ICC petition: Okonjo-Iweala says Falana is a joke

Former Minister of Finance, and co-ordinating minister for the economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has hit out at human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, describing his attempt to link her to the $2.1 billion arms procurement scandal as a joke.

Okonjo-Iweala, in a statement issued by her media adviser, Paul Nwabuikwu, insisted that she “has absolutely nothing to do with the alleged misuse of $2.1billion by the office of the former National Security Adviser”, adding that “Falana and his sponsors are simply trying to invent a connection where there is none.”

According to Okonjo-Iweala, she got the approval of former President Goodluck Jonathan to release part of the returned Abacha funds to former NSA, Sambo Dasuki for purchase of arms, which she said is totally separate from the $2.1 billion.

Read also: Falana faults Buhari over detention of Dasuki, Kanu

“Some of the funds recovery was done under the regime of Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and the first term of President Olusegun Obasanjo when Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was not even in government”, the statement said.

Continuing, the former minister said $500 million was recovered by government during her time as Finance minister in the Obasanjo administration.

“As documented by the field study conducted by the World Bank with the assistance of national and international NGOs, this amount was properly applied. Falana’s insistence on the contrary shows how despicable he is and how he is ready to ignore facts and concoct a fiction in the service of his sponsors,” Okonjo-Iweala stated.

 

 

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