Senate summons NSA, CDS, COAS Over $9.3m Arms Deal

THE Senate, on Thursday, summoned the National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki (retd); the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh and the Chief of Army Staff, Kenneth Minimah, over the $9.3 million dollars seized by the government of South Africa.

South African officials had caught two Nigerians and one Israeli for illegally importing the sum of $9.3 million to the country.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence, Senator George Sekibo, who made this public on Thursday, said the officials would appear before the Senate to brief the lawmakers next week Tuesday.

“I have just called the Chief of Defence Staff, National Security Adviser and Chief of Army Staff. I don’t want to pre-empt issues because have not heard details about it, but they will be here next week Tuesday.”

The chairman also said the death sentence passed on 12 soldiers for mutiny did not come to him as a surprise, adding that the soldiers were aware of the rules of the military before they joined the force.

Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Thursday, tackled President Goodluck Jonathan over the controversy surrounding the $9.3 million that was impounded in South Africa and consequently asked the president to come clean on the issue.

The party further alleged that the development had become the latest in a series of global ridicule to which the administration had subjected Nigeria and its people.

To this end, the party also tasked the National Assembly to launch an urgent investigation into the issue, saying the silence was unacceptable.

The party, in a statement issued in Abuja by its national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, asked “President Jonathan to clear the air on this alleged off-the-shelf equipment or arms purchase, which runs against all known protocol for such purchases anywhere in the world.”

source: tribune