More revelations are expected to surface in the Army, Navy,
Ministry Of Defense and police following the ongoing probe
into the $2.1 billion arms procurement fund as contained in an
audit report exclusively obtained by Sahara Reporters on
Friday, January 15.

[img]http://i.onthe.io/vllkyt48vt6dekggj.0ea06b7e.jpg[/img]

The former Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh



The audit report was said to have detailed the huge fraud in the
procurement of arms which sparked President Muhammadu
Buhari’s order to the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) to investigate the role played by several
retired and serving officers as well as civilian contractors.
The report showed that the audit committee started work at the
end of August 2015, and looked at procurement of weapons
and equipment for the period from 2007 to 2015.


A committee that was set up examined documents and
information provided by different ministries, departments and
agencies. It also evaluated information it gathered from
organizations that provided funds in both local and foreign
currencies to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA)
, the Defense Headquarters, and the various arms of Nigeria’s
military services.


The committee examined more than N643.8 billion in local
currency contributions to defense expenditure, with the foreign
currency component topping $2 billion. The audit committee
disclosed that their collation of defense funds did not “include
grants from State Governments and funds collected by the
DSS [Department of State Services] and [the] police.”
The audit report states: “in spite of this huge financial
intervention, there has not been significant improvement in the
capacity and capability of the Armed Forces.”


The committee, however, disclosed that it has covered the audit
of procurement activities by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) and
ONSA, but hinted that those of the Ministry of Defense (MOD),
DHQ, Nigerian Army (NA) and Nigerian Navy (NN) are still
ongoing.


The audit committee stated in its report: “The procurement
activities funded by ONSA were wide ranging and included
acquisitions of platforms, weapons, ammunition and
equipment. Most of the ONSA-funded contracts were awarded
to Messrs Societe D’ Equipmente Internationaux (SEI) Nigeria
Limited and E-Force Interservices Nigeria Limited.”


The audit report showed that between February 2014 and May
2015, SEI “handled 38 ONSA funded contracts. Twenty-eight of
the contracts were for the NA while 10 were for the NAF.
However, the Committee could only establish the cost of three
of the NA contracts amounting to nine hundred and twenty-
nine million, five hundred and thirty-five thousand US Dollars
($929,535,000.00). The total cost for the 10 NAF contracts
was nine hundred and thirty million, five hundred thousand, six
hundred and ninety US Dollars ($930,500,690.00). Thus, a
total cost of one billion, eight hundred and sixty million, thirty-
five thousand, six hundred and ninety US Dollars ($
1,860,035,690.00) was expended by the ONSA to fund the NA
and NAF contracts.”

There were several anomalies discovered by the audit
committee and one of them is the absence of cost of defense
items in the NAF letters awarding the contracts.
“Rather, the vendors’ invoices that were all issued on the same
date (March, 19 2015) reflected such details. Additionally,
some of the award letters contained misleading delivery dates
that indicated fraudulent intention in the award process. The
observed discrepancies are in clear contravention of extant
procurement regulations,” it states.


According to the audit committee, its members are yet to
physically inspect the purchased equipment; hence it “thus
cannot confirm their delivery or serviceability status.” In
particular, the committee “particularly noted the issue of
procurement of two Mi-24 helicopters through SEI Nigeria Ltd
that were deployed to the North East Operations in
unserviceable condition which resulted in the unfortunate death
of the late Group Captain U.N. Akpan and Master Warrant
Officer Zabesan H.”

Among the contracts highlighted by the audit committee is that
of the $520 million awarded by the ONSA to E-Force Nigeria
Ltd in February 2014 for the supply of 12 combat helicopters,
rocket launchers and the training of Special Forces.
The committee discovered that the Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN), following the directives of ONSA, mobilized E-Force
Nigeria Ltd with $146 million after the contracts were signed.
Even so, the NAF “has emphatically denied knowledge of the
procurement or delivery of the helicopters to the Service.”
The audit stated that the Nigerian Army “did not reflect the
procurement of the rocket launchers in its submission to the
Committee.”


The audit committee also emphasized the buying of four
Alpha-Jets in July 2014, and revealed that the ONSA awarded
a contract of more than $7 million to Messrs Abbatare Nigeria
Ltd, Konet Limited and Air USA for the procurement of the jets,
including weaponization, avionics upgrade and provision of
spares for the NAF. But it finds out that the jets were bought on
an “as is” basis through Mr. Uptal Nandy, a UK-based Indian
veterinary doctor. “As is,” “where is” meant that the equipment
would be supplied in its present condition “and the seller was
not obliged to carry out any repairs or maintenance on the
aircraft.”

The audit report further showed that the Nigerian Air Force
personnel “confirmed that only two of the aircraft were ferried
to Nigeria in April 2015 after cannibalization of engines from
NAF fleet.” It disclosed that the remaining two Alpha-jets were
“still in the USA awaiting repairs and clearance from the USA
State Department.”

The reports states that: “The audit uncovered a series of
suspicious transfers of funds through the CBN. The committee
stated that, between September 17, 2012 and March 9, 2015,
former National Security Adviser, retired Colonel Sambo
Dasuki, and ONSA’s former Director of Finance and
Administration, Mr. S.A. Salisu, ordered the CBN to transfer
various sums of money totaling more than €9.9 million. The
funds were transferred to “various accounts in Nigeria, Niger
Republic and UK for unascertained purposes.”


Meanwhile, officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday, January 13, sealed off the
Abuja house of former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS)
during President Jonathan’s administration, Air Chief Marshal
Alex Sabundu Badeh located at No 19 Kumasi Crescent, Wuse
II. The development is believed to be connected with the
ongoing probe into the $2.1 billion arms scam.

https://www.naij.com/698144-read-audit-report-sparked-probe-top-military-officers-defense-contractors-revelations-come.html

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PRESIDENT MUHAMMAD BUHARI, I love what you are doing. Every forces, that threaten to stop your good Job, Thunder will fire them.

All those calling these man names, can you see where your problems are. If all these monies were all channel at their appropriate project, by now it would be minus one project.

May God continue to strengthen you and every evil plot against our able president shall fail.


We need you to expose more and pls dont just expose, probe them, Sue them to court and send them to where they belong.

Mehn no née for investigation.. Torture all of dem to confession

No jail term please. Anyone found guilty should have his property confiscated both home and abroad. Banned from holding any political office or apply for any contract work in Nigeria for the next 365years. We don't need to send them to prison cos we will still be feeding them with tax payers money. Just my thoughts

Those military topshot indicted are devils.
How can u buy unserviceable aircraft and force air force pilots to fly them leading to their sure deaths ? What can be more devilish than that! Those men are not just fraudsters, but murderers!!
Air combatants Akpan and Zabesan ,may your souls hunt all of these men till they run mad in prison when they are eventually pronounced guilty.