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“So I was at the Air Force Station when a gentleman came over there and when he said he had a message from Abacha, I cancelled my flight and they set out to wait for me. I drove after them to the Castle. As we were about to move up, this elderly gentleman, Gwarzo he is called, had one of his Assistants try to bring out a suitcase from the boot of a car. I had an idea of what it could be…His Assistant then went and brought in the parcel: 2 million Dollars: new notes packed in plastic bags, fairly heavy” 

(President Rawlings: July, 2016)

“Gwarzo, our Nigerian sources further indicated, had told the media investigators that he was met at the Kotoka International Airport by Ibn Chambas and driven to the Air Force Station where the President was allegedly waiting for them. The sources said Gwarzo claimed that the Ghanaian Head of State subsequently invited Mr. Blavo to join them to the Castle where the handing over of the cash was done.”

 (The Crusading GUIDE, November 26, 1998)

The above two quotes attributed to former President Rawlings and The Crusading GUIDE respectively, separated by a period of 18 years as it were, has assumed a certain significance today in the wake of Mr. Rawlings’ ‘confession’ of receipt of $2m (and not $5m) from the late Abacha, hence this paper’s decision to take a trip down memory lane for the benefit of the Ghanaian public and posterity.

Please read on and stay tuned for more playbacks.

 

THE ALLEGED $5M “ABACHA MONEY”

… Ismalia  Gwarzo Still Talking!

By Our Roving Scouts

(Credit: The Crusading GUIDE, November 26, 1998)


Reports from the Nigerian political grapevine indicate that Ismalia Gwarzo, the man at the centre of the $5m ‘Lagos bombshell’ of a “bribery” allegation against Ghanaian Head of State, President J.J. Rawlings has divulged more details of his 1996 visit to Accra, Ghana during which he claims to have personally handed over the 5 million dollars in physical cash to the Ghanaian Head of State.

According to the grapevine sources, Gwarzo has revealed how the whole deal was allegedly struck in Accra, Ghana to some media circles investigating the financial transactions and dealings of the discredited Abacha regime.

“Gwarzo has given names of those present when he allegedly delivered the cash to the Ghanaian Head of State. He has mentioned  2 prominent Ghanaian State Officials, one of them, a Deputy Minister of State as eye witnesses to the delivery of the $5m physical cash”, intimated our Nigerian sources.

OUR SOURCES MENTIONED DR. MOHAMED IBN CHAMBAS, ONE TIME DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER AND NOW THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND MR. BLAVO, FORMER DIRECTOR OF STATE PROTOCOL, NOW GHANA’S AMBASSADOR TO FRANCE, AS THE GHANAIAN OFFICIALS WHO ALLEGEDLY WITNESSED THE HANDING OVER OF THE CASH TO PRESIDENT RAWLINGS.

Gwarzo, our Nigerian sources further indicated, had told the media investigators that he was met at the Kotoka International Airport by Ibn Chambas and driven to the Air Force Station where the President was allegedly waiting for them.

The sources said Gwarzo claimed that the Ghanaians Head of State subsequently invited Mr. Blavo to join them to the Castle where the handing over of the cash was done.

Gwarzo, our sources said, was accompanied to Ghana and Castle by a Senior Nigerian military officer who has allegedly corroborated the submissions of Gwarzo, as far as the $5m deal is concerned.

This unnamed Senior military officer of the Nigerian Army who is said to have accompanied Gwarzo on his mission to Accra, Ghana in 1996, has, according to our Nigerian sources, indicated  his readiness to publicly defend Gwarzo’s allegation that he had handed over $5m to Ghana Head of State on behalf of the late Nigerian Head of State, General Sani Abacha.

The sources said both Gwarzo and the unnamed senior military officer have expressed shock at the spate of Presidential and Ministerial denials coming out of Accra, Ghana, in the wake of the POST EXPRESS’ breaking of the $5m story.

Meanwhile, official Ghanaian sources continue to deny Gwarzo’s claims, and insist that the $5m allegation is a  “figment of Gwarzo’s diabolic imagination”.

