Previous thread: https://www.nairaland.com/6606005/aboubakar-hima-nigerien-wanted-efcc

Abuja - The claims read like the plot of a best-selling thriller, with secretive arms dealers and a corruption-riddled government fighting jihadists.

The weapons deal collapses in acrimony but instead of a shoot-out, the embittered parties fight it out in court.

In this real life saga, Ara Dolarian is the US arms dealer, Hima Aboubakar the weapons contractor and the foreign government Nigeria, which has been locked in a battle with Boko Haram since 2009.

The $246m order at the height of the jihadists' insurgency in 2014 was for weapons and equipment, including helicopters, bombs and ammunition.

It could have given over-stretched and under-resourced Nigerian troops a boost, as the better-armed rebels captured territory across northeast Nigeria, often without a fight.

But the deal collapsed in 2015 and the arms never arrived. Aboubakar sued Dolarian for fraud in California.

Aboubakar, a national of Niger, claimed the US arms dealer failed to ship $8.6m worth of bombs and rockets, damaging his reputation as "a trusted arms supplier to the Nigerian military".

Dolarian alleges in court documents that he was unwittingly caught up in a "money laundering scheme" and that Aboubakar's arms money was "stolen from the Nigerian government".

Rare glimpse
Campaign group Transparency International described corruption in the defence procurement sector as "the new diesel for Nigeria's kleptocrats".

It estimated that more than $15bn has been stolen, "leaving the military without vital equipment, insufficiently trained, low in morale and under-resourced".

"This has crippled the Nigerian military," it added in a new report published on Thursday, which defence spokesperson John Enenche rejected and described as "a sweeping allegation".

The defence ministry now did "government-to-government" deals and no longer used contractors, he added.

The court battle between Dalorian and Aboubakar some 12 500km from Abuja offers a rare glimpse into the shadowy world of the arms trade.

It could also shed light on how an alleged multi-billion-dollar fraud in the office of former national security advisor Sambo Dasuki might have taken place.

Pieter Wezeman, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said Dolarian's deal with Aboubakar and his company Societe d'Equipments Internationaux (SEI) "rings alarm bells".

Court documents show SEI signed off on the purchase of six Mi-24 and Mi-35 helicopters from Dolarian for $25m each, which Wezeman said was far above their normal value of $5m each.

Inflated prices open the door to graft, he added. "This is really a ridiculous price," he said.

Endemic corruption
Current President Muhammadu Buhari's predecessor Goodluck Jonathan and his administration were forced to take Boko Haram seriously after the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from the remote town of Chibok.

The mass abduction in April 2014 drew the world's attention to the conflict, sending the government on a shopping spree for weapons.

Buhari, a former military head of state, honed in on the notoriously rotten defence procurement sector after coming to power on an anti-corruption platform in 2015.

Dasuki has been accused of orchestrating a sprawling embezzlement scheme that saw "phantom contracts" awarded for personal and political gain.

Shocking scale
The scale of the alleged scam and how officials apparently exploited the insurgency shocked even Nigerians wearily familiar with corruption scandals.

Dasuki and scores of other defence officials were arrested and put on trial. Buhari's government then went after procurement firms.

Last year, a committee set up by Buhari said SEI played a "major" role in the alleged scam after being awarded nearly $1bn worth of contracts "characterised by irregularity and fraud".

SEI deals appear in many ongoing corruption cases in Nigeria.

Two top air force officials are charged with bribery for accepting cash and a Range Rover from the company.

Aboubakar has not been charged and told AFP: "We continue to work with the Nigerian army. Forget about what the people say, they lie."

'Excessive secrecy'
Repeated adjournments have become a feature of the separate trials linked to the Dasuki "arms scam".

As time goes by without a big name conviction, there are doubts about whether a significant dent will be made in Nigeria's culture of corruption.

Buhari himself - the driving force of the anti-graft campaign - is wrestling with ill health.

Nigeria specialist Matthew Page said Buhari was not reforming a system of embezzlement "codified" by former military rulers such as Sani Abacha.

