A former National Security Adviser, Col. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki (retd), has described as absurd, the findings contained in the interim report of the 13-man committee set up by the Office of the National Security Adviser to audit the procurement of arms and equipment from 2007 to date. The report indicted him.
Dasuki said the interim report was theatrical and that the sole objective of the Presidency was to draw sympathy. He said, “In a theatrical manner, the Presidency fed the public with many allegations against my person and yet to be named former public officers.
“To draw sympathy, the presidency quoted some absurd findings including extra-budgetary interventions; award of fictitious contracts; 53 failed contracts; payment for jobs without contractual agreements; non-execution of contracts for the purchase of 4 Alpha jets, bombs and ammunition.” He added.
“For undiscerning Nigerians, they may tend to assume that the allegations were true and pronounce the former National Security Adviser guilty as charged.
“The statement issued by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, who should know better as a former President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors and a witness to history, was nothing short of propaganda to cast aspersions on me.”
Dasuki said, to set the records straight, Nigerians should appreciate the fact that the AVM Jon Ode-led panel did not invite him under any guise before arriving at its ambiguous findings.
“At least, fairness demands that the panel ought to hear from Dasuki instead of its recourse to hasty conclusions. If the panel had been more patient and painstaking, it would have been availed of all relevant documents on some of the jaundiced findings,” he defended.