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs source who spoke to us on condition of anonymity referred to the Ghanaian Chronicle report on how Gani Fawehenmi, a staunch anti-Abacha Leader, perceives the Gwarzo allegation, and asked Ghanaians to discard the allegation “because it is a Big Lie!”.

He said the latest twist Gwarzo is supposed to be giving to the allegation is not only morally reprehensible but very  crude and cruel.

“Rawlings is incorruptible. He has lived it and proved it over the years, and nothing foul that comes out of Nigeria or elsewhere, can destroy the integrity and reputation that he had built”, quipped the MFA official.

He appealed to Ghanaians not to waste their energies on “this base allegation”, but rather focus on the priority needs of the nation as it moves into the 21st century.

“There are bigger challenges ahead of us as a nation. Let’s move forward together towards finding the appropriate solutions, and discard these nonsensical diversions”, he insisted.
 

CHAMBAS REFUTES ALLEGATION AND SAYS IT IS PREPOSTEROUS!

By Kweku Baako Jnr.

(Credit: The Crusading GUIDE, November 26, 1998)

Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambers, former Deputy Foreign Minister and now Deputy Minister for Education in charge of Tertiary Institutions, has categorically denied allegations circulating in Nigerian political and media circles to the effect that he (Chambas) was an eye-witness to Gwarzo handing over $5m to Ghanaian Head of State, President J.J. Rawlings.

“It is preposterous, it has no basis, it is a lie. I deny it categorically”, Dr. Chambas reacted strongly when this writer (Kweku Baako, Jnr) called him on telephone last Tuesday afternoon for his reaction to the specific allegation about his supposed role in the alleged $5m deal.

Asked whether he had ever met Ismaila Gwarzo at the Kotoka International Airport during his tenure as a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the ever cool and collected Deputy Minister said he couldn’t recall ever meeting Ismaila Gwarzo “because I met so many delegates at the Airport I cannot recall whether he was one of them”.

Dr. Chambas further added that he does not even recall that Ismaila Gwarzo was here (Accra, Ghana) or not.

“AND SO IT IS NOT TRUE THAT YOU TOGETHER WITH MR. BLAVO WERE EYE-WITNESSES TO THE HANDING OVER OF ANY MONEY TO PRESIDENT RAWLINGS  IN ACCRA BY GWARZO ON THE LATE ABACHA’S BEHALF”, the writer queried.

“Without doubt, I have never seen any monies being given to President Rawlings or any one else. That is a fiction. It can’t be true. It is a lie”, answered Dr. Chambas.

Dr. Chambas expressed absolute faith in the integrity of President Rawlings and the NDC  government, and advised Ghanaians  to reject the allegation as a complete fabrication by whoever initiated it.

“President Rawlings is a wrong choice to stick this dubious allegation on. He is not corruptible, and the world knows it. That allegation should be quickly discarded. Ghana has more serious things to do”, he stressed.

The Crusading GUIDE had not been able to get Mr. Blavo’s reaction to the allegation at press time last Tuesday evening. Mr. Blavo is stationed in Paris as Ghana’s Ambassador to France. Efforts to get his reaction will continue.

Stay tuned for any further developments.



GWARZO’S  ALLEGATION  CANNOT BE EASILY DISMISSED!

– Says Kojo Armah

By Evelyn Abayaah

(Credit: The Crusading GUIDE, November 26, 1998)

 
More and more interest is being generated in the saga of the $5m ‘Lagos Bombshell’ unleashed by Ismaila Gwarzo, in Lagos in the wake of official investigations into the financial misdeeds of the defunct Abacha regime.

Ghanaian social commentators, newspapers and Members of Parliament among others, both in the print and electronic media, have been locked in a public debate as to the veracity or otherwise of the Gwarzo allegation, and how to handle the matter.

Last week, the NDC Member of Parliament for Klottey Korley Constitutency, Mr. David Lamptey described the allegation as the “work of evil detractors”.

Mr. Lamptey insisted that President Rawlings had proved over the years that he is incorruptible.

He demanded an immediate retraction and apology from the Nigerian newspaper and Gwarzo, not only to President Rawlings but also the OAU Secretary-Geneeral Salim Ahmed Salim “for defaming  this great son of Africa who at the mercy of his own life is doing everything possible to win a total economic and political emancipation for our continent”.

