Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has called on the Federal Government to prosecute the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan and former Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-iweala in the controversial $2billion arms deal sham.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole
The Edo state governor advised the federal government to prosecute former president Goodluck Jonathan and immediate past finance minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
This is coming after the arrest of the former national security adviser Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) by the Department of State Security (DSS) yesterday, December 1, in the on-going arms deal investigation.
Oshiomhole said Jonathan and Okonjo-Iweala should be prosecuted since it had been established that they made approvals for which billions of dollars released for the procurement of arms for counter-terrorism operations under Jonathan, Leadership reports.
The governor, who spoke in an interview with the media organization, said that both Jonathan and Okonjo-Iweala should be prosecuted after Dasuki’s disclosure of receiving an extra-budgetary allocation of $2.1 billion from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) within nine months following the approval of Jonathan.
He said: “The issue is whether the Nigerian President under the constitution has the power to approve funds belonging to local, state and federal government- funds that have not been appropriated by the National Assembly. That is a criminal offense for which Okonjo-Iweala ought to face criminal prosecution. These things are just discussed and wished away. For me, I will stick for the truth and don’t care what people will say.”
Citing the Money Laundering Act which states that if one takes cash in excess of N5 million transaction, it is money laundering and it is criminal, Oshiomhole said: “Talking about revelation, look at the letter credited to Dasuki – the immediate past National Security Adviser. In his defence which I read in your paper, he seems to admit that money was spent but it was approved by the President. Does the Nigerian constitution empower the President to spend money which has not been appropriated by the National Assembly? And they took cash from the CBN. The Money Laundering Act says if you take cash in excess of N5 million transaction, it is money laundering and it is criminal.
“So, by Dasuki’s letter, he has also confirmed that Okonjo-Iweala is a privy to spending money never appropriated and therefore criminal, and that cash were being moved contrary to the money laundering act. Just using Dasuki’s own defence, you can see a case of conspiracy has been established between Dasuki, Okonjo-Iweala and all those involved in that transaction.”