ex-President Goodluck Jonathan has debunked claims by the Buhari-led administration concerning the arms contract.
Former Nigerian President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
Immediate past President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday at a forum in Washington DC, said his government never awarded any contract in the range of $2 billion dollars.
Jonathan revealed this while reacting to the arms procurement scandal involving the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki. He said, “I did not award any $2 billion contract for procurement of weapons,”he further queried, “Where did the money come from?.”
Jonathan noted that the claims by the Buhari administration that he awarded $2bn arms contract was false and unsubstantiated.
Jonathan said this while speaking at the event titled: “Presidential elections and democratic consolidation in Africa: Case studies on Nigeria and Tanzania”.
The former President described some of the huge amount said to be missing from the government treasury as unbelievable.
“Sometimes, I feel sad when people mention these figures,” he added.
Touching on his successor, President Jonathan said, “When the President Buhari paid official visit to the US, there were some figures that were mentioned that I don’t believe.”
On the $150bn alleged to have been stolen by previous Nigerian administrations, Jonathan scoffed at the probability of “$150bn being missing and “Americans will not know where it is,” adding that Buhari did not accuse his administration.
“He didn’t say my government, he said previous administrations…
“$150 billion is not 150 billion Naira,” he stated.
It would be recalled that a presidential investigations committee into arms procurement under the Jonathan’s administration had revealed in its interim report that it discovered extra-budgetary spending by the administration to the tune of N643.8 billion and an additional $2.2 billion in the foreign currency component, all managed and supervised by Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd).