By Kio Amachree
Many years ago, during his tenure as Nigeria’s military leader, President Olusegun Obasanjo called my father, Chief Godfrey Kio JaJa Amachree, QC, at his Western House office.
He asked him to use his influence with a major American oil company to funnel money into his personal bank account.
It was illegal.
My father told him clearly that, as a Queen’s Counsel and a citizen of Nigeria, he could not participate in corruption and theft.
What Obasanjo did not know was that the call was on speakerphone. It came during a meeting between my father and his clients—the very American oil companies Obasanjo was trying to do private business with. They listened to the entire conversation.
When the call ended, they warned my father: Obasanjo would retaliate.
They were right.
Obasanjo canceled my father’s oil license. He shut down his oil bloc—an oil bloc given to him by the state for services to the nation during the war. He then ordered a tax investigation into my father’s holdings in Lagos State.
The justification was political and personal: how could a “fisherman from Rivers” own so much property in Yoruba Lagos?
He instructed the then governor, Governor Lawal, to purge Amachree—to teach him a lesson. This is Yoruba land, he was told. He has no right to it.
I witnessed this myself.
Governor Lawal went to work, using every tool available to damage my father’s life and business.
At the center of Obasanjo’s operations was a bagman, Clarkson Majudemi. When Governor Lawal traveled to London to collect funds that were meant to be held for him, Clarkson denied everything—said he knew nothing. The governor, shocked and betrayed, suffered a heart attack and died.
Years later, power shifted.
Obasanjo left office and, at one point, was reduced to flying economy on British Caledonian Airways. On a flight to London, he insisted on sitting in first class.
My father was already seated there.
An argument broke out mid-flight. My father confronted him directly. The exchange was heated. Passengers watched—and when it ended, the cabin broke into applause.
Later, the two men reconciled.
But after Obasanjo took away my father’s oil license, the relationship had already hit rock bottom.
⸻
I have seen too much in my life to look the other way at what is happening in Nigeria today.
Nothing has improved in forty years. It has gone downhill all the way.
Today, I watch the same system operate under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu—a system of patronage, silence, and normalized corruption. Figures like Nyesom Wike, now operating from Abuja, allocating properties and power to friends and family, are part of the same pattern.
When I write, you are reading the words of a man who has witnessed and lived through Nigeria’s history.
I am not a fly-by-night commentator.
I am real history.
I know how power works in Nigeria—past, present, and where it is heading.
I will not accept the normalization of corruption.
I will not accept the attempt to turn Nigeria into a dictatorship.
If violence is used, those enabling it should be very careful. The same Western faces smiling today are not loyal—they are transactional. They will use any leader until he is no longer useful.
But if they are embarrassed, if their association is exposed, then the calculation changes.
⸻
I am not running for president.
I am not a member of any political party.
I am Kio Amachree—a citizen who has come to the conclusion that enough is enough.
It is time for real change.
⸻
Hashtags
#Nigeria #Obasanjo #Tinubu #Wike #Corruption #OilPolitics #Accountability #AfricanLeadership #KioAmachree
