Exposé On The Sabotage – Dasuki, Badeh, Amosu and Their Co-Travellers

We hear some are returning monies already but the weight of what the Dasuki’s and Badeh’s of this world are accused of is far more reaching ,and with “domino” akin effects, as it is a direct blow that strikes at the heart of the nations Military/Defence architecture.

“The Ex-Defence Chief, Alex Badeh, in an interview granted to Channels TV after his exit from office claimed that he was aware that there were fifth columnists within the Nigerian Armed forces who sought to destroy from within by working and collaborating with Boko Haram”.

Officers and men who refused to fight without adequate arms or were just plain fed up by the apathy of the authorities to appropriately arm them before sending them into harm’s way were summarily hauled up before court martial and sentenced.

“Little did we know that the most debilitating and foul fifth columnists were actually the principal persecutors. Little did we know that the men who were called to serve their fatherland and lead valiant troops where themselves the saboteurs”.

There is no greater sabotage, no perpetuation of sub-rosa ;“fifth columnist activities”, that can trump the deliberate, heartless and insensitive actions of Sambo Dasuki, Alex Badeh and their ilk. By fraudulently usurping and “chopping” monies meant to outfit troops theirs was a crime with rippling and devastating repercussions.

Excerpts from the audit report of the committee set up the the President to probe military procurement activities of the military are revealing.

The audit report states: “in spite of this huge financial intervention, there has not been significant improvement in the capacity and capability of the Armed Forces.”

“Additionally, some of the award letters contained misleading delivery dates that indicated fraudulent intention in the award process. The observed discrepancies are in clear contravention of extant procurement regulations”.

"In particular, the committee particularly noted the issue of procurement of two Mi-24 helicopters through SEI Nigeria Ltd that were deployed to the North East Operations in unserviceable condition which resulted in the unfortunate death of the late Group Captain U.N. Akpan and Master Warrant Officer Zabesan H”.

“The audit uncovered a series of suspicious transfers of funds through the CBN. The committee stated that, between September 17, 2012 and March 9, 2015, former National Security Adviser, retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki, and ONSA’s former Director of Finance and Administration, Mr. S.A. Salisu, ordered the CBN to transfer various sums of money totaling more than €9.9 million. The funds were transferred to “various accounts in Nigeria, Niger Republic and UK for unascertained purposes.”

Various war correspondents in the North-east theatre have reported soldiers with malfunctioning jamming guns, deployment of unserviceable and unusable weaponry amongst other ills. "These are direct 'domino' effects of the actions of a few ogas”.

Any “Warrior”, from the beginning of time knows that the efficacy of his sword, his gun – can be the difference between life and death. How many of our soldiers you wonder, have died directly from malfunctioning, unserviceable guns and equipment? Like the late Group Captain U.N. Akpan and Master Warrant Officer Zabesan H; how many of our “warriors”, have we lost needlessly because of the corruption of a few individuals.

In a nation where its ranking civil and public servants are regarded as failures if they are not at the least multi-millionaires in dollars, it has become the norm to see these category of persons, military men inclusive living in such high estate that fabled book story Sheiks with lavish harems will marvel at.

Alas, the choices of the nation allowing corruption to fester within its military sphere are stark. It is a choice between improvement in the capacity and capability of the Armed Forces or the decline of military effectiveness and its attendant waste of the lives of troops.

A strong message must be sent. All military officers found culpable of thieving should be put before a court martial of their own. Those who are retired should be recalled and also court martialed, afterall the malaise caused by their thieving conduct is directly manifested in the death and negative performance of troops and hence can be categorized as war crimes.

I say, let them face the judgement of those “few”, “those brothers in arms”, “the band of brothers” that they have betrayed.

THESE ARE THE WORDS OF
Victor Ikhatalor
Founder of "The MyTribeNigeria Initiative"
Author of #MyTribeNigeria