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Alleged $2.2b arms deal should not overshadow Jonathan’s B’Haram fight, says Ogor

By Otei Oham, Abuja
27 October 2016   |   11:03 pm
The House of Representatives Minority Leader, Leo Ogor (PDP, Delta) has said that the alleged $2.2 billion arms deal should not be allowed to overshadow the intentions of the disbursements.
Leo Ogor

Leo Ogor

The House of Representatives Minority Leader, Leo Ogor (PDP, Delta) has said that the alleged $2.2 billion arms deal should not be allowed to overshadow the intentions of the disbursements.

In an interview, Ogor said despite that there might be traces of financial discrepancies in the action of the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), the funds in question were meant for tackling Boko Haram insurgencies, which he said, was appreciably accomplished.

He said the people seemed to have forgotten how the previous administration struggled to get arms in fighting insurgency at the time the Leahy law prohibited the United States (U.S.) Department of State and Department of Defence from providing military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity.

“Now, let me take you back to the Leahy law passed by the U.S. government. When President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan then was doing everything possible to import arms, the Americans refused to sell arms to us. Even the European nations refused to sell arms to us at this particular time,” he said.

He said that the administration of President Jonathan faced difficult circumstances and took difficult decisions to be able to keep Nigeria safe and united.

Ogor, who reiterated that it would be unfair for anybody to point accusing fingers without appreciating the enormity of challenges the government at that time faced and the difficulty of tackling them, added: “Today, the whole thing has died down and everybody is busy calling names. PDP are thieves, you know; stories all over the place. But I think they should carry out further investigation to find out what really happened. How did these arms, even if you call them inferior ones come in? How were they purchased? Did the American government agree to sell arms to us? Did the European governments agree to sell arms to us? How were we able to purchase these arms?

“And in a scenario or a situation where you have to adopt the black market approach, and just like the former president said, you may not rule out some level of corruption.”

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