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President Muhammadu Buhari has directed
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to carry out further
investigation into the alleged misconduct established against some
retired and serving officers of the Nigerian Air Force and Nigerian
Army.
Those affected in the order include
embattled former National Security Adviser, Lt.-Col. Sambo Dasuki
(retd.); former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh
(retd.); and two former Chiefs of Air Staff, Air Marshal MD Umar (retd.)
and Air Marshal Adesola Amosun (retd.).
The Senior Special Assistant to the
President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, disclosed the
President’s directive in a statement made available to journalists on
Friday.
Shehu said the presidential directive
was based on the recommendation of the committee established to audit
the procurement of arms and equipment in the Armed Forces and Defence
sector from 2007 to 2015.
He listed others that the President had
asked the EFCC to probe to include: Maj.-Gen. ER Chioba (retd.);
AVM IA Balogun (retd.); AVM AG Tsakr (retd.); AVM AG Idowu
(retd.);AVM AM Mamu; AVM OT Oguntoyinbo; AVM T Omenyi; AVM JB
Adigun; AVM RA Ojuawo; AVM JA Kayode-Beckley; Air Cdre SA
Yushau (retd.); Air Cdre AO Ogunjobi; Air Cdre GMD Gwani; Air Cdre
SO Makinde; Air Cdre AY Lassa; and Col. N Ashinze.
Shehu added that following the
submission of the audit committee’s second interim report, the President
had also directed the EFCC to investigate the roles of the officers as
well as some companies and their directors in fundamental breaches
associated with the procurements by the Office of the National Security
Adviser and the Nigerian Air Force.
He gave the names of those affected to
include: Messrs Societe D’ Equipments Internationaux; Himma Aboubakar;
Aeronautical Engineering and Technical Services Limited; Messrs Syrius
Technologies; Dr. Theresa A. Ittu; Sky Experts Nig Ltd.; Omenyi Ifeanyi
Tony; Huzee Nig. Ltd.; GAT Techno Dynamics Ltd.; Gbujie Peter Obie and
Onuri Samuel Ugochukwu.
Others are Spacewebs Interservices
Ltd.; Oguntoyinbo Tayo; Oguntoyinbo Funmi; Delfina Oil and Gas Ltd.;
Chief Jacobs Bola; Mono Marine Corporation Nig. Ltd.; Geonel Intergrated
Services Ltd.; Sachi Felicia; Mudaki Polycarp and Wolfgang Reinl.
The presidential spokesman said the
breaches identified by the Audit Committee include non-specification of
procurement costs, absence of contract agreements, award of contracts
beyond authorised thresholds, transfer of public funds for unidentified
purposes and general non-adherence to provisions of the Public
Procurement Act.
He added, “Furthermore, the procurement
processes were arbitrarily carried out and generally characterised by
irregularities and fraud.
“In many cases, the procured items
failed to meet the purposes they were procured for, especially the
counter insurgency efforts in the North East.
“A major procurement activity
undertaken by ONSA for NAF was that concerning the contracts awarded to
Societe D’ Equipment Internationaux (SEI) Nig Ltd.
“Between January 2014 and February
2015, NAF awarded 10 contracts totalling Nine Hundred and Thirty
Million, Five Hundred Thousand, Six Hundred and Ninety US Dollars
($930,500,690.00) to SEI Nig Ltd.
“Letters of award and End User
Certificates for all the contracts issued by NAF and ONSA respectively
did not reflect the contract sums. Rather, these were only found in the
vendor’s invoices, all dated 19 March 2015.
“Additionally, some of the award letters
contained misleading delivery dates suggesting fraudulent intent in the
award process. The observed discrepancies are in clear contravention of
extant procurement regulations.
“The SEI contracts included procurement
of two used Mi-24V Helicopters instead of the recommended Mi-35M series
at the cost of One Hundred and Thirty Six Million, Nine Hundred and
Forty Four Thousand US Dollars ($136,944,000.00).
“However, it was confirmed that the
helicopters were excessively priced and not operationally air worthy at
the time of delivery. A brand new unit of such helicopters goes for
about Thirty Million US Dollars ($30m). Furthermore, the helicopters
were delivered without rotor blades and upgrade accessories.”
