Since the current government took office in May last year, the fight against corruption has been its main policy and EFCC officials have been busy investigating the $2.1bn arms deal under which money meant to buy military hardware was shared out between politicians and military generals. Under the scam, the former national security adviser Col Sambo Dasuki was said to have handed out the cash to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) officials and the president's political allies.
Further investigations, however, have revealed that the total anti-insurgency money diverted by various personalities and agencies was over $15bn. Apparently, the $2.1bn represents the arms cash placed under the office of Col Dasuki.
Ex-military chiefs, including a former chief of defence staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh and former chief of air staff Air Marshal Adesola Amosu have been quizzed for their alleged roles in the arms scam. One EFCC source said the presidential panel on arms procurement discovered that the $2.1bn scam was just for one of the several transactions.
He added: “We have discovered that the total money in the arms scandal is over $15bn, not $1.2bn that was initially discovered. The $2.1bn was just for one transaction and many of these military officers set up companies for the purpose of diverting money meant for the prosecution of the anti-insurgency war.”
Meanwhile, the EFCC source said the commission had started analysing information on Nigerians including senate president Dr Bukola Saraki, mentioned in the Panama Paper leaks. He added that the commission was working with the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation and the UK’s National Crimes Commission to extradite those who were being investigated, including a former minister of state for defence Musiliu Obanikoro and an ex-PDP chairman Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu.
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