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| Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) |
Olanipekun (SAN), has disclosed that there was no Nigerian that former
President Goodluck Jonathan feared more than Bola Tinubu, a national
leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Olanipekun said this while recounting how he handled Tinubu’s case at
the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, as well as another case involving
Jonathan simultaneously.
Olanipekun recalled in an interview that Jonathan’s camp “believed they
were contesting election against him (Tinubu), as the arrowhead of the
opposition.
“One thing I also noticed was that Jonathan’s team started withdrawing from me gradually because of the Tinubu factor.
“A lady, whose name I don’t want to mention, called me one day and said
‘these people are in trouble, why are they running away from you?’”
The SAN further stated that former President Umaru Yar’Adua would have been the best president Nigeria ever had.
“He was a gentleman per excellence but was overwhelmed by his illness. He was so humble, intelligent, honest and frugal.
“He was the one who appointed me as Pro Chancellor of the University of
Ibadan and he told me, Wole, I know you are going to help me revive and
revamp that place.
“Thank God we did that eventually. We changed the entire face of the university.”
On war against corruption, the senior lawyer said while he prays for woe
betide anybody who has looted the treasury or any person who uses
position to amass wealth, President Muhammadu Buhari and his government
should stop describing Nigeria as a country that is corrupt.
“If you know some judges are corrupt, deal with them, but don’t go to
another country to say that the judiciary in your country is corrupt;
nobody will come there because it is about investment and the rule of
law.
“And when you talk of corruption among lawyers, who are the people? It
takes two to tango. Let every politician in Nigeria swear by the god of
thunder that he has not tried to induce a judge.
“Let the President take a cue from the United States President, Barack
Obama. George W. Bush squandered American funds on the Gulf War as
President of the US because he wanted Saddam Hussein by all means –dead
or alive- after the September 11 attack.
“The economy of the US was comatose when Obama took over, but did you
hear him say any bad thing about Bush? He had his own agenda. He started
issuing presidential orders and proclamations and within two or three
years, the economy was revived without him condemning anybody.
“To me, government is a continuum. I’m not in the Peoples Democratic
Party or the APC; I don’t even see any difference between the two of
them when it is so easy for the PDP people to move to the APC and
immediately become progressives. You don’t sell that to me. Mr.
President should have an inclusive government”, he added.
