Growing speculations in diplomatic quarters that the inability of former Finance/Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to bag the United Nations number two job was instigated from home got further credibility on Monday when an Australian newspaper published that President Olusegun Obasanjo may have scuttled the bid at the last minute.
According to a report on theaustralian.news.com.au written from New York by David Nason, the new UN Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, was set to announce the name of Okonjo-Iweala as the Deputy Secretary-General but could not secure the requisite endorsement from Obasanjo.
This, according to the report, made the UN boss to look for an easy alternative, a person that would accept the job at short notice. That was how Asha-Rose Migiro, described as "a novice foreign minister in Tanzania for less than a year", came in as a ready substitute.
"The favourite on most lists was former Nigerian Finance and Foreign Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a highly regarded Harvard-educated economist with senior-level experience at the World Bank.
"One story now circulating is that Ban wanted Okonjo-Iweala but at the last minute, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo withdrew his support.
"Having already advised the heads of UN regional groups of his intention to appoint an African woman at the end of his first week - briefing papers to this effect were widely circulated - Ban needed to save face.
"So he looked for an African woman who would take the job at short notice. Migiro fitted the bill."
When THISDAY sought the comments of the Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to the President, Mrs. Remi Oyo, yesterday, she denied that Obasanjo blocked Okonjo-Iweala.
Oyo said the story could simply not be true, stating emphatically that president Obasanjo did not and could not have blocked Okonjo-Iweala from the job.
Excerpts from the story titled "UN chief 'hits the ground stumbling'" reads:
One of the unlucky features of Ban Ki-moon's first two weeks as UN Secretary-General has been the absence of a traditional media honeymoon period. Instead of some leeway to find his feet, the veteran South Korean diplomat has been on the receiving end almost from day one.
This should not have surprised Ban. The general expectation at UN headquarters in New York was that perceptions of mismanagement, corruption, lack of accountability and missed reform opportunities - the legacy of KofiAnnan's final years as secretary-general - would carry over and deprive Ban of a scepticism-free passage into his new job.
But even allowing for this handicap, Ban's performance in his first two weeks has raised an enormous level of disquiet. "Hit the ground stumbling," was how one insider grimly put it last week. "It's early days, I know, but if I was working in his office right now, I'd be panicking."
Driving such criticisms have been inept media performances and baffling senior appointments that have raised doubts about Ban's ability to lift the UN from its organisational and cultural rut.
Ban came to the UN promising a lot. He was going to give the Secretariat new direction, restore the trust between it and the 192 member nations and making ethics and transparency UN bywords.
But two weeks in, people are beginning to ask if the UN, in stumping for the man known in Seoul as the "slippery eel", has bought a lemon. Nothing his fanned these flames more than Ban's decision to appoint Tanzania's novice foreign minister, Asha-Rose Migiro, as his deputy.
The move has shocked seasoned UN watchers and Ban's feeble attempts to end the controversy last week have only made things worse. Like Annan, who created the deputy's position in 1998 and gave it to former Canadian defence minister, Louise Frechette, Ban wanted a woman for the job. He also hoped to select an African.
The favourite on most lists was former Nigerian finance and foreign minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a highly regarded Harvard-educated economist withsenior-level experience at the World Bank. Migiro, foreign minister in Tanzania for less than a year, was not considered a contender.
That changed on January 5 when Migiro, chairing a meeting in Lesotho's capital, Maseru, received a phone call from Tanzanian President Kakaya Kikwete. The Secretary-General, Kikwete said, had just called to offer her the deputy's job. The condition was that Migiro accept immediately because Ban wanted to announce the appointment in New York that same day.
Shortly after, Ban reached Migiro on the phone himself. As one East African newspaper put it, she accepted the offer "almost in disbelief".
In New York the reaction was also disbelief. Migiro was an unknown from one of the poorest countries in the world. Before her surprise elevation to foreign minister, her ministerial experience had been limited to a junior social affairs portfolio.
Even her seat in Tanzania's parliament was questionable - being reserved solely for women.
And those who did know Migiro said she was shy and retiring, polar opposite character traits to her predecessor, Briton Mark Malloch Brown. Most importantly, Migiro had little background in management, yet Ban was entrusting her with one of the most difficult management jobs imaginable: the day-to-day oversight of the entire weird and wonderful UN bureaucracy.
Once it emerged that Migiro had won the job without any formal discussion about her role and had last year publicly supported Iran's nuclear ambitions, and expressed hope that Tanzanian uranium might one day feed Tehran's reactors, the battle was on.
For the best part of a week, Ban's official spokesperson was under siege asthe UN press corp demanded moreinformation about the Migiro selection process.
Last Thursday, when Ban held his first official media conference, he was able to answer for himself. "There was some report about Dr Migiro, whom I have chosen as the Deputy Secretary-General," Ban began.
"I have worked with her closely as a counterpart, each as foreign minister of our respective countries.
"Coincidentally, I was flying together with her on an airplane from a certain point to Tanzania while I was going to visit Tanzania.
"We were sitting together. We spent at least six hours talking together, knowing each other. I have engaged in many more discussions with her, and I have known her."
It was neither a full nor credible explanation and the impression left was of someone reluctant to be open and honest. It was also at odds with Migiro's claims, reported in Africa, that she met Ban only once, at a reception in Seoul, prior to being offered the job.
Nowhere has Migiro mentioned an intimate six-hour flight. One story now circulating is that Ban wanted Okonjo-Iweala but at the last minute Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo withdrew his support.
Having already advised the heads of UN regional groups of his intention to appoint an African woman at the end of his first week - briefing papers to this effect were widely circulated - Ban needed to save face.
So he looked for an African woman who would take the job at short notice. Migiro fitted the bill.
The $US18 million ($23.1million) in aid South Korea gave Tanzania last year - Korean aid had totalled just $US4.7million between 1991-2003 - helped convince Kikwete to give up his foreign minister.
How much truth is in this story will be clearer over time, but the mere fact that it is circulating is damaging to Ban and Migiro.
The Tanzanian is due to arrive in New York later today but, remarkably, Ban's office says there won't be any media appearances before she officially begins her duties next month.
(www.thisdayonline.com)

