Fools Knaves And Heroes by Jeffrey Archer

Author:Jeffrey Archer [Archer, Jeffrey]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Published: 2012-03-28T18:45:43+00:00

friend, and when twelve years later his

father died Eduardo succeeded to the

Prentino throne. There were seven sons

in all: the second son, Alfredo, was

now in charge of banking; Joao ran

shipping; Carlos orga

34

The Coup

nisedconstruction; Manoel arranged food

and supplies; Jaime managed the family

newspapers, and little Antonio, the

last- and certainly the least – ran the

family farms. All the brothers reported

to Eduardo before making any mayor

decision, for he was still chairman of

the largest private company in Brazil,

despite the boastful claims of his old

family enemy, Manuel Rodrigues.

When General Castelo Branco’s military

regime overthrew the civilian government

in 1964 the generals agreed that they

could not kill off all the de Silveiras

or the Rodrigues so they had better

learn to live with the two rival

families. The de Silveiras for their

part had always had enough sense never

to involve themselves in politics other

than by making payments to every

government official, military or

civilian, according to his rank. This

ensured that the Prentino empire grew

alongside whatever faction came to

power. One of the reasons Eduardo de

Silveira had allocated three days in his

crowded schedule for a visit to Lagos

was that the Nigerian system of

government seemed to resemble so closely

that of Brazil, and at least on this

project he had cut the ground from under

Manuel Rodrigues’ feet which would more

than make up for losing the Rio airport

tender to him. Eduardo smiled at the

thought of Rodrigue8 not realising that

he was in Nigeria to close a deal that

could make him twice the size of his

rival.

As the black Mercedes moved slowly

through the teeming noisy streets paying

no attention to traffic lights, red or

green, Eduardo thought back to his first

meeting with General Mohammed, the

Nigerian Head of State, on the occasion

of the President’s official visit to

Brazil. Speaking at the dinner given in

General Mohammed’s honour, President

Ernesto Geisel declared a hope that the

two countries would move towards closer

co-operation in politics and commerce.

Eduardo agreed with his unelected leader

and was happy to leave the politics to

the President if he allowed him to get

on with the commerce. General Mohammed

made his reply, on behalf of the guests,

in an English accent that normally

35

A Quiver Full o/A“ows

would only be associated with Oxford.

The general talked at length of the

project that was most dear to his

heart, the building of a new Nigerian

capital in Abuja, a city which he

considered might even rival Brasilia.

After the speeches were over, the

general took de Silveira on one side

and spoke in greater detail of the

Abuja city project asking him if he

might consider a private tender.

Eduardo smiled and only wished that

his enemy, Rodrigues, could hear the

intimate conversation he was having

with the Nigerian Head of State.

Eduardo studied carefully the outline

proposal sent to him a week later,

after the general had returned to

Nigeria, and agreed to his first

request by despatching a research team

of seven men to fly to Lagos and

complete a feasibility study on Abuja.

One month later, the team’s detailed

report was in de Silveira’s hands.

Eduardo came to the conclusion that

the potential profitability of the

project was worthy of a full proposal

to the Nigerian government. He

contacted General Mohammed personally

to find that he was in full agreement

and authorised the go-ahead. This time

twenty-three men were despatched to

Lagos and three months and

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