Review… Dasuki and company: How are the mighty falling

In from Ali Smart . . .
As the saying goes, the first law of nature is the law of self-preservation. With the benefit of hindsight, it is self-evident now that the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col Mohammed Sambo Dasuki (rtd) may have heeded the lesson inherent in that simple wisecrack by finally throwing in the towel after stalling for months.
Dasuki’s story is quite a very riveting story indeed.

For a man who was quietly enjoying his forced retirement from the military, his appointment by the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan, and the role he played in that government has become his greatest undoing.

A chapter of incidence
The former NSA has been in the eye of the storm since his removal by President Muhamadu Buhari in July. Shortly after being sacked, Dasuki was charged with unlawful possession of firearms, for which he was put on trial.
Among the firearms and ammunition claimed by the federal government to have been found in the Asokoro residence of Dasuki in Abuja include 5 Tavor rifles, 20 magazines, 5 rifles, 5 packets of rifle with 16 rounds of 9mm ammunition.

But his lawyer and former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Joseph Daodu (SAN) said his client remains innocent until proven otherwise in the court of law.

Justice Adeniyi Ademola thereafter granted Dasuki bail on self recognition but ordered him to deposit all his travelling documents with the Deputy Chief Registrar, Litigation of the court.

Mother of all trial
But if Dasuki thought he had scaled the hurdles set on his path, he was mistaken because the federal government was still on his case considering the role he played under the last dispensation.

Convinced that the nation may have been shortchanged by some individuals saddled with the responsibility of ensuring the country’s safety in the light of recurring Boko Haram insurgency, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a probe panel to get to the root of the matter.

Subsequently, President Buhari ordered the arrest of Dasuki and others indicted in the alleged fraud after receiving a report submitted by the panel that probed Nigeria’s arms purchases from 2007-2015.

His homes in Sokoto and Abuja were raided by agents of the DSS and he was subsequently charged with money laundering and illegal possession of weapons.

But Dasuki sought redress in court, where his lawyers filed an exparte motion to prevent the federal government from having its way.

Convinced that it had a watertight case against Dasuki, the federal government ordered his arrest by the Department of State Services (DSS) on Tuesday, December 1, 2015 who subsequently handed him over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) the next day.

Read also: I’ve no hand in Dasuki’s arms deal, Saraki says

More arrests followed suit with some VIPs like former chairman of Daar Communication, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, former governor of Sokoto state, Attahiru Bafarawa, a former Director of Finance in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Shuaibu Salisu and many others invited by the anti-graft agency to explain their alleged role in a $2 billion phantom arms contract.

Apart from those clamped into detention, there were insinuations that Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki and former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Olabode George had something to do with the armsgate sleaze, accusations they both refuted.

…And the drama begins
Following his arrest by EFCC, Dasuki was reportedly utterly uncooperative but his resolve was said to have broken as soon as Salisu, his co-accomplice spilled the beans.

Confirming this development, reports quoted a highly placed source in the anti graft agency as claiming that: “When Dasuki was brought in, he initially refused to write any statement, alleging that he had been subjected to media trial.”

The source claimed that thereafter, Dasuki decided to open a can of worms, from which he gave a long list of PDP chieftains who collected money from the Office of the NSA. He mentioned the names of a former Deputy National Chairman of PDP, ex-governors and ex-ministers and many others.

Although, a spokesperson for Dasuki, later claimed that the former NSA never made any implicating statement, or named anyone to EFCC and wondered ‎where the authors got their information from.

More revelations
The EFCC has since extended its investigation of arms deals during the Jonathan administration to a $3 billion contract said to have been awarded by the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) under the late General Andrew Owoye Azazi.

Several arms dealers, a military chief and some other officials who served under Azazi have already been invited by the EFCC for interaction on the matter.

The arms dealers are being quizzed over the alleged inflation of a N3billion contract for the supply of 20 units of K-38 patrol boats to the Nigerian Army by the disbanded Presidential Implementation Committee on Marine Safety (PICOMMS).

The agency is also understood to have made a breakthrough in tracking how some of the $2billion arms votes and extra-budgetary funds were withdrawn from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) based on orders from above.
Besides, the commission has quizzed a former Chairman of PICOMMS, Air Vice Marshal, Salihu Atawodi (rtd), for a N600m arms scam.

A top-level source familiar with the development said the arms dealers were invited “for interaction on the contracts given to them.”

“We noticed some discrepancies like the short supply of equipment, non-delivery and outright refusal to execute contracts.

“One of the areas we are looking into is how PICOMMS was allegedly mismanaged under AVM Atawodi. We have allegations of inflation of N3billion contract for the supply of 20 units of K-38 patrol boats to the Nigerian Army.
“There are issues about lack of due process in the award of the contract and non-delivery of the 20 units of K-38 patrol boats to the Nigerian Army.

“From records so far, the nation might have been short-changed to the tune of over N2billion out of the contract sum.

“In an instance, N620million was withdrawn from the contract sum, changed to dollars and shared by some officials of PICOMMS in one day. We will fish out the culprits.”

About two years ago, a businessman blew the lid open on the N3billion contract for the supply of six units of K-38 patrol boats to the disbanded PICOMSS.

The businessman alleged that one of the officials of PICOMSS converted N620million down payment for the contract into personal use.

Government magic
To parody the popular lyrics of the inimitable Fela Anikulapo Kuti, ‘Government Magic,’ political watchers observed that the federal government may have shown more than a passing interest in the case.

You may also like: End of siege as DSS arrests Dasuki

In the view of Ebun Adegoruwa, a human rights lawyer, he said, the APC-led Buhari government was guilty of rule of law.

According to him, “You will recall that in a statement last Tuesday night, in which President Muhammadu Buhari purportedly received the findings of a 13-member arms procurement investigating committee which looked into how funds which came into the Office of the National Security Adviser, Defence Headquarters, Army Headquarters, Naval Headquarters and Nigerian Air Force Headquarters, both in local and foreign currencies were spent, there were a few issues which were clearly neglected.”

Expatiating, Adegoruwa said the investigation which was supposed to span a period of eight years may have been targeted at no other person than Dasuki.

“A roll call of all the NSAs and service chiefs in the last eight years showed that he was the only one mentioned in the “interim report” in which the federal government claimed that it uncovered several “illicit and fraudulent financial transactions.”

Short of being accused of unwarranted criticism, Adegoruwa said if it is ascertained that $2bn meant for the equipping of the military was stolen, then Dasuki and his alleged co-conspirators have a case to answer.
“I can tell you in all certainty that a careful perusal of the statement by the presidency shows that the government was merely working to the answer.”

“There is need for fair hearing rather than the hasty arrest and detention of the so-called culprits.”
The federal government, Adegoruwa said, ought to have given Dasuki the chance to defend himself against the charges before going to town with the report.

All are guilty as charged
As to be expected, majority of those fingered in the $2b phantom arms deal have been roundly condemned in the court of public opinion.

A cross-section of Nigerians who ventilated their views on the matter were unsparing in their criticisms of the dramatis personae.

Firing the first salvo, Odewale Adeoye, a senior journalist and activist said Nigerians must compel the federal government to remain resolute in the quest to rid the country of corrupt public officials and their civilian collaborators.

Echoing similar sentiments, Popoola Farid, a public affairs analyst is convinced that the immediate past government should be made to answer for all the deaths caused by the insurgents.

“Judging by the startling revelations we are hearing about the sleaze in high places, I’m convinced in my heart that the Jonathan government superintended over a killer squad. To think that the former president condoned this manner of crime and yet had the effrontery to try soldiers for mutiny is a crime against humanity for which he must be made to face the International Court of Justice.”

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