EXCLUSIVE: Angry Jonathan mulls cancellation of $40million Internet spy contract awarded to Israeli firm

President Goodluck Jonathan is considering the cancellation of the $40million Internet spy contract awarded to Israeli firm, Elbit Systems, in April, multiple sources within the Nigerian presidency and intelligence community have told PREMIUM TIMES.

Embarrassed by the widespread national outrage that arose after this newspaper exclusively exposed the secret contract, the presidency had summoned the management of Elbit Systems for a meeting to explain why the contract should not be revoked after it allegedly breached a confidential clause in the contract.

The Nigerian government is angry the Isreali company went public with the contract, in a global press release that tipped off PREMIUM TIMES which, after extensive investigation, revealed the details of the deal.

The disclosures sparked national outrage, with a lot of Nigerians now apprehensive that their country might be sliding back to dictatorship.

Our sources said President Jonathan has now ordered a process that will most likely lead to the cancellation of the contract, saying the explanation by top executives of the Israeli company that they did not breach the confidentiality clause in the contract was unsatisfactory.

Gen. Yair Cohen (Rtd), Elbit’s vice president for intelligence and cyber solutions had led the top echelon of the company to the meeting with National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, Olaniyi Oladeji and other unnamed top security chiefs in the presidency.

Mr. Cohen reportedly explained that the press statement circulated by his company did not mention the Nigerian destination of the contract and that elements within the Nigerian government should be blamed for leaking details of the project to PREMIUM TIMES.

The Elbit team could not meet with Mr. Jonathan because the President was away in South Africa for a state visit at the time. But when he was briefed about its outcome, Mr. Jonathan reportedly insisted that with its details now public knowledge, the whole essence of the contract had been defeated.

“The president has given orders that the contract should be cancelled immediately,” one of our sources said. “He prefers that the contract is reawarded to a company that can execute the project as discreetly as possible. The president is really angry and embarrassed.”

Our sources however say Elbit and its supporters in the presidency, led by an unnamed retired General and an ex-governor, are trying to pressure the president to rescind his decision.

They reportedly warned the president that Elbit Systems could make trouble by drawing the Nigerian government into a fierce and embarrassing legal battle over the matter.

“Some people in government are telling the president that Elbit even took their own government (the Government of Israel) to court concerning few projects and that Nigeria should be careful with the way it’s handling the issue,” another presidency source said.

Presidential spokespersons, Reuben Abati and Doyin Okupe, were unavailable for comments Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Calls to Elbit’s headoffice in Israel were also unanswered.

President Jonathan and other top government officials are miffed that Elbit’s action let this newspaper to probe into details of the secret contract, which would have seen the Israeli company spy on citizens’ computers and Internet communications under the guise of intelligence gathering and national security.

A source close to the deal has told this newspaper the government is angry for two reasons.

First, the administration is angry and embarrassed that the contract, considered by government as top national security secret, was blown open.

Elbit announced the contract award few weeks ago in a global press release in an opaque statement that did not disclose the Nigerian destination of the deal.

“Elbit Systems will supply its Wise Intelligence Technology (WiT) system to an unnamed country in Africa under a new $40 million contract announced on 24 April… for Intelligence Analysis and Cyber Defense,” the company’s general manager, Yehuda Vered, said.

But PREMIUM TIMES was able to tap its sources within the administration to determine that Nigeria is indeed the “unnamed African country.”

The contract was to help the Jonathan administration access all computers and read all email correspondences of citizens in what is clearly, an infringement on constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression, multiple channels confirmed.

On the other hand, politicians in Aso Rock are angry over the disclosure of the contract sum, and what is left of the originally approved sum, our sources say.

The administration had indicated in the 2013 budget that it would procure a Wise Intelligence Network Harvest Analyzer System, Open Source Internet Monitoring System and Personal Internet Surveillance System at a cost of N9.496 Billion ($61.26 million).

With the contract awarded to Elbit for about $40million, and the story made public, attention has been drawn to the leftover $21million earmarked for the project.

“That money was meant to be shared,” one of our sources said. “It is a security contract and no one will ever ask questions. Now everybody is angry that sharing the money is now difficult.”

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/135702-exclusive-angry-jonathan-mulls-cancellation-of-40million-internet-spy-contract-awarded-to-israeli-firm.html

Ok

Kdk

if its for the purpose of national security i don't see anything wrong with d contract

ok

Israleis dont joke with money,
GEJ, kadankada.

why go through this guys when you can give websense the contract. The money is too high for that.

I don't blame GEJ if he cancels it, this is the height of callousness. It shows that the company has no regard for intelligence matters. This was "TOP SECRET" yet it was leaked... smh.

Then again o, why the difference of $21million in the contract acquisition?

Na waw oo

nigeria and Spy?

My dear president, your excellency sir, kindly note that no nation will execute such a contract for you and will not make you vulnorable and to be at their mercy. I suggest we train some bright minds, inductrinate them so they can do any security job for this country. Only be sure that there are no traitors.

.

Okay oh...

Hope is not the formation to share the money of the project?

Okay we don hear,what next.

Who Cares

If His
Odious Plans
Hadn't Bn Hitherto
Revealed
To D Public, He wldn't Av Rescinded His
Petulant Decision....
Clueless Man Indeed

I have a frnd who work wit d mossad intelligent a senior agent he told few years bck dat d israeli govt hv sumtin big 4 nigeria govt..he didnt mention it sha i guess is goin 2 b bad.jux b careful wen dealin wit powerful country in btw i love israel dieee

dulphines: ok

Kedike.

