Oshiomhole: Governor says Okonjo-Iweala should be included in arms deal probe

Currently at the fore of the scam is former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki and some persons who allegedly accepted money from him out of funds allotted for the procurement of arms for Nigeria’s military.

Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole has said that former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala should also be probed with regards to the alleged $2 billion arms deal fraud.

Currently at the fore of the scam is former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki and some persons who allegedly accepted money from him out of funds allotted for the procurement of arms for Nigeria’s military.

Oshiomhole made the comment on Wednesday, December 9, 2015, after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja, The Nation reports.

“I am shocked. I have been talking about it, I just said to a couple of persons, the government has to go the whole hog, because I know as a governor that no money gets out of the treasury even after I have approved as the governor without the approval of the Commissioner for Finance; so the probe should go into whether all these monies are appropriated all of it; when the money got out of the treasury, through who? The Minister of Finance under the rules must endorse before money gets out of the treasury, before the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) approves,” Oshiomhole said.

“So for the Ministers of Finance, including Okonjo – Iweala, I don’t care what people say because you cannot be coordinating a corruption-ridden economy and you pretend to be an angel, you cannot selectively deal with issues; you must deal with all involved in the conspiracy. In criminal law when two to three people are involved in an act of criminality, all of them are charged with conspiracy.

“The NSA is supposed to be an advisory officer; he is not supposed to be a procurement agent for government. I am happy the figures are coming out and I know that this is a tip of the iceberg and I read some reports, the numbers are in billions, Dasuki is just one bleeding point; there are several bleeding points in the system.

“This means that money not appropriated for was spent. If people are involved in those acts, they must be brought to justice,” he added.

Oshiomhole has frequently criticized Okonjo – Iweala over her handling of the nation’s economy during the tenure of former President, Goodluck Jonathan.

She however said that the governor is always attacking her because she had blocked a loan requested by him while she was in office.

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See video of Oshiomhole criticizing Okonjo-Iweala below: