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Arms probe: Dambazau’s missing name sparks controversy

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The disappearance of the name of a serving Minister of Interior, Abdurrahman Bello Dambazau in the official names of top army officers to be further probed for arms scandal is stirring concern among Nigerians.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, approved that those indicted the in arms procurement, be further probed as recommended by the committee charged with investigating the Defence Equipment Procurement from 2007 to 2015, after it found a number of irregularities in the contract awards.

However, Dambazau, whose name was mentioned in an earlier report by a number of media platforms as being indicted in the report submitted by the committee to the President, was missing in the 54 names the president submitted for further probe.

The earlier report also fingered Dambazau as particularly working hard to suppress the content of the report.

He was appointed the chief of army staff by late President Umaru Yar’Adua, and served between 2008 and 2010.
Nigerians are now worried at the inconsistency in the list approved by the president for further probe and the earlier reported list.

The issue is now raising doubts over the truthfulness of the All Progressives Congress (APC) government in the fight against corruption as many believe the approved list has already been doctored.

Read also: Buhari okays probe of Minimah, Ihejirika over arms procurement deals

However, the Federal Government said there is no truth in the insinuation that the report of the Presidential Committee on the Audit of Defence Equipment Procurement in the Armed Forces between 2007-2015 was doctored .
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, said what has been released so far is the report of the audit covering the period 2011 to 2015, adding that the Committee would commence the audit of procurement from 2007 to 2010 as soon as the necessary documents are available.

He said “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.”

According to Mohammed, government’s anti-corruption fight is non-discriminatory, he added that ”no one should attempt to distract from the seriousness of the issues involved in this audit of defence equipment procurement.”
By Ebere Ndukwu…

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