
This
is contained in a statement issued on Thursday in Abuja by AVM Jon Ode
(Retd), the President of the Presidential Committee on the Audit of
Defence Equipment Procurement in the Armed Forces (2007-2015).
He said the President’s approval followed the third interim report of the committee which was released on Thursday.
He further
said that those listed for further investigation included two former
Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. O.A. Ihejirika (Retd) and Lt.-Gen. K.T.J.
Minimah (Retd).
Also on the list are the former Minister of State
for Foreign Affairs II, Dr Nurudeen Mohammed and three former Permanent
Secretaries in the Ministry of Defence – Mr. Bukar Goni Aji, Mr. Haruna
Sanusi and Mr E.O. Oyemomi.
The Chief Executive Officers to be
investigated are, Col. Olu Bamgbose (retd) of Bamverde Ltd; Mr. Amity
Sade of Doiyatec Comms Ltd and DYI Global Services and Mr. Edward
Churchill of Westgate Global Trust Ltd.
According to Ode, the
total amount spent for procurement and operations within the period was
over N185 billion with another sum of 685.3 million dollars.
Ode
said the committee alleged that the Nigerian Army contracts, awarded by
the Ministry of Defence for the period under review, were often awarded
without ”significant input from end-user (Nigerian Army).
He said
the committee also alleged that the purported contract were awarded to
vendors who lacked the necessary technical competence.
The
committee, according to the president, similarly found that a contract
worth N169.9 billion for the procurement of 53 armoured vehicles spare
parts, with 90 days completion time, was yet to be completed five years
after.
He said the contracts were characterised by ”lack of due
process, in breach of extant procurement regulations and tainted by
corrupt practices”.
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