 |
| Former NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) |
There were indications on Thursday that
former Nigerian leaders, traditional and religious leaders from across
the country were listed as beneficiaries of the $2.1bn arms funds in the
final report of the Presidential panel which probed military contracts
from 2007 to 2015.
It was gathered that the report, which
had been submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari, recommended the
retrieval of undisclosed sums of money from some indicted persons, while
in some cases, it recommended their prosecution.
A highly-placed security official, who
spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the
matter, said some former Heads of State, were listed as having received
various sums of money from the Office of the National Security Adviser
under Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).
The source added that a prominent
northern traditional ruler was provided funds from the NSA’s office for
the monarch’s coronation.
Giving further insights into what some
of the funds were used for, the source explained that some were spent to
pay the medical bills as well as travel expenses of some of the
ex-leaders, who had to travel abroad to seek medical help for
undisclosed aliments.
In one of the most notable cases, the
report stated that the ONSA shouldered the cost of the medical trips of
one of the ex-Heads of State to Germany.
The source added, “The list of beneficiaries from the ONSA under Col. Sambo Dasuki is very long.
“The list comprises very prominent
Nigerians, including former Heads of State, many traditional rulers from
the North and the South.
“Several religious leaders from the two dominant religions in the country also got funds from the ONSA.
“A former President of the country, who
was sick, was flown out of the country to Germany for medical treatment.
In fact, the former ONSA paid for the three trips the former leader
made to Germany.”
It was learnt that the prosecution team
was opposed to an open trial of Dasuki as this could result in
disturbing revelations on how the $2.1bn under probe was disbursed.
The arms panel also established that the
procurement processes adopted for the purchase of military hardware
were arbitrarily and generally characterised by irregularities and
fraud.
The highly-placed security official said
the panel had interrogated some of the indicted officials, serving and
retired officers, and some contractors.
The Federal Government would soon make public the final report just like it did with the interim report.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
PLEASE BE POLITE