Arms procurement: EFCC takes over probe, digs deep

One month after the disbandment of the Presidential Committee on Arms Procurement by President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerians are still awaiting the final outcome on the report of the panel, headed by Air Vice Marshal John Ode (rtd).

The committee was formally disbanded last December by the National Security Adviser (NSA) who equally set up the committee to unravel how the money allocated for the purchase of military equipment for the fight against members of the Boko Haram sect was spent.

The committee, set up in 2015, had submitted three interim reports which led to the arrest and prosecution of top military brass, including the former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, whose trial is still ongoing.

However, when contacted, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media, Mallam Garba Shehu, said the presidency had directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to “take over the mandate.”

He therefore directed Saturday Tribune to the anti-graft agency to confirm when the final report would be ready for submission to President Buhari.

When contacted, the EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren who refused to give the details of the investigations, confirmed to Saturday Tribune that the commission had taken over the investigation into the arms deal probe.

He simply said, “There is nothing new about the EFCC taking over the arms probe. That has been on for some time”, adding that the commission was ready to prosecute anyone indicted, in line with the mandate given by the EFCC Act.

However, another source close to the commission, while shedding more light on the investigation, said the probe was without respect to persons, adding that, once indicted, EFCC would refer the suspect to court for trial.

“There is a misunderstanding in that some people are thinking that EFCC will first submit the report of its investigations for perusal by some other authorities. That is not the case here. The commission does not submit reports of its investigations to anybody. What it is doing is that once a suspect is investigated and found wanting, he or she is charged to court based on evidence gathered”, he said.

The source said much of activities coming out of arms procurement probe so far were traceable to EFCC intervention, adding, “Much of the things coming from arms probe have to do with activities of the commission. The reports of the investigations will not be submitted because that is in line with the mandate of the establishing Act”.

It was gathered that even though the committee went beyond its scope, some back-biting among some members of the committee did not help either in their investigation as it was said that the in-fighting led to the arrest and detention of one of them an Air Commodore, who was accused of collecting money on behalf of the committee.

A source said some members of the committee extended their investigation to some retired senior military officers who are holding strategic positions in the current dispensation, a development that Saturday Tribune learnt did not go well with the affected retired officers who made all effort to curtail the powers of the committee.

According to the source, if the government had been happy with the work done by the committee, its disbandment would not have been done in secrecy as Nigerians were hitherto always informed at intervals on the findings of the committee before it finally wound up.