Reacting to Mr. Lamptey’s sentiments and demands, Mr. Kojo Armah, Convention Party (CP) Member of Parliament for Evalue Gwira, condemned the speed with which David Lamptey dismissed the $5m allegation.  (See The Crusading GUIDE, Nov. 19-25, 1998, edition).

He said Mr. Lamptey’s approach was (is) unacceptable. Mr. Armah said the allegation cannot be so easily dismissed as Mr. Lamptey had tried to do, particularly in view of the high position Gwarzo held under the Abacha regime, and the level of trust Abacha had in him, in terms of Financial and Security matters.

He referred to the Nigerian government’s disclosure that it had retrieved as much as $250 million in physical cash from homes controlled by Gwarzo, and quipped; “So if he says monies were given to some African Head of State, such an allegation cannot just be dismissed”.

Mr. Armah wondered why anybody should sound so dismissive of Gwarzo’s allegation when there’s even evidence that the man came to Ghana more than once, and that he was  the one holding Abacha’s purse.

“And so why should anybody doubt what he is saying without any substantive evidence to the contrary?”, he retorted.

The honourable Member of Parliament on the ticket of the Nkrumaist Convention Party (CP) conceded that even though the allegation might appear embarrassing to the President, there is the need for an independent investigation to be carried out into the matter.

“I believe that Parliament has the responsibility to set up an all-Party Committee to go into the depth of the matter”, he stressed.

He said Parliament has the constitutional authority to go deep into the matter because as long as the “President remains human he cannot be totally isolated from such human weaknesses”.

Mr. Armah said an independent enquiry is also necessary especially at the time that the eradication of corruption is high on the national agenda, and good governance is the talk of the day.

Reacting to Gani Fawehinmi’s emphatic dismissal of the allegation, Mr. Armah questioned the logic of it, saying Gani had based his dismissal of the Gwarzo allegation on his (Gani’s) high rating of Rawlings; pointing our that Gani is ignorant of what is on the ground.

The MP hoped the Nigerian government would help resolve the riddle by making available its report after the Investigations have been concluded so that based on that report some informed decisions can be taken.

He reasoned that the Nigerian government may not have initially and as at now, reacted to the newspaper report because investigations are on-going, and it may not want to pre-empt the outcome.

Mr. Armah concluded on an emphatic note “If investigations show that the allegation made by  Gwarzo is true, and that the President is guilty, then he can be impeached by Parliament in accordance with Article 69 (1&11)”.

 
GHANAIANS WILL BE HAPPY IF ALLEGATION IS NOT TRUE! – Says Papa Owusu-Ankomah

By Evelyn Abayaah

(Credit: The Crusading GUIDE, November 26, 1998)

The Member  of Parliament for Sekondi and Minority Spokesman for  Communications, Papa Owusu-Ankomah has said that Ghanaians will be very happy if the $5m dollar ‘bribe money’ allegation made against  Ghana’s Head of State, President J.J. Rawlings by Alhaji Ismaila Gwarzo, Security Advisor to the late Nigerian Military Leader, Sani Abacha, is proved  to be untrue.

Papa Owusu-Ankomah contended that it is important and crucial that the allegation is effectively established as NOT TRUE.

He, however, pointed out that only an “independently attained’ information that the allegation is not true would have the right impact and credibility against the backdrop of the growing media attention and public concern and debate the allegation has attracted.

“It is Important that it is properly established to the whole world that the allegation is not true”, he quipped.

He argued that the office of the President is a high office which should not be allowed to be assailed with all sorts of dangerous allegations, adding that such allegations bring the high office of the land into disrepute.

“If there’s anything the Nation can do to strengthen its confidence in the President in this regard, it should be done”, he remarked.

Papa Owusu-Ankomah reminded all that the allegation could be a concoction, tailored to destroy the integrity of both the President and the Nation, but that motive, he insisted, “must be proved because it is bad to let the matter remain within the realm of media and public speculation”.

The articulate Member of Parliament hoped that the House (The Legislature) will do what is appropriate in the present context, and thereby restore the confidence of the nation in the highest office in the land, the Presidency.