“He [Dasuki] should be made to say all he knows on the matter. …It is surprising that an adviser to the President could be awarding contracts and making payments.” Balarabe Musa, former Governor of Kaduna State.
Mr Debo Adeniran,
It could have been anybody else. My private investigation has revealed that it is not the first time that the ONSA or Office of Directorate of State Security, ODSS, the Nigeria Police force, NPF or other security agencies had been used to disburse funds to corporate entities and individuals in our history. A great percentage of the funds looted by former Inspector General of Police, IGP, Tafa Balogun, were given to him administration to help win the 2003 election. (See book PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATED).Chairman of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, also seemed to agree that the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, was not empowered to disburse funds, but was made to do so under the Jonathan administration. Incidentally, readers must note the emphasis on the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, as opposed to the person occupying the office. In the matter of arms deal, the person was Sambo Dasuki.
Incidentally, a bigger scandal than Dasuki’s is escaping our attention. In the on-going investigation into N1 trillion worth of contracts by the Nigerian Railways Corporation, NRC, the former Chairman of the Board of Directors, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur (former Chairman of PDP) and Senator Ladan, who headed the NRC have stated categorically that the Board of NRC was not involved in awarding any contracts. So, who was awarding contracts for the rails? That’s another story.
When the DSS first broke the story alleging that the former National Security Adviser, NSA, Dasuki was involved in a $2bn arms deal and that he took the huge sum of money from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, for weapons not delivered, my initial reaction was “you can tell that to fools”. Something told me that the DSS was too unprofessional in its haste to nail Dasuki. Last week, the question was asked on this page if it was possible that the NSA could drive a trailer to the CBN and order the Governor to load $2bn into it and the CBN Governor would say “Yes Sir” and load it. Obviously, the CBN could only have released the funds after the President of Nigeria and the Minister of Finance must have authorized the transaction(s).
Furthermore, even a child should know that nobody, all alone, swallows $2bn in Nigeria. A powerful syndicate is always involved – with a powerful man at the top. Invariably, when such deals are to be operated, the task is assigned to an officer whose job description does not ordinarily cover those functions. Let me illustrate from our history. Under President Shehu Shagari, during the Second Republic, rice importation by Government was not undertaken by the Ministry of Agriculture or Commerce. It was assigned to late Alhaji Dikko – the Minister of Transport. Dikko had the political assignment to “take care” of designated party members of the National Party of Nigeria, NPN. So, it was clear to me that the DSS was raising a false alarm by creating the impression that Dasuki unilaterally embezzled $2bn.
Now, we are witnessing an unfolding drama which indicates that, contrary to the first impressions, the ONSA was turned into an award and settlement centre by the Jonathan administration. It has been alleged that some individuals received various mind-blowing sums of money for unspecified “consultancy” services. Definitely more revelations are expected involving more people associated with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The NRC story and the arms deal story have only three things in common. First, they represented unimaginable waste of national financial resources. Second, they followed the same pattern. Third, they could not have been possible without the approvals of the Federal Minister of Finance and the President of Nigeria. Since “Every organization is the lengthened shadow of one man”, according to Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882, then the government which was responsible for what we are witnessing can only be accepted as the shadow of Goodluck Jonathan. But, he had an accomplice – Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the former Coordinating Minister for the Economy, CME.
Together, they, not Dasuki, had ruined their reputations for ever and Nigeria for a long time to come. By turning the ONSA to a funds disbursing office, they bastardized it and rendered it ineffective in its fundamental role. Why hold Dasuki when the real authors of this monumental scandal are still at home? Let him go.
OKONJO-IEWALA IN REAL WAHALA NOW –
“Fortune ever fickle, will assail with a sudden stroke, the kingdoms of the proud.” Geoffrey Chaucer, 1342-1400. (VANGUARD BOOK, VBQ, p 64).
Once she ignored invitations from the National Assembly and treated everybody else with disdain. She was once ranked among the world’s hundred most powerful women. When the EFCC, inevitably, invites her, she better run to Abuja. Otherwise she will become one of the most wanted women on earth…..
VANGUARD
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