Eleven serving top military officers mentioned in the alleged spurious procurement of military equipment between 2007 and 2015 are likely to lose their command positions to allow unfettered investigation, Daily Trust on Sunday gathered from reliable military sources at the weekend. The top brass are of the Nigerian Airforce and Army.

They include Air Vice Marshal A. M. Mamu; Air Vice Marshal O. T. Oguntoyinbo, Air Vice-Marshal T. Omenyi, Air Vice Marshal J. B. Adigun; and Air Vice Marshal R. A. Ojuawo. Others are Air Vice Marshal J. A. Kayode-Beckley; Air Commodore A. O. Ogunjobi; Air Commodore G. M. D. Gwani; Air Commodore S. O. Makinde; Air Commodore A. Y. Lassa; and Colonel N. Ashinze. Daily Trust on Sunday learnt at the weekend that the probe into the procurement of weapons by other arms of the military was ongoing and what Malam Shehu had announced last Friday was just the tip of the iceberg.


A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, at the weekend had said Buhari had directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to carry out further investigation into the misconduct established against some retired and serving military officers, including a former Chief of Defence Staff, retired Air Chief Marshal A.S Badeh, a former Chief of Air Staff, retired Air Marshal Adesola Amosu, and a former Chief of Air Staff, retired Air Marshal M.D Umar, among others.

The investigation into their activities, according to the spokesman, followed the submission of the audit committee’s second interim report which established fundamental breaches against the officers and some companies in the deals associated with procurements by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the Nigerian Air Force (NAF). The probe was recommended by the committee established to audit the procurement of arms and equipment in the Armed Forces and Defence sector from 2007 to 2015.

President Muhammadu Buhari had in August 2015 directed the Office of the National Security Adviser to set up a 13-man committee to audit procurement of arms and equipment in the armed forces and defence sector from 2007 till date, the interim report of which revealed fraud in the procurement. It would be recalled that in its First Interim Report, the Committee on Audit of Defence Equipment established that the sum of Six Hundred and Forty Three Billion Naira (N643bn) and Two Billion, One Hundred Million US Dollars ($2.1bn) interventions were received for defence procurements by DHQ and the Services between 2007 and 2015. Part of it was meant for the purchase of arms to fight the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East. Dasuki and some other prominent Nigerians are currently under trial over the scandal.

Garba said on Friday that the audit committee had identified non-specification of procurement costs, absence of contract agreements, award of contracts beyond authorised thresholds, transfer of public funds for unidentified purposes and general non-adherence to provisions of the Public Procurement Act. It was also discovered that the procurement processes were arbitrarily carried out and generally characterized by irregularities and fraud, and in many cases, procured items failed to meet the purposes they were procured for, especially the counter insurgency efforts in the North East. Twenty-one companies, most of which are believed to be linked to the officers under investigation, were named in the fraudulent deals.



VIPs’ LIFESTYLE IN EFCC CELLS

The detention facility at the Wuse II head offices of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is not a dungeon, or smelling of urine and defecation which is characteristic of cells in Nigeria. It is not also a luxury facility for the relaxation of its occupants, Daily Trust on Sunday has gathered from checks with sources at the EFCC. The facility has recently held some very important personalities, or as the EFCC refers to call them, Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) who are suspects of financial crimes, either as public officials or business men.

Preeminent among Politically Exposed Persons who had been residents of sorts at the EFCC detention facility in Wuse II is the former National Security Adviser (NSA) Sambo Dasuki, a retired Colonel.

The detention facility is situated in the basement of Idiagbon block, one of four blocks of four storey buildings that is the temporary headquarters of the EFCC in Wuse II. In the detention facility there is a common room area and about five sleeping rooms, toilet facilities are in a corner, the kind of toilets and bathrooms in hostels or hotel conference halls, Daily Trust on Sunday gathered. Suspects are given small mattresses to sleep on, beds are not available at a detention facility because the EFCC is afraid the suspects may use bed strings to harm themselves. It was gathered that sometimes suspects are made to share a room, as five mattresses can fit into a single room.

