The Muhammadu Buhari administration says the
report of the Presidential Committee on the Audit of
Defence Equipment Procurement in the Armed
Forces (2007-2015) was not doctored to remove
some names.
A statement issued in Abuja on Friday by the
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed,
dismissed claims that the arms report was
doctored as “untrue”.
The statement was signed by the Special Adviser to
the Minister, Segun Adeyemi.
The report, released Thursday, indicts former chiefs
of army staff, Kenneth Minimah and Azubuike
Ihejirika, and other senior past and serving military
and civilian officials.
But the findings, approved by President Buhari, have
sparked widespread allegations of bias.
Many Nigerians accuse the government of being
selective and refusing to indict key members of the
current administration, believed to have played
questionable roles in military procurement since
2007.
Critics cite the Minister of Interior, Abdurrahman
Danbazau, who was the Chief of Army between
2008 and 2010, as an example.
Insiders had told PREMIUM TIMES ahead of the
submission of the report that Mr. Danbazau was
found wanting by investigators, and that he was
frantically lobbying to have his name delisted from
the report.
The government is also accused of not indicting
Tukur Buratai, current Chief of Army Staff, who
served as the director of military procurement under
the former Goodluck Jonathan administration.
Critics argue that as the man in charge of defence
contract at a time of rampant government and
military corruption, it would be unlikely that Mr.
Buratai is in the clear.
Lately, several groups have called for Mr. Buratai’s
sack, after he was exposed by the media as the
owner of multimillion dollar assets in Dubai, United
Arab Emirate.
The army said the properties are jointly owned by
Mr. Buratai and his two wives, and that they had
been declared as required by law.
But a letter from the Code of Conduct Bureau
published by The Nation Newspaper on Thursday
said Mr. Buratai declared the Dubai properties under
his wife’s name alone.
The letter, which was originally obtained through
Freedom of Information request by Messrs. St.
Francis Xavier Solicitors & Advocates, was dated
July 11, 2016, and signed by Ijeanuli Ofor, a Deputy
Director of Reforms at the CCB.
In his statement, however, the Information Minister,
Lai Mohammed, said what had been released in the
arms report so far was the report of the audit
covering the period 2011 to 2015.
He added that the committee would commence the
audit of procurement from 2007 to 2010 as soon
as the necessary documents were available.
“When the documents regarding procurement from
2007 to 2010 are available and scrutinised, the
committee will then issue its report on that.
“The audit is being done on phases, and the report
that was released on Thursday is the third of such,’’
he said.
Mr. Mohammed said the federal government’s anti-
corruption fight was non-discriminatory and called
on Nigerians to keep an open mind as events
unfold.
“No one should attempt to distract from the
seriousness of the issues involved in this audit of
defence equipment procurement,’’ he urged.
The minister said with more than N185.8 billion
and 685.3 million dollar spent on procurement and
operations within the period, the irregularities in the
awards denied the military from getting value for
money.
He emphasised that the corruption in the defence
sector had very serious consequences for the
country.
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