Despite
a court ruling that the embattled former National Security Adviser,
Dasuki Sambo be allowed to travel overseas for medical attention, the
Federal Government has ordered his arrest.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, November 17, ordered the
arrest of former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki
(rtd), who has been under house arrest for almost two weeks after the
DSS laid seige on his house despite cpurt orders.
The President ordered the arrest of the former NSA over the
misappropriation of billions of dollars meant for the procurement of
arms to prosecute the war against terrorism. The order for the arrest
was also extended to other persons found culpable in the fraudulent
deal.
The directive followed the release of an interim report by the
13-man presidential committee set up by Buhari to investigate the
procurement of equipment for the Armed Forces and Defence sector from
2007 to date.
A statement issued by the president’s media aide Femi Adesina
yesterday said though the committee was yet to complete its work, its
interim report unearthed several illicit and fraudulent financial
transactions.
"On the authority of Mr President, a 13 man committee was set
up by the Office of the National Security Adviser to audit the
procurement of arms and equipment in the Armed Forces and Defence sector
from 2007 to date. While the committee which was inaugurated on 31
August 2015 is yet to complete its work, its interim report has
unearthed several illicit and fraudulent financial transactions.
As part of the findings, the committee has analyzed
interventions from some organizations that provided funds to the Office
of the National Security Adviser, Defence Headquarters, Army
Headquarters Naval Headquarters and Nigerian Air Force Headquarters,
both in local and foreign currencies.
So far the total extra budgetary interventions articulated by
the committee is Six Hundred and Forty Three Billion, Eight Hundred and
Seventeen Million, Nine Hundred and Fifty Thousand, Eight Hundred and
Eighty Five Hundred Naira and Eighteen Kobo (N643,817,955,885.18).
The foreign currency component is to the tune of Two Billion,
One Hundred and Ninety Three Million, Eight Hundred and Fifteen Thousand
US Dollars and Eighty Three Cents ($2,193,815,000.83).
These amounts exclude grants from the State Governments and
funds collected by the DSS and Police. It was observed that in spite of
this huge financial intervention, very little was expended to support
defense procurement.
The committee also observed that of 513 contracts awarded at
$8,356,525,184.32; N2,189,265,724,404.55 and €54,000.00; Fifty Three
(53) were failed contracts amounting to $2,378,939,066.27 and
N13,729,342,329.87 respectively.
Interestingly, it was noted that the amount of foreign currency
spent on failed contracts was more than double the $1bn loan that the
National Assembly approved for borrowing to fight the insurgency in the
North East.
The committee also discovered that payments to the tune of
Three Billion, Eight Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N3,850,000,000.00)
were made to a single company by the former NSA without documented
evidence of contractual agreements or fulfillment of tax obligations to
the FGN.
Further findings revealed that between March 2012 and March
2015, the erstwhile NSA, Lt Col MS Dasuki (rtd) awarded fictitious and
phantom contracts to the tune of N2,219,188,609.50, $1,671,742,613.58
and €9,905,477.00. The contracts which were said to be for the purchase
of 4 Alpha Jets, 12 helicopters, bombs and ammunition were not executed
and the equipment were never supplied to the Nigerian Air Force, neither
are they in its inventory.
Even more disturbing was the discovery that out of these
figures, 2 companies, were awarded contracts to the tune of
N350,000,000.00, $1,661,670,469.71 and €9,905,477.00 alone. This was
without prejudice to the consistent non-performance of the companies in
the previous contracts awarded.
Additionally, it was discovered that the former NSA directed
the Central Bank of Nigeria to transfer the sum of $132,050,486.97 and
€9,905,473.55 to the accounts of Societe D’equipmente Internationaux in
West Africa, United Kingdom and United States of America for
un-ascertained purposes, without any contract documents to explain the
transactions.
The findings made so far are extremely worrying considering
that the interventions were granted within the same period that our
troops fighting the insurgency in the North East were in desperate need
of platforms, military equipment and ammunition. Had the funds siphoned
to these non performing companies been properly used for the purpose
they were meant for, thousands of needless Nigerian deaths would have
been avoided.
Furthermore, the ridicule Nigeria has faced in the
international community would have been avoided. It is worrisome and
disappointing that those entrusted with the security of this great
nation were busy using proxies to siphon the national treasury, while
innocent lives were wasted daily.
In light of these findings, President Muhammadu Buhari has
directed that the relevant organizations arrest and bring to book, all
individuals who have been found complicit in these illegal and
fraudulent acts."
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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