Jonathan Refutes $2 Billion Weapon Procurement Contract

Former President Goodluck Jonathan at a forum titled “Presidential elections and democratic consolidation in Africa: Case studies on Nigeria and Tanzania”, which took place yesterday in Washington DC. He waded into the arms procurement scandal surrounding the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, saying his government never awarded any contract in the range of $2 billion dollars.

“I did not award any $2 billion contract for procurement of weapons” Mr. Jonathan stated categorically querying, “Where did the money come from?” and repeating emphatically that “I did not award a contract of $2billion for procurement of weapons”.

Mr. Jonathan also spoke on contract issues after he stated that he was aware of allegations of huge sums of money that were said to be missing from the Nigerian treasury, but he claimed that some of the figures mentioned are not believable.

 “Sometimes, I feel sad when people mention these figures,” he added. 

“He didn’t say my government, he said previous administrations… “$150 billion is not 150 billion Naira,” he stated, suggesting, “People play politics with very serious issues.”

The former president was equally dismissive of people who alleged that the sum of $59.8 million was misappropriated within a 12-month period while he was in office.

“In Nigeria, if you lose $59.8 million in a year, federal and state governments will not pay salaries,” he said, adding that there is no way Nigerian budget can accommodate such a loss without the country coming to a standstill.

“Of course we brought international audit teams, forensic auditors and they didn’t see that,” he said.

The former President said he does not want to join issues with the new government, “I wanted to keep away from the public for at least twelve months.”

Happy 58th Birthday to the ex-president.

Source: PBO