Herein below are some reasons for th rift between Obasanjo and Okonjo-Iweala; as posted by www.vanguardngr.com:

Why Okonjo-Iweala resigned:
ABUJA — FOREIGN Affairs Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala resigned, yesterday, in what was interpreted in political circles as the climax of her resentment of some happenings in the polity.

She was re-assigned to the Foreign Affairs Ministry from the Finance Ministry (her familiar terrain) only six weeks ago.
President Olusegun Obasanjo immediately accepted her resignation and praised her for her “unparalleled patriotism, dedication and loyalty.”

Although Dr. Okonjo-Iweala cited “compelling need to take care of pressing family issues” as reason for her exit, Vanguard gathered authoritatively that, that could not have been all to it. According to sources, soon after she came on board in 2003 as Finance Minister from her job as Vice President at the World Bank in the USA, Okonjo-Iweala tendered her letter of resignation. The reason at that time was irreconcilable differences with her boss.
But her father, a distinguished intellectual, was said to have stepped in, pleading with the President to ignore the letter.

Once she settled down to work, she worked tirelessly to secure debt relief for the country from its creditors especially the Paris Club.
President Obasanjo acknowledged this in accepting her resignation letter yesterday when he said through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Uffot Ekaette: “You were able to utilise the vast network and experience of over 20 years at the World Bank to contribute to getting our nation the debt relief that had eluded us for so long. You delivered on all the tasks and targets set for you in that sector.”

As Finance Minister, she was also chairperson, Economic Management Team. Then came the last cabinet reshuffle that saw her redeployed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a development that did not appear to go down well with her.
Sources said she believed that with all she had achieved in the ministry, she ought to have been given an opportunity to continue and besides, she thought that in the Finance ministry she was on a familiar terrain.

Things refused to get better between her and President Obasanjo who once acknowledged that she wept openly before him in her bid to secure debt relief for Nigeria from the Paris Club.
On assumption of office at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, she announced uncovering alleged fraud of $4.6 million at the ministry. The Presidency swiftly dismissed her claims, clearing her predecessor in the Ministry, Ambassador Olu Adeniji, of any wrong doing.

A statement issued by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Ekaette said “...her reference to the $4.6 million transfer to an international organisation, namely the International Sea-bed Authority, has been mischievously publicised to imply a cover-up in the ministry until she discovered it.

“This is incorrect. Nevertheless, it has unfortunately been made to reflect negatively on the conduct and integrity of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olu Adeniji.”
Ekaette said the fact of the matter was that the sum of $4.6 million was in March 2006 sent to the International Sea-bed Authority by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs instead of $22,000.
He said the head of the authority alerted Nigerian High Commissioner in Jamaica of the excessive amount sent to the authority and the high commissioner alerted the then Minister of Foreign Affairs (Adeniji) and the President.

