$9.3m arms deal: Obasanjo has been vindicated –Islamic groups

A coalition of Islamic groups under the aegis of Conference of Islamic Organisations (CIO) yesterday took on President Goodluck Jonathan on the rationale behind the $9.3million cash-for-arms deal that went awry in South Africa.

The group specifically stated that until it is proved contrary, the deal was a confirmation of an earlier alarm raised by the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, in his letter to President Jonathan last year, where he alleged the training and arming of ‘snipers’ preparatory to 2015 general elections.

The groups made their feelings known at a press conference addressed by its convener, Sheikh Abdul-Rahman Ahmad, in Lagos yesterday.

CIO specifically raised posers on the use of a private jet belonging to a religious leader for the movement of such huge cash against the cashless policy of the government; refusal to notify either the South African Government, Nigerian Embassy in South Africa or the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC), in South Africa, about the deal.

“Against this background, CIO takes exemption to the way the Federal Government tries to cover up this illegal transactions. Our fears are being confirmed that Muslims are no longer safe in Nigeria with the Federal Government.

“In order to allay the fears of Nigerians and assure Muslims that there is no conspiracy whatsoever, the National Assembly must get to the root of this scandal, which has ridiculed the image of Nigeria in the world.  We deserve to know why a calculated and deliberate attempt was made to smuggle such a large amount of cash out of the country into South Africa, it must also identify the identities of the two Nigerians involved and their ethno-religious background; and verify and confirm where was the money sourced from?

Is it from the Central Bank of Nigeria or where? Was it appropriated by the National Assembly or otherwise? Who authorised the transaction? And which arms of the security agency is the equipment meant for?”

The groups said until the National Assembly made its findings public, the explanations offered by the Federal Government and CAN remained unacceptable to them.