$2bn arms contract: Jonathan denies Dasuki

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has denied claims by his former National Security adviser that he (Jonathan) approved contracts for procurement of arms to Nigeria’s military to the tune of about $2 billion.

Speaking during an interview in Washington DC, the former president stated, that “I did not award any $2 billion contract for procurement of weapons.”

He was speaking at a conversational forum, co-hosted by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) tagged “Presidential elections and democratic consolidation in Africa: Case studies on Nigeria and Tanzania”.

According to reports, Jonathan who turns 58 years today, queried, “Where did the money come from? “I did not award a contract of $2billion for procurement of weapons”.

It would be recalled, that the interim report by the presidential committee investigating procurement of arms under the last administration, revealed that it found extra-budgetary spending by the Jonathan administration to the tune of N643.8 billion and an additional $2.2 billion in foreign currency component, all managed and supervised by Dasuki.

But Dasuki claimed that all contracts and accruing payments were made based on the approval of ex-President Jonathan, adding that due process and military procurement regulations were followed in all the transactions.

Read also: We’ll meet in court, Dasuki tells FG

However, Jonathan said he never awarded any $2billion arms contract, but noted, that he was aware of allegations of huge sums of money said to be missing from the Nigerian treasury.

He however stated, that some of the figures mentioned are not believable. “Sometimes, I feel sad when people mention these figures,” he added.

He continued, “When the President (Buhari) paid official visit to the US, there were some figures that were mentioned that I don’t believe.

“In Nigeria, if you lose $59.8 million in a year, federal and state governments will not pay salaries.

“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.”

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