According to EFCC investigators, many military contracts were awarded without due process and incompetent vendors got the jobs under the watch of both men. A panel investigating defence equipment procurement between 2007 and 2015 has uncovered massive fraud in the award of Nigerian Army contracts.
A Committee on Audit of Defence Equipment Procurement headed by Air Vice Marshal Jon Ode, which submitted its third interim report to President Muhammadu Buhari last week, recommended further investigations, which the president has approved. Their report also revealed that 16 other retired and serving army officers are also to be probed, besides 12 serving and retired public officials and 24 chief executive officers of companies involved in the procurement of equipment.
They include former minister of state for foreign affairs Dr Nurudeen Mohammed and three former permanent secretaries in the defence ministry Bukar Goni Aji, Haruna Sanusi and E O Oyemomi. Chief executives to be investigated include Col Olu Bamgbose of Bamverde, Amity Sade of Doiyatec Comms and DYI Global Services and Edward Churchill of Westgate Global Trust.
In its report, the panel found that Nigerian Army contracts were awarded by the defence ministry without significant input from the end-user and to vendors who lacked the necessary technical competence. As an example, three contracts with a total value of N5,940,000,000.00 were awarded to DYI Global Services and Doiyatec Comms for the procurement of military hardware, including 20 units of KM-38 Twin Hull Boats and six units of 4X4 ambulances fitted with radios.
According to the report, although the committee found no credible evidence of delivery of the vehicles, the vendors were fully paid based on job completion certificates authenticated by the then chief of logistics. Also, an analysis of the various bank accounts of the two companies showed transfers to individuals related to the then chief of army staff.
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