However, suspects mostly enjoy privacy in a single room and are treated with respect. Their phones are taken from them, but they are allowed visitors, mostly family members and lawyers. The suspects are also given decent food made available by the EFCC; however, most of the suspects prefer to eat food brought from their homes, or caterers of their choosing. The EFCC operatives allow them to buy their own food, but make whoever brings it to eat from the food before the suspects are allowed to eat. Sources say this is common practice because they don’t want the suspects poisoned while in EFCC custody. The suspects may also feign sickness from food poisoning and demand release from detention. It was also gathered that all the suspects are stripped of all items in their pockets.

Sometimes they are arrested with money in their wallets, but this is kept in custody and not allowed into the detention cells. However, the suspects are allowed to use such money to buy items, like their preferred toothpaste, toiletries, insecticides and such small items that would make them more comfortable. A source said the EFCC facility is hardly over crowded as suspects are detained in batches, arraigned in court and transferred to prison custody while they try to perfect bail conditions. The EFCC only keeps suspects who are part of ongoing investigation after obtaining a holding order from a competent court of law. Politically exposed persons recently held at the EFCC detention facility include: Alhaji Bashir Yuguda, a former minister of finance, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, a former governor of Sokoto State, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, the founding Chairman of Daar Communications Limited, and Malam Aminu Babakusa, a former group executive director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), among over 37 others.

Detention before arraignment in court begins from the EFCC interrogation rooms, Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that the EFCC has a state of the art investigation room also situated at the Idiagbon block. There are two interrogation rooms where simultaneous investigation can be carried out by operatives, the rooms are said to be fitted with recording devices and video cameras. Interrogations are recorded in both audio and video formats; real time video feeds are monitored from an observation room. It was also gathered that there is a live feed in the office of the Chairman of the Commission from where he can quietly observe the interrogation of suspects, and intervene if and when necessary.

Detectives comb Emeka Mba’s house for vital documents

The Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Emeka Mba who was arrested last Monday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was still in the custody of the commission as at yesterday, Daily Trust on Sunday has learnt. This is even as the commission’s detectives last Wednesday combed his Sun City, Abuja house to get some ‘vital documents’ which may help them in their investigation, a source privy to the probe confided in Daily Trust on Sunday yesterday.

The source, who is close to the commission, said, “the EFCC is not making any headway, that is way he is still being kept. They went to his house on Wednesday to look for some vital documents. Maybe he is not cooperating with them, I can’t say.”

Mba is being interrogated over N17 billion allegedly traced to a secret account operated by the commission. The N17bn is part of the N34bn paid by South African telecoms giant MTN for the controversial 700MHz spectrum. A source in the broadcast industry told Daily Trust on Sunday that the anti-graft commission had been trailing Mba since last year when it received a petition against him by some contractors and broadcast license losers who alleged that the process of awarding contracts and issuance of licenses lacked transparency and breached due process.

The source said EFCC beamed its searchlight on Mba when many aggrieved license winners and contractors who were edged out unfairly wrote the commission, complaining of underhand dealing in award of licenses and projects. “They said the broadcast regulatory body was favouring some organisations against others in the award of contracts for the production set-top boxes for digital broadcasting in Nigeria. “NBC even went out of its way to stand as a guarantor in a bank loan to one of the contractors in the production of set-top boxes scheme.

It was the discovery of this in the account of the contractor that led to the intervention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the NBC”, the source who pleaded anonymity told Daily Trust on Sunday. Our reporter learnt further that the EFCC found out that NBC concealed an account from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy introduced to block leakages of funds in Federal Government MDAs. “The recent discovery of an undeclared NBC account in one of the leading commercial banks from which the NBC had been paying for some ‘special projects’ after other MDAs had stopped making such payments in compliance with the TSA policy triggered the EFCC swoop.