Habits that saw many senior officers get rich over decades of military rule persist, despite the return to democracy in 1999, he said.

Nearly two decades later, the defence sector is still secretive, with little or no oversight and transparency, and arms procurement still requires ad hoc approvals from the executive.

"Buhari is a dyed-in-the-wool military guy," said Page, a former US State Department official.

"All these issues, excessive secrecy and the notion that the military operates by different rules, these are principles that Buhari prescribes to pretty closely."

https://www.news24.com/amp/news24/africa/news/us-court-battle-gives-clues-to-nigerian-arms-scandal-20170518

Nairaland, Lalasticlala
Mynd44

It is. Important that you use the facts. Hima stole this money in 2014 under President Jonathan and it was part of the $1 billion arms money reportedly shared By Dasuki

So ,this happen in 2014

azadus18:
So ,this happen in 2014

and the chief perpetrator is just walking distance from Buhari's house you are asking what year and you have not asked why Buratai and other service chiefs were nominated for ambassadorial appointments after spending nearly $9.4 billion since 2015 with a rag-tag army fighting a highly intelligent and sophisticated Boko-Haram and mallam cow herders.. una no go see that one ooh

Govt of blame and headlines. Maybe it was excess cassava and maize of Jonathan era that's driving food prices up in 2021.

Same dude?

[img]https://media1./images/c9871e568e065ec0bfa1d52a52de15c2/tenor.gif?itemid=13112899[/img]

Standing5:
Govt of blame and headlines. Maybe it was excess cassava and maize of Jonathan era that's driving food prices up in 2021.

Yes Buhari has failed but GEJ too was also a failure and this case is an example of how bad things were then

I don forget wetin I wan talk sef.. the matter too strong

H

Someone is playing serious game in this regime. So the arm deal is no more during Buhari era, it was arranged during GEJ presidency. We are already in a big drama and we are ready to watch it to the end. This is the greatest twist of fate and I'm sure GEJ goons won't keep quiet on this.

Niger republic feeding large on our resources.

Since 2014., We are jus hearing this; that was goodluck era.

No nigerian cud do de business,so it was given to nigerien

Damnnn niggarrrr
Isoright

zombies trying hard to cover up there useless soon to die master

BUHARI anti corruption war is not shot of scam.

Just think back on all high profile cases that has been flagged in this administration, including former EFCC boss which they deceived all of you with kangaroo panel set up in Aso Rock

The EFCC Boss just mentioned that a serving minister bought a 37 million dollars property from a bank MD and one billion was seized from a civil servant. Do you know why you are never going to see them with EFCC mugshot or being disgraced in court, I bet you, they are Fulani Muslims. Once they catch a southerner, they make headlines with it and show they are working. Call me whatever you like i dont give a flying Bleep

Politicians be like.....

So it happened under GEJ rule not under Buhari!
And see how people were.shouting Buhari is handing over money to fulanis up and down

Igbere TV and Fake News

azadus18:
So ,this happen in 2014

cos na it is always 2014 na maybe 1987 sef

story have change to 2014, blame games

obedugo:
zombies trying hard to cover up there useless soon to die master

Buhari is a failure but this was a made in pdp thing.

Infact the case and the payments made all date back to 2014

A simple Google search would have been useful for igbere tv

PDP looted this country badly. And yes apc too is just as bad and I don't like it

This G is a punkass nigga that should be hung and his carcass fed to the vultures or better still cut into pieces and thrown into the atlantic ocean for doing this evil to nigger-area.
Am I the only one who is so fvcking pissed with this low-life that I think of throwing up each time his junk story shows up?
I'm utterly vexed and disgusted by all this sh!t of a guy and I feel like strangling this futa jalon idiot from that side of the hellish world.
May God damn your soul man.
Gettat of my screen foooooooooooooooool

Bad??
Nah, you can't make that comparison.
Am not supporting the GEJ administration but you can't just compare the both tenure.

Beancounter93:


Yes Buhari has failed but GEJ too was also a failure and this case is an example of how bad things were then

Damn

Mtchwwwwwwwwww

Buhari's cousins