The Muhammadu Buhari administration says the report of the
Presidential Committee on the Audit of Defence Equipment Procurement in
the Armed Forces (2007-2015) was not doctored to remove some names.
A statement issued in Abuja on Friday by the Minister of Information
and Culture, Lai Mohammed, dismissed claims that the arms report was
doctored as “untrue”.
The statement was signed by the Special Adviser to the Minister, Segun Adeyemi.
The report, released Thursday, indicts former chiefs of army staff,
Kenneth Minimah and Azubuike Ihejirika, and other senior past and
serving military and civilian officials.
But the findings, approved by President Buhari, have sparked widespread allegations of bias.
Many Nigerians accuse the government of being selective and refusing
to indict key members of the current administration, believed to have
played questionable roles in military procurement since 2007.
Critics cite the Minister of Interior, Abdurrahman Danbazau, who was the Chief of Army between 2008 and 2010, as an example.
Insiders had said ahead of the submission of the report,
that Mr. Danbazau was found wanting by investigators, and that he was
frantically lobbying to have his name delisted from the report.
The government is also accused of not indicting Tukur Buratai,
current Chief of Army Staff, who served as the director of military
procurement under the former Goodluck Jonathan administration.
Critics argue that as the man in charge of defence contract at a time
of rampant government and military corruption, it would be unlikely
that Mr. Buratai is in the clear.
Lately, several groups have called for Mr. Buratai’s sack, after he
was exposed by the media as the owner of multimillion dollar assets in
Dubai, United Arab Emirate.
The army said the properties are jointly owned by Mr. Buratai and his
two wives, and that they had been declared as required by law.
But a letter from the Code of Conduct Bureau published by The Nation
Newspaper on Thursday said Mr. Buratai declared the Dubai properties
under his wife’s name alone.
The letter, which was originally obtained through Freedom of
Information request by Messrs. St. Francis Xavier Solicitors &
Advocates, was dated July 11, 2016, and signed by Ijeanuli Ofor, a
Deputy Director of Reforms at the CCB.
In his statement, however, the Information Minister, Lai Mohammed,
said what had been released in the arms report so far was the report of
the audit covering the period 2011 to 2015.
He added that the committee would commence the audit of procurement
from 2007 to 2010 as soon as the necessary documents were available.
“When the documents regarding procurement from 2007 to 2010 are
available and scrutinised, the committee will then issue its report on
that.
“The audit is being done on phases, and the report that was released on Thursday is the third of such,’’ he said.
Mr. Mohammed said the federal government’s anti-corruption fight was
non-discriminatory and called on Nigerians to keep an open mind as
events unfold.
“No one should attempt to distract from the seriousness of the issues
involved in this audit of defence equipment procurement,’’ he urged.
The minister said with more than N185.8 billion and 685.3 million
dollar spent on procurement and operations within the period, the
irregularities in the awards denied the military from getting value for
money.
He emphasised that the corruption in the defence sector had very serious consequences for the country.
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