by Olatunbosun awoniyi
More details are emerging of how the money officially set aside for arms in the office of the immediate past National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, was shared under different guises among corrupt officials.
A serving colonel in the Nigerian Army was on Monday arrested over his alleged involvement in the sharing of money from the office of the National Security Adviser.
There were indications on Wednesday that the 27-man task force investigating the arms procurement scandal under the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration had traced 400 million naira (over 2 million dollars) to the account of a serving army officer.
Financial security operatives were still investigating the account of the officer, who featured in the procurement of arms in the immediate past administration.
Nigerian President Mohamud Buhari has launched a crackdown on endemic graft since taking office in May 2015. Nigeria’s security architecture has been disrupted by the recent terror attack and the impact could be felt across key sectors of the economy.
A presidential investigations committee into arms procurement revealed in its interim report that it found extra-budgetary spending by the former administration, all managed and supervised by Dasuki, a retired army colonel.
Nigeria’s anti-graft agency have charged Dasuki of diverting funds meant for the procurement of military weapons and equipment to political campaigns for the reelection of former president Jonathan.
But the former president said he never awarded any 2 billion dollars arms contract, suggesting that the claims by the Buhari administration were false and unsubstantiated.
Dasuki had also argued along that line.
Several high-profile politicians and media proprietors have so far been named as beneficiaries of significant cash dole-outs made by Dasuki.
Among those currently facing different charges before different courts in Nigeria are the Acting Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Haliru Bello, a former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa; a former Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda; and the founder of Daar Communications Plc, Raymond Dokpesi.
Dokpesi has declared that the arms purchase scandal currently being investigated by the security agencies is a hoax.
He said the opposition was experiencing a massive persecution, political vendetta of the kind never before seen in the land and targeted at the leadership, membership and sympathizers of the opposition by the government of the day.
Spokesperson for the PDP, Olisa Metuh, is currently being detained by the anti-graft agency following his alleged involvement in the controversial arms deal scandal.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) team of investigators looking into how the office of the National Security Adviser shared funds meant for fighting Boko Haram has detected another line of payment made to companies linked with Thisday publisher and owner of Arise TV, Nduka Obaigbena.
On Wednesday night, a former military governor of Kaduna State and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Lawal Jafaru Isa was picked up by the EFCC.
Isa is the first chieftain of the APC arrested by the EFCC since the beginning of a sweeping probe into the alleged diversion of 2.1 billion dollars meant for arms purchase by officials of the immediate past administration.
Speaking at a meeting with online media practitioners and broadcast media managers in Abuja on Wednesday, the EFCC Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu said more influential Nigerians are on the radar of the organization.
“In the coming weeks, they would have their days in court and Nigerians will be kept fully abreast of the results of the Commission’s investigations,” he added.
“Apart from bringing corrupt public officers to justice, we are determined, in line with the stance of the current administration, to send an unmistakable message to everyone, that no Nigerian shall be regarded as being above the law or treated as a sacred cow as far as the fight against corruption is concerned,” he said.
Nigerian troops were denied weapons to fight Boko Haram and thousands of lives were lost because of rampant fraud in the procurement process, according to Buhari.
He ordered anyone involved in corrupt multi-billion dollar deals for weapons and equipment to be “brought to book” after receiving a report from a committee set up to probe the issue.
Under the former administration, Boko Haram captured swathes of territory in its quest for a hard-line Islamic state in the remote northeast, threatening Nigeria’s sovereignty.
Troops regularly complained they lacked the weapons and equipment to fight the better armed rebels until the armies from neighboring countries joined the fight. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
