Chidi Samuel
Ex President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday at the Oxford Union ,United Kingdom exonerated his former national security adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki, from the allegation that he stole $2.2bn meant for the purchase of arms to fight the insurgency that ravaged the North East during his tenure as President. Mr Jonathan said this while answering questions on the alleged widespread mismanagement of Public funds during term of office. The former President asserted that it was practically impossible for Dusuki to have stolen such amount of money.
According to him, “They said the national security adviser stole $2.2billion. I don’t believe somebody can just steal $2.2 billion”.
“We bought warships, we bought aircraft, we bought lots of weapons for the army and so on and so forth, and you are still saying $2.2 bn [was stolen]? So where did we get the money to buy all those things?”
“Yes, there were some issues; yes, there are still corruption issues; but some of it were blown, I’d say exaggerated, and they give a very bad impression about our nation. You cannot say the national security adviser stole $2.2billion. It is not just possible,” he said.
“One thing about the issue of corruption is that these matters are in court, let’s allow some of these processes to end. Lately some judges’ homes were also invaded. There are so many things involved and we have to follow up these matters to conclusion before we know the fact.
“I don’t want to be seen as a former president challenging what the sitting government is doing so I have decided to keep quiet for the court to look into them. You will see that it has become a major topic whenever there is a change of government.
“I am not saying there is no corruption in Nigeria, there is corruption. If you look at corruption there is almost no country that is free, the degree varies, the perception varies.
“Transparency International talks about the way corruption is being perceived in different economies, why do we talk about the way corruption is being perceived, it depends on the issue raised in the media every day.” the former President concluded.