsey Oloko and John Edozien, as well as the current executives of the NLA, including its president Benjamin Chukunwe, Secretary Patrick Abohwo, Public Relations Officer Oliver Mbamara and Vice President Theo Ogune.
El-Rufai levelled the allegation while delivering his acceptance speech for the honour done to him by the NLA, making him their 2004 merit award winner. Last year, the association had honoured Okonjo-Iweala, just before she was named Finance Minister, and Mr. Bayo Ogunlesi, the head of the sixth largest Wall Street firm in the U.S.
As the minister was speaking, Ugwuonye who later told The Guardian he was shocked, could not resist it, stood up briefly to say: "That is not correct sir." But the minister did not respond.
The U.S.-based lawyer, in a statement after the ceremony, denied the minister's claim. He said: "The claim by Minister El-Rufai that I wrote an opposition letter to the Finance Minister on the dollar salary controversy was a false charge. Also, the claim that I could have written any such opposition under a name different from mine was also false and potentially damaging to my reputation as a lawyer, given that he made these allegations in a public gathering."
Ugwuonye added: "Ordinarily, this type of allegation would have been a matter for some recourse and protracted refutation. However, I have had to view the conduct and statement of Mr. El-Rufai in the context of the relationship that has subsisted between him and me in the past, as well as in the context of all that I have known about his dispositions as a person. He has been a friend and a brother."
He noted that in an effort to understand the minister's premise, "I did have a teleconference with him after the incident. In the course of that conference, I realised that he was misinformed and misled regarding my position on the dollar salary controversy."
Ugwuonye said that he would not like to " think he (El-Rufai) made his statement with malice, even though it did appear that he used the opportunity of a great speech to aim a well-calculated blow at me."
He continued: "First, the minister assumed that I had opposed openly the dollar salary. I had wondered why he should believe whatever he heard before he had opportunity to speak with me. But I learnt he had tried to reach me by phone on a number of occasions without success. So, we did not have advance opportunity to talk, and I had no idea what he heard and how he felt about it."
Ugwuonye then clarified his personal views on the salary debate. He said: "For the avoidance of any lingering doubts, I have not taken any open position on the dollar salary dispute. I have not had any position that I needed to put forward. And I would not have put a position forward under any other name apart from mine."
He said: "It is totally ridiculous to think that I would be afraid to own my position once I have taken one. The only time that I became openly involved in the matter was when some members of the NIDO Board wanted to issue a press statement on the matter and I advised them against it. I did so because I did not believe that they had the opportunity to do service to the merits of the debate. I was convinced that unnecessary excitement about the issue would only lead to an unnecessary protraction."
Ugwuonye continued: "As is now evident, even from the speech of Mr. El-Rufai yesterday (weekend) on the matter, some people disagree with me as to the priority of this issue in the scheme of things in Nigeria today. I did not think that the salary of Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala is among the most important issues that our country faces as to justify the amount of energy being dissipated equally by those who oppose it and those who think they should counter the former. Both sides might have jointly kept this distraction going for a long time.
"I believe that the Minster of Finance is a wonderful person for the job. Those with whom I have shared my` thoughts on this matter (Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike) have no doubt how proud I am of Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala. I do not think that she would ever engage in anything improper. Her records are unassailable in this regard. Given that esteem in which I hold her, I assumed that she would be focusing only on those things that are important for Nigerian people, and not be distracted by rumours and gossips about my position on the matter. Besides, even if one were ever to oppose the dollar salary, the last person to blame would be the minister. If there was anything I learnt from the incident of yesterday (Saturday) evening, it is that the dollar salary issue appears to occupy more space in the thoughts of Minister El-Rufai than I had realised."
Emetulu, in a response also faulted the minister's claim, declaring that he was still committed to the campaign against the dollar salaries.
The London-based Nigerian said in a statement that El-Rufai's claim was first disclosed to him by Ugwuonye. He added that later on Sunday, a man who claimed to be an envoy in the U.S., made another phone call to him on the same matter.
He said: "At about 12:30 that same day, my phone rang and the person at the other end introduced himself as Victor Uzoh of the Nigerian Mission in New York and asked to speak with Kennedy Emetulu. He said he was calling about a protest I was leading to the United Nations against the Nigerian government and that he was concerned that we are leading this protest without getting the right information from the Embassy."
Emetulu continued: "On closer questioning, he (the caller) said the protest he was speaking of was about the dollar salary affair, insisting that our protest is going to embarrass the government, etc." The London-based Nigerian continued: "Obviously, he (the caller) wasn't sure of what he was saying, because he kept on referring to this protest as impending. I then asked if he meant our March petition to the UNDP titled: 'Statement of Inquiry', he said yes. I asked if he'd read the petition itself, he said yes. I then asked him to state one line of the statement he found untrue or embarrassing to the government, he couldn't. He sounded very inarticulate and obviously lacks knowledge of the issue. He went on speaking and contradicting himself and it was obvious that someone just put him up to this at short notice without him familiarising himself with the issue. He asked for my address and how he can get information to me. I gave him my e-mail address; he asked for a fax, I told him he could use the number he has for the phone for the fax. When I asked his designation at the Embassy, he said he is a Consul. When I asked how he got my number, he said he got it from "some people who get news from the Internet". Of course, I suspected immediately that this chap was put to this task possibly by El-Rufai or his agents - all it was about was to ascertain if there indeed is a Kennedy Emetulu as claimed by Ugwuonye after the minister had already goofed. This Victor Uzoh then gave his number as 212-850-2000 (New York)."
Emetulu, who queried the government's intelligence gathering, added: "I am just terribly disappointed in the fact that a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria can be put up to this kind of disgraceful show when a simple inquiry would have ascertained that there indeed is a Kennedy Emetulu who has his own views and who has expressed those views separate from Mr. Ugwuonye's views."
He continued: "If a minister of the Federal Government cannot make the simple distinction between two separate individuals living in different parts of the world, months after this dollar salary issue first reared its head and with facts publicly available, I just wonder what kind of intelligence they work with or base their public policies on in Abuja."
Emetulu said that his responsibility "as a conscientious citizen", he was "able, ready and willing to play my civic role of challenging and criticising bad government policy, cannot be curtailed by intimidation or lies of any sort."
He continued: "I am still opposed to the dollar salary payments and I believe the President and the ministers concerned ran roughshod over our laws. I've made numerous statements, producing facts to back up that claim; and if he, El-Rufai, is interested in raising the issue once more, as he seems to now be doing, let him address the facts rather than go around publicly bandying unfounded allegations about identity of persons who oppose this clear illegality."
