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NEWS INSIGHT
Did Nigerian-Lebanese millionaire Chagoury's $.5m donation get him seat at White House dinner? by Chido Nwangwu The last of the congressional hearing on donations and their relations to influence and policy in Washington is yet to be heard. Latest reports by The Washington Post show that Gilbert Chagoury, international Nigerian businessman whose Lebanese parents and family have lived in Nigeria for decades, was invited to a holiday dinner at the White House last year after contributing $460,000 to a voter registration group supported by the Democratic National Committee. Gilbert Chagoury was among several hundred guests at the December 21, 1996 dinner with President Clinton for top DNC donors, even though he was not a party contributor. "He attended the dinner because he had given generously to Vote Now '96, a voter participation project important to the DNC for its work in registering and increasing voter participation amongst disenfranchised and minority communities," DNC spokesman Steve Langdon said Friday night, November 21, 1997. Chagoury, has personal and business with ties to Nigeria military ruler, Gen. Sani Abacha. Chagoury has homes in Lebanon, the U.S., and France. The Post notes "his enterprises include oil production equipment, furniture manufacturing, food production and construction. Chagoury's construction companies also have built much of the new capital city of Abuja in central Nigeria." The report states it was at the request of Rev. Jesse L. Jackson that James B. Steinberg, Clinton's deputy national security adviser, and Susan Rice, now assistant secretary of state for Africa, met with Chagoury to discuss Abacha's policies on human rights, drugs and democracy initiatives, officials said. Rev. Jackson currently serves as Clinton's special envoy to Africa. Steinberg said in an interview that he and Rice agreed t o meet with Chagoury because "this was an ideal way to get a clear message" to Abacha about the U.S. government's displeasure with Nigeria's policies on human rights, drugs and moving toward democracy. It is a reference to the leverage and interests Chagoury shares with Abacha. The Post quotes Steinberg as saying Nigeria's embassy in Washington DC "has been a notoriously bad conduit for information." Jackson said that he was introduced to Chagoury in Washington eight or 10 months ago, but could not recall how they had met. He said he was unaware of Chagoury's contributions to Vote Now 96. In September 1995, Rice, then the NSC Africa director, joined George Moose, (at the time) assistant secretary of state for African affairs and special envoy Donald McHenry at a secret meeting with Nigerian officials in Geneva, officials said. An NSC spokeswoman said Chagoury joined the delegation for drinks. The Post's report points to the fact the U.S. tried private diplomacy again in August 1996, sending then-Rep. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.) to meet with Gen. Abacha. After the midnight meeting, according to an NSC official, a Nigerian aide took Richardson to Chagoury's home for pizza and a beer. The Washington Post quotes a lawyer for Vote Now 96 who said organization officials had never heard of Chagoury when he made contributions of $200,000, $10,000 and $250,000 to the group in September and October 1996. Foreigners in the U.S (that is, non-U.S citizens) are barred from contributing to political parties but they are allowed to contribute to nonprofit groups. U.S. ties with Nigeria have been strained since the 1995 hangings of nine political opponents and detention of many opposition politicians and journalists by Gen. Abacha.
First, Chagoury's business conglomerate has grown exponentially, globally, especially through the patronage of recent military regimes in Nigeria. Second, he has undertaken significant construction contracts in Nigeria with returns which have placed him in the top brackets of the wealthiest persons doing business in Nigeria. Third, one of the more interesting aspects of the Gilbert Chagoury-Clinton White House interaction is the role of international capital in the determining of the policies of countries and the games nations play artfully called diplomacy is not all it seems for those who are truly outside the loop of the power equation. Fourth, intentions can differ about the reason for supporting any cause(s) once you have additional interests flowing from your financial support. While Clinton's Republican critics believe Chagoury's donation to a non-profit organization is a subtle form of influence peddling which fostered his access to U.S National security officials, one of contacts and a close associate of Chagoury's told me "Gilbert (Chagoury) is very generous but focused. He should be commended for his generosity. Nothing dubious should be ascribed to his donation." Republican lawmakers and some Democratic congresspersons frown at the suspected link between such donations and the meetings wealthy donors, including Chagoury, have had with Clinton's White House officials. Hence, they question how such funds would have impacted on the decision-making process in the Oval office. Continuing congressional inquiries into such donations may, for the first time, bring into scrutiny the content and direction of recent U.S-Nigeria relations. Without a doubt, from oil pipelines multimillionaire Roger Tamraz to corporate executive Gilbert Chagoury and thousands of others with the wallet and will, there seems to be a shared resolve by foreign/international businessmen to do in influential places in the U.S what the U.S has been doing globally for over 100 years: putting a little cash into another country's political and economic process to achieve its own interests. How all these play out is yet to be seen.
*Nwangwu, Founder & Publisher, USAfrica Media Networks, serves director of
Media and communications for 100 Black Men, a coalition of
African-American men in business, academia, mentoring and community
service in 66 cities in the U.S. Some Black Mayors are members of the
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