While a number of Nigerians in the corridors of power, ranging from politicians to bankers to socialites, entertainers etc have been known to
Here are three of such Nigerians who fit into these categories.
Festus Keyamo: Long before he aligned himself with the ruling party, Festus Keyamo paraded himself as a human rights lawyer cum activist. Perhaps because he once had a stint in the chambers of the late Gani Fawehinmi, the urge to want to be seen as a social crusader of some sort, appealed greatly to him. But not many know that the now Minister for Labour and Employment once had a fraud case that saw him having a very brief stint in prison. This was in the late 90s. A Federal High Court had fined a shipping company, Express Cargo Shipping Company of $25,000 while detaining its vessel for committing an offense that contradicts the rules and regulations of Nigeria’s water ways. The ship however managed to flee and not pay the fine. Months later, another ship owned by the same shipping company got detained again in Lagos. This time, the Captain of the ship decided to give a lawyer (Festus Keyamo) $25,000 cash to settle the court. Here is the twist. Rather than settle the court, Festus decided to convert the money for personal use, leaving the shipping company high and dry. He got docked. Somehow, he managed to come out unscathed and today he is not only a SAN, he is a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Atiku Bagudu: Despite coming from a wealthy home, Atiku Bagudu, a former Senator and now governor of Kebbi State couldn’t hold back from helping himself from Nigeria’s cookie jar, an act that eventually landed him in a US jail. A very close ally of late dictator, General Sani Abacha, Bagudu was not only the conduit through which Abacha siphoned the over $2.2 billion he stole from nation’s coffers, he was responsible for laundering the loot on behalf of the late dictator and the destination for laundering the loot was Jersey, an island nation nestled between Britain and France. However, Bagudu chose to reside in the US while coordinating and keeping tab on the loot which he kept in accounts of shell companies. It was in the process of investigating and tracing where the loot was kept after the death of Abacha that the trail led back to Bagudu who was promptly arrested and jailed for six months while awaiting extradition to Jersey to answer questions regarding the loot. He was able to extricate himself and avoid extradition by cutting a deal with the US authorities to return a huge part of the stolen money. He was subsequently released and extradited to Nigeria to face charges. But till this day, not one charge has been brought against him by the Nigerian government. He has been a former senator since his return and is currently a two-time governor of Kebbi State.
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi: In 1995, a certain Igbo trader by name, Gideon Akaluka living in Kano was beheaded by eight extremists for allegedly using pages of the Koran to clean up after visiting the toilet. His head was then paraded around the streets of Kano. The then military head of state, General Sani Abacha got Sanusi Lamido Sanusi who had just returned from Sudan where he bagged a degree in Sharia and Islamic Studies from the International University of Africa, arrested, for being the one who mobilized the extremists. While Abacha got the eight extremists killed for attempting to start a religious uprising with their act, Sanusi was however spared following interventions from highly placed Muslims including a former First Bank chairman, Alhaji Umar Mutallab. Their reason was because Sanusi was already being treated like a pariah because like him, his father, Aminu Sanusi, was also deposed as the Emir of Kano. Listening to the voice of reason, Abacha spared him and moved him to a prison in Sokoto where he was locked up for two years. Upon his release, he was handed over to Mutallab who pushed him into banking from where he rose to become the Central Bank of Nigeria’s governor and subsequently the Emir of Kano until he was deposed in March. Even though he is no longer an Emir today, Sanusi still retains friends in high places across all sectors of the economy and with talks of a political alliance in 2023, Nigerians should get ready to see/hear more of him.
