Dasuki: When ‘persecution’ is an inappropriate tag

The National Security Adviser (NSA) to former president Goodluck Jonathan, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd.) has been in the news lately for many reasons. These reasons range from his being brought under house arrest, his arraignment before a court of law and the subsequent controversy over his attempt to be allowed to travel abroad to seek […]

The National Security Adviser (NSA) to former president Goodluck Jonathan, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd.) has been in the news lately for many reasons. These reasons range from his being brought under house arrest, his arraignment before a court of law and the subsequent controversy over his attempt to be allowed to travel abroad to seek medical attention. In order to get his way, Dasuki went to ‎a Federal High Court in Abuja to seek a court order to allow him travel abroad to attend to his health. Apart from going to court to seek that order, he and his sympathizers have been crying foul, claiming that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is persecuting him. He claims not to have done any wrong. Really?
Well, the government doesn’t think that Dasuki has not done anything wrong. A report by a 13-man committee set up by the office of the NSA to audit the procurement of arms and equipment in the Armed Forces and Defence sector from 2007 to date found that Dasuki has been involved in shady deals. Chief among the allegations against the former NSA was that he awarded failed contracts totalling N482billion.
The committee is yet to conclude its work. These are just findings in its preliminary report. The committee found that the total extra budgetary interventions verified so far were approximately N643.817bn. Presidential Spokesman Femi Adesina who made the findings known to the public noted that, “The committee also observed that of 513 contracts awarded at $8,356,525,184.32; N2,189,265,724,404.55 and €54,000.00; fifty-three (53) were failed contracts, amounting to $2,378,939,066.27 and N13,729,342,329.87 respectively.”
 “Interestingly, it was noted that the amount of foreign currency spent on failed contracts was more than double the $1bn loan that the National Assembly approved for borrowing to fight insurgency in the North-East.
 “The committee also discovered that payments to the tune of three billion, eight hundred and fifty million Naira (N3,850,000,000.00) were made to a single company by the former NSA without documented evidence of contractual agreements or fulfilment of tax obligations to the FGN,” he said.
 “Further findings revealed that between March 2012 and March 2015, the erstwhile NSA, Col. M.S. Dasuki (retd.), awarded fictitious and phantom contracts to the tune of N2,219,188,609.50, $1,671,742,613.58 and €9,905,477.00; totalling N333bn (at N197 to a dollar, N212.563 to a Euro)” he said.
 “The contracts, which were said to be for the purchase of four Alpha Jets, 12 helicopters, bombs and ammunition were not executed and the equipment were never supplied to the Nigerian Air Force, neither are they in its inventory,” he added.
Prior to these fresh allegations, the DSS which had been investigating the retired Colonel charged him to court for “possession of fire arms without license punishable under section 27(i)(a)(i) of the Firearms Act Cap F28 LFN 2004”. This followed a search operation carried out in properties belonging to Dasuki. The search operation led to the recovery of large cache of arms and ammunition among other things and for which further investigation was conducted.
There are largely two major allegations against Dasuki. One is the large scale award of failed contracts for the purchase of weapons and other supplies for the armed forces. The second is the discovery of major unlicensed arms, ammunitions and assorted bullet-proof cars at one of his Abuja houses. The former NSA therefore has questions to answer.
Over the last six years, thousands of civilians and soldiers have died due to the onslaught by Boko Haram terrorists against our country. Many people blamed the late NSA General Andrew Awoye Azazi for not doing enough to end the mayhem. As a result, in 2012, following three major bomb attacks in churches that led to reprisal attacks against Muslims, the then President Goodluck Jonathan decided to fire Azazi and appoint a Dasuki, a northerner and prince from Sokoto, with the expectation that he would be able to deploy his wide network of contacts across the region to tackle the menace.
Alas, the president was wrong. Dasuki joined the party, as reported so far. Today, a new Sherriff is in town, so it is no longer business as usual. The ex-NSA and his sympathizers are now crying foul, claiming that he is being persecuted. Why would Dasuki be singled out and be persecuted by the Buhari administration? Dasuki’s sympathisers claim that the retired colonel is being persecuted because he arrested and hand-cuffed Buhari when the latter was overthrown in the coup of 1985.
In an interview he granted to Daily Trust in August, 2015, one of the officers who arrested Buhari, during a military coup on August 27, 1985, Col. Abdulmumini Aminu, has cleared the air on this matter. He said only himself, Majors Lawan Gwadabe and John Madaki arrested Buhari. Dasuki was not there. Indeed the former NSA himself once confessed that he was not part of those that arrested Buhari. He said during an interview a few months ago that: “I was reluctant to be among those that arrested [Buhari]. And I was not. I only met him afterward at Bonny Camp with Lawal Rafindadi.”
So how then has the media allowed a group of spin doctors to twist the narrative and portray Dasuki as the victim? He is certainly not. Thousands of innocent civilians and patriotic soldiers have died due to the corruption that has frustrated the war against terror in Nigeria. If he is ill and truly requires foreign doctors’ attention, they should be flown into the country to attend to him. It’s a new dawn in Nigeria. We cannot afford to allow someone who jeopardized national security slip away from justice. He should be ready to face the consequences of his actions. If he is not guilty as charged, he should defend himself in court and stop crying foul.
Galadima writes from Gwarimpa, Abuja