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Obasanjo:
I am not Corrupt, I am a Rich Farmer !
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is reportedly earning more than a quarter of a million dollars every month from his large farm.
An aide has volunteered this information as Obasanjo, the leader of Africa’s most populous
country, sought to dismiss fears that he was enriching himself in office.
Obasanjo, a former army general, owns hundreds of hectares of land at Otta in Ogun State in south-western Nigeria, about 40 km from the country's commercial capital Lagos. Besides rearing chickens, pigs and ostriches, Obasanjo frequently uses the farm for diplomatic meetings. Earlier this month, he held a crisis summit there with five other African heads of state to discuss the latest upsurge in violence in Cote d'Ivoire.
Femi Fani-Kayode, a special assistant to the president, told IRIN that "some unknown people" were circulating allegations that Obasanjo was diverting state funds to his farm.
"The President makes 30 million naira (US $227,000) every month on the average from his farm," the aide said by telephone.
"When people say he is using state funds on the farm, it may help to show the kind of money he already makes from it." He declined to discuss Obasanjo's income from other assets.
Corruption has long been a bugbear in Africa's most populous nation. It is Africa's top oil producer, and ranks seventh in world terms, but more than 80 percent of Nigeria's 126 million people live on less than a dollar a day.
Obasanjo came to power through the ballot box in 1999, ending a decade and a half of military rule, and immediately declared war on corruption, which he branded a cancer,
Daniel Owusu Frimpong with
files from IRIN
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