Cases of award of contracts without due process and back-dating of award documents are also being probed”, another source said. “The exclusive access to millions of naira set aside by the NBC management to pre-empt the looming financial squeeze of the TSA policy and the barely concealed liquidity of several companies being patronized by the NBC raised eyebrows among other contractors whose payments were stalled by TSA implementation and they complained aloud”, our source said. NBC’s Public Affairs Director Malam Awwalu Saalihu could not be reached yesterday as calls placed to his mobile line indicated it was switched off.

Don’t be overwhelmed by Dasukigate, Sagay tells EFCC

A prominent human rights lawyer, Professor Itse Sagay has charged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) not to be overwhelmed by the personalities and the numbers involved in the ongoing investigation into the $2.1bn arms scandal.

Professor Sagay, who advised that the probe should be pursued to a logical conclusion with everyone involved brought to book, said the revelations emanating from the probe were alarming and frightening. In a chat with Daily Trust on Sunday in Lagos, the elder statesman said the $2.1bn arms deal involving the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, is a pointer to the rot perpetrated by the immediate past administration. Professor Sagay, however, made a case for the aged people among those mentioned in the scam, saying people who are above 70 and in their 80s should not be punished, but they should be made to refund the money collected. He said, “We have a very big job ahead of us to try and rebuild the country. It is unbelievable the number of people involved, people just came together to share all the resources of this country and leave the rest of us high and dry without resources. It is very frightening. “We have to be organized, we have to be thoroughly professional about it, and above all, be steadfast. They shouldn’t say the number and status of those involved has completely overwhelmed us and so we would just let the dam bust and let all the water just rush out of the country. No. We must be steadfast. “The more they are, the more determined we should be that everybody must answer for his action even if it takes a few years but we must be systematic and do it in an orderly, determined, resolute passion. Nobody will escape unless he has an explanation the court finds acceptable to let him go”.

He however welcomed the return of looted funds by those whose names were mentioned as beneficiaries of the Dasukigate, saying that option would provide a soft landing for them.

Igbo political group supports arms scandal probe

An Igbo political group which rooted for the election of President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 election has voiced support for the ongoing crackdown on those who allegedly benefitted from the sharing of $2.1 billion arms money during the administration of former president, Goodluck Jonathan. Igbos Diaspora Initiative for Buhari (IDIB), a group of Igbo elites, said yesterday that more than ever in the history of Nigeria, the country was at its lowest point in corruption with the revelations rocking the transactions in the arms vote under the leadership of Jonathan.

“It takes the worst Banana Republic ever imagined for a country’s leadership to be so relaxed for public monies to be so shared among both government officers and private persons. Nigeria was at its worst in the sewage of corruption with the revelations about how the arms funds were shared,” David Nonso Ifeanyi Ezedinma, National Coordinator told Daily Trust on Sunday. He condemned the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which leadership has raised accusations slamming President Buhari for allegedly cracking down on the opposition in the guise of fighting corruption, and urged the administration not to be distracted by that. “Professor Wole Soyinka did say that when you fight corruption, corruption fights back. Our president must remain focused and not derail or be distracted by the criticisms waged by the PDP. It is like looking back to throw stones at every dog that barks at you; you can’t continue with your journey. Buhari’s anti-corruption war is a journey of the soul of the country; he must remain determined to win this war. That way, more than 50 percent of the country’s problems would have been solved. “If the PDP says the Naira is fast crashing down to more than N300 to a Dollar; they laid the foundation for this dip. If they say the economy is at its worst; President Buhari only inherited it. If fuel scarcity worsened; it is only a cumulative problem of an administration that lacked the clue and the political will to give this country a future. Buhari is leading a tomorrow’s administration; one which plan is to build the foundation upon which Nigeria will grow into a future’s country,” Ezedinma said.

As reported by Ronald Mutum, Haruna Ibrahim, Zakariyya Adaramola, Abuja; Abdullateef Aliyu for the Daily Trust.

Source : http://ourtimeiscome.com/2016/01/20/some-top-nigerian-officers-likely-to-lose-jobs-over-arms-deal-scandal/

This Dasuki mata don tire me sef