Arms scandal betrayal of trust – Buhari
Category: Nigerian National News
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday
described the arms purchase scam that cost Nigeria many lives and
goodwill currently being probed as a betrayal of trust at various
levels.
The president who hosted members of the House of Representatives to a
dinner at the Old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja
yesterday, lamented that under the former administration, the military
could not secure 14 of the 774 local governments in the country.
He said: “Unfortunately for us as a people, we discovered that billions
of naira and hundreds of millions of dollars were expended by the
previous government to acquire good equipment and ammunition for the
military to use. But unfortunately, there was abuse of trust at various
levels which cost Nigeria a lot of lives and goodwill. So, of this, we
cannot keep quiet about and it is coming out gradually. It is very
unfortunate.
“It is a known fact that Nigeria earned its respect from Burma to Zaire, to Liberia, to Sierra Leone. But it reached a stage where the Nigerian military could not secure 14 local governments out of 774 local governments. As I have always said, how has the mighty fallen! We are doing our best, and I hope our best will be good enough,” he added.
“It is a known fact that Nigeria earned its respect from Burma to Zaire, to Liberia, to Sierra Leone. But it reached a stage where the Nigerian military could not secure 14 local governments out of 774 local governments. As I have always said, how has the mighty fallen! We are doing our best, and I hope our best will be good enough,” he added.
Buhari said he decided to host the dinner to thank the lawmakers for
their cooperation so far, noting however that there was still a long way
to go.
“There is a lot of Rubicon to be crossed, but let’s be very clear about
our objective: Our objective is that we first secure the country and
efficiently manage it because we’re all in government. In fact, we’re
the government-the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. So,
nobody should contemplate alienating one another. We’ve already set our
priorities right during our campaigns to secure the country then
efficiently manage it. Securing the country is obviously dealing
decisively with Boko Haram.
“When we came in, the military leadership had to be removed and
reconstituted, a new set put in with clear target to reorganise,
retrain, re-equip and make sure that Boko Haram is uprooted and
neutralised. We ensured we’ve some good intention with the Joint Task
Force comprising the Lake Chad Basin Commission countries of Cameroon,
Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Benin, because of good neighbourliness, decided
to join us. There was an agreement to dedicate a number of troops to be
sighted in different places in the Lake Chad Basin Commission so that
with the end of the rainy season, an aggressive attack will be unleashed
on Boko Haram. But we’re realistic to know that Nigeria is the battle
ground. So, we expended the meagre resources we’ve to ensure that the
morale of the military is raised by getting officers to be on the ground
with the men”, he added.
Buhari, who sought the lawmakers’ understanding and support, reminded
them: “Even by the standard of your predecessors, some of you are still
here, but there has been unprecedented political onslaught where 70
percent of your colleagues did not come back. This is something you must
reflect upon. Let’s make up our minds that whatever we’re doing, we’re
doing it for this country. Let’s secure the country first. Let’s us
efficiently manage the country”.
The president added that he recently visited Niger, Chad, Cameroon and
Benin and Germany to meet G7 leaders to forward Nigeria’s case to the
international community.
“If in the capital of a developed country, people killed 130, what is
Nigeria? We’ve a problem, but we’re very lucky in the fact that the
intention of the terrorists is to divide the country. I think they’ve
misfired,” he said.
House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara described the four years
of Buhari’s administration as crucial, saying; “If we don’t get it right
under you, then, those of us in this generation should forget about
getting it right”. He assured that the legislature would support the
Buhari administration.
Present at the dinner were Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former Interim
National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress Chief Bisi Akande,
Chief of Staff to the President Alhaji Abba Kyari and Secretary to the
Government of the Federation Babachir Lawal,among other dignitaries.
Daily Trust
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