Former President, Jonathan denies alleged involvement in arm procurement

Following the ongoing investigation on arm procurement in Nigeria and the order for the arrest of all indicted persons in the arm rip-off, which has seen the thorough interrogation of former NSA, Dasuki, the former president, Goodluck Jonathan has reportedly washed himself of the claim that he was not in the know about the arm procurement deal.
One can’t help but wonder if the former president really knew anything that happened during his administration. Or was he just a square peg in a round hole, who only knew how to sign and not read what was been signed?
To wash himself off from the ongoing scandal on arm procurement, the immediate past president on Thursday at a forum in Washington DC, waded into the arms procurement scandal surrounding the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, saying his government never awarded any contract in the range of $2 billion dollars.
According to him, “I did not award any $2 billion contract for procurement of weapons” Mr. Jonathan stated categorically querying, “Where did the money come from?” and repeating emphatically that “I did not award a contract of $2billion for procurement of weapons”.
A presidential investigations committee into arms procurement under the administration of President Jonathan revealed in its interim report that it found extra-budgetary spending by the Jonathan administration to the tune of N643.8 billion and an additional $2.2 billion in the foreign currency component, all managed and supervised by Sambo Dasuki, a retired army colonel.
Mr. Dasuki had said in a statement Wednesday that all contracts and accruing payments were made based on the approval of Mr. Jonathan, adding that due process and military procurement regulations were followed in all the transactions.
“Nigerians should note that all the services generated the types of equipment needed, sourced suppliers most times and after consideration by the Office of the NSA, the President will approve application for payment,” said Mr. Dasuki.
But Mr. Jonathan said he never awarded any $2billion arms contract, suggesting that the claims by the Buhari administration were false and unsubstantiated. Mr. Dasuki had also argued along that line.
The former president was speaking at an event titled: “Presidential elections and democratic consolidation in Africa: Case studies on Nigeria and Tanzania”.
The session was co-hosted by National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) with Mr. Jonathan as the sole speaker.
Mr. Jonathan touched on the contract issue after he stated that he was aware of allegations of huge sums of money that were said to be missing from the Nigerian treasury, but he claimed that some of the figures mentioned are not believable. “Sometimes, I feel sad when people mention these figures,” he added.
Speaking pointedly about his successor, President Jonathan said, “When the president (Buhari) paid official visit to the US, there were some figures that were mentioned that I don’t believe.”
He drew attention to figures like the $150billion alleged to have been stolen in previous Nigerian administrations, but Mr. Jonathan scoffed at the probability of “$150 billion American money” being missing and “Americans will not know where it is,” adding that at any rate President Buhari did not accuse his administration.
“He didn’t say my government, he said previous administrations… “$150 billion is not 150 billion Naira,” he stated, suggesting, “People play politics with very serious issues.”
The former president was equally dismissive of people who alleged that the sum of $59.8 million was misappropriated within a 12-month period while he was in office.
“In Nigeria, if you lose $59.8 million in a year, federal and state governments will not pay salaries,” he said, adding that there is no way Nigerian budget can accommodate such a loss without the country coming to a standstill.
“Of course we brought international audit teams, forensic auditors and they didn’t see that,” he said.
The former President said he does not want to join issues with the new government, “I wanted to keep away from the public for at least twelve months.”