The former Finance Minister saw this as public humiliation of her personality. She later retracted her statement, claiming she was misquoted by the press.
But the last straw was her final disengagement as Chairperson of the National Economic Management Team on Monday. Her position was taken by the Finance Minister, Mrs Esther Nenadi Usman.

However, Governor Orji Kalu of Abia State added a new dimension to the development when he told reporters in Lagos yesterday that Dr Okonjo-Iweala was instigated by policy makers in the United States of America because of her re-deployment from the Finance Ministry
The ex-minister although a Deltan by birth is married to an Abia and represented the state in the cabinet.

US policy makers instigate her, says Kalu
The resignation of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was instigated by policy makers in the United States of America because of her re-deployment from the Finance Ministry, according to Gov. Kalu of Abia State.
The governor, who spoke in an interview in Lagos shortly on arrival from the United States, said policy and law makers in America believed her re-deployment from the Finance Ministry was to pave the way for last minute looting of the treasury by the present government.

According to him, Dr. Okonji-Iweala was removed from Finance Ministry, not because she was incompetent, but because government had something else up its sleeves.
Kalu, who noted that he expected Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala’s resignation, said: “I never believed that when they removed Okonjo-Iweala from the Finance Ministry that she would stay. I spoke with policy makers in Washington, the state department and the White House.

“I expected the resignation and the resignation was discussed in Washington by both lawmakers and policy executioners. I knew Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala would go because the government is trying to take all the money now and side-track her.

“Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala has done the right thing and I congratulate her for resigning from a government that is not workable; from a government that is very corrupt and I have told everybody that this government is very corrupt.”

Obasanjo accepts resignation
Accepting her resignation, President Obasanjo in a letter signed by the SGF to Dr Okonjo-Iweala said: “Mr. President wishes to acknowledge the unparalleled patriotism, dedication and loyalty that you displayed throughout your tenure, first as Minister of Finance and lately as Minister of Foreign Affairs.”

Noting the achievements recorded during her tenure as Finance Minister and Chairperson, Economic Management Team, he praised her “for the success of the reform programme in the finance sector with clearly visible results being applauded world wide and by all Nigerians. You were able to utilise the vast network and experience of over 20 years at the World Bank to contribute to getting our nation the debt relief that had eluded us so long. You delivered on all the tasks and targets set for you in that sector by Mr. President. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you have within this short time set a tone for a transformation of the Ministry. This administration will certainly miss you

“Mr. President believes that although you left the cabinet, you will as a patriotic Nigerian continue to make positive contributions to the development of your beloved country and wishes you every success in your future endeavours,” he said.

Senator express mixed feelings
The resignation of Dr Okonjo-Iweala from the Federal Executive Council yesterday elicited mixed reactions from Senators with some commending her and others expressing reservations that her policies did little to alleviate the lot of the common man.
While some of the lawmakers appraised her performance in the cabinet as helpful to the improvement of the nation’s foreign economic profile including the reduction of the nation’s external debts, some said a proper assessment would only be given after the present administration.

Among those who commented yesterday were Senators Baba Tela (PDP, Bauchi North), Emmanuel Azu Agboti (PDP, Ebonyi South), Farouk Bello (ANPP, Kebbi Central), Badamaisi Maccido (ANPP, Sokoto North), Abubakar Maikafi (PDP, Bauchi South) and Joy Emodi (PDP, Anambra North).

Senator Tela: “I think she will be remembered as one of the most vibrant Finance ministers that we ever had. She was confident. She was focused even though when she came in she had a problem to get Nigeria out of the debt trap. She succeeded in ensuring that our debt profile was totally reduced and I think she will go down in memory lane as one of the ministers who really took Nigeria out of serious economic problems and wherever she finds herself, she will be well received.”

Senator Agboti: “Mrs Okonji-Iweala is a woman of substance. She was very careful in her approach to national issues and in my opinion, for her service overrides any other consideration. We will miss her.”

Senator Farouk Bello: “I think that is the most honourable thing for her to have done. This is on the basis that she had been leading the Economic Team and two things could have happened. If she had performed well, there is no reason for removing her but removing her would mean that the President has lost confidence in her in one way or the other.”

Okonjo-Iweala cites family reason
Speaking on her resignation on television last night, she affirmed that she was leaving to “take care of my family and Mr. President has been gracious enough to allow me leave.”
She was “grateful for the opportunity to serve” and described her experience in government as wonderful. She was also “grateful to God and all Nigerians.”
(www.vanguardngr.com)