Show of corruption $61m earmarked in the budget but $40m actually agreed upon with the company.leaving a balance of $21m hanging in the balance. Gej govt, I hail thee!!!

manny4life: I don't blame GEJ if he cancels it, this is the height of callousness. It shows that the company has no regard for intelligence matters. This was "TOP SECRET" yet it was leaked... smh.

Then again o, why the difference of $21million in the contract acquisition?

Them prize am well. And the pesin wey prize am wan chop the rest

Honestly , I don't think the leakage was from the Israeli company . There re spies among our politicians that are involved in the contract . They are among those that don't want GEJ to succeed as the president of Nigeria , making the country ungovernable by GEJ.

Matters of national security is not what gej should joke with, i don't trust israilis(ZIONISTS) anyway.

I cant believe this. You mean the FG had intended spying on the citizens of this country via mails and internet communication. For what? Isnt that a breach of freedom? What do they- FG intend doing with infos they get after spying?
Since the FG had already intended doing this in secrecy, i'm glad they've been exposed. Knowing fully well that no one would like to be spied, Jonathan shouldnt be angry the secret has been exposed!

The real story here is the awoof money buried into the contract and since alarm don blow , no choice but to cancel the contract and look for another way to award another contact and still get his awoof money....

Abeg wait o,
so ol d love mails I de send give my baby love, na so GeJ go de read am go give mrs dame

Omo, wind don blow fowl nyash open be dat o....

From fry pan to fire.. Haba!! Why would any sensible individual outsource such national security endeavor to a country that will do anything to stay relevant. Can you imagine the reports that cautions the president of a nation about the initial gra gra of a firm and what they are capable of doing..?

Punder that for a moment, and ask yourself can they be trusted.? A common firm threatens a country..? Black man it's time to wake up, no African firm can threaten Israel, are they super humans or are we their puppets..?

GEJ no fear self... He wants to spy on Nigerians.. The guy go regret him life..

Where is that unsinceregoat to come and defend his slave master again.Where are you come here and spin this extra $21 million. Chai may GOD punish Jonathan and all these Nigerians supporting him! What a heartless President! We don't have electricity but instead of spending money on power generation ,you and your cohorts are stealing the money.This jonathan deserves death by firing squad for treason against the Federal Republic of Nigeria.If all the monies being stolen by Jonathan and his wife are put towards electricity ,we will have stable power supply in Nigeria within 2 years.

This is a total breach of the constitution and a total disregard for the rule of law. How could the presidency go on and approve such contracts without the consent of the national assembly.

The last time i checked we are still in a democracy and not a police state. this is the same govt that is very inimical of the FOI bill and does not want the public to pry into it's affairs but wants to be the big brother that wants to breach our privacy.

this is a huge compromise on our national security. what we need is good governance, economic devt and a very precise and efficient database on the citizenry of this country and not this phoney ploy by GEJ to sacrifice our freedom for his brazen cluelessness.

Well,i don't see anything wrong in that if its for intelligence purposes.
But,the problem i've got with this are:
-why give it to the isrealis
-why give it to a company that's not your countrys
-why not train people from your country so that they'll be able to do that for you
-must you always be a slave to this so-called super powers
-why not develop your own country and become a super power yourself
-must you always let this people claim superiority over you,why not do your own things yourself and let them respect you the same way you respect them
-if u train people from your country and they finally develop it,would u spend up to that amount
-even if they finished the $61m budgeted on training nigerians,and developing that intelligence stuff,won't those nigerians rise to the occassion the next time you need other IT stuffs from them
-and would you spend such a huge amount on things like that again
Again,this shows how corruption is affecting nigeria in a very big way.Imagine a firm/companys reputation sending chills down the spine of a great country like OURS because some corrupt people are trying to steal money.
Seriously,we need to stand up against corruption and these corrupt leaders before its too LATE.
#MY 2kobo.

Correct bro!
The lack of adequate intelligence has led us down this part of violence in the first instance.
How can you tell a citizen is being radicalized without snooping...
Its embarrassing that we dont even have records of behavioral tendencies to save us from current image plundering occasioned by the likes mutallab and muhajid events that have repeated themselves severally in Northern nigeria.
How to we expect to identify sponsors and sympathizers to crime and terrorism with adequate intelligence.

If you have nothing to hide you shouldn't have any issue.
The only problem is we don't have strong institutions built on separation of powers to ensure that fundamental rights are respected. Secondly, when do we expect to have technology transfer if we don't train our people.
If the contract specifies training of nigerians, equipping and final hand over to local resources after a period of time then i have no issue with cost.

Believe me we need to change every arm of policing in Nigeria: from intelligence,NPF to the army,air-force and Navy. We need capabilities and technology not just boots on the ground

obasy09: Show of corruption $61m earmarked in the budget but $40m actually agreed upon with the company.leaving a balance of $21m hanging in the balance. Gej govt, I hail thee!!!

mschew!!! ooooooooooh!! must everybody talk?

Confidentiality breach?! Thatz the first breach of contract.

Actually, Israeli law may not be that strict with confidentiality and encryption issues.