at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)? The cash vanished under former NSA Col.
Sambo Dasuki’s watch.
This question and more relating to other “curious” withdrawals in the dying days of
the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration informed the invasion of
Dasuki’s homes by Department of State Security (DSS) at the weekend.
Although Dasuki has not been linked with any cases of corruption, sources told The
Nation yesterday in Abuja that his office was being investigated for alleged
questionable withdrawals running into billions of naira.
It was gathered that Dasuki, the immediate past NSA to Jonathan, who President
Muhammadu Buhari sacked last Monday alongside the Service chiefs, would be
quizzed on how a driver to his personal assistant disappeared with $5 million, which
was withdrawn from the office’s account with the CBN.
The DSS, in a statement issued at the weekend, justified its raid on Dasuki’s home
on the suspicion that he was plotting to disturb the peace with the quality and
quantity of high caliber weaponry stocked in his Abuja home where bullet proof
vehicles were recovered. His father’s house in Sokoto was also searched.
Although Dasuki said he was being victimised for discharging his responsibilities, a
Presidency source told The Nation that evidence abound that his office played a
major role in some shady withdrawals.
Dasuki’s office, the source explained, was fingered in the case of a driver to his
personal assistant who allegedly disappeared with a car containing $5million cash
withdrawn from the NSA office’s account with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Dasuki was placed under security surveillance immediately Buhari was sworn in due
to the role he played in the plan to truncate the handover of governance to a new
government on May 29, it was learnt.
Said the source: “I believe Dasuki knows the truth and he is only latching onto the
democratic environment to twist the tale. The cry of a witch-hunt is unfounded
because we work in the same office. We don’t even need to go into how he
purchased the Asokoro mansion few months after his appointment as NSA.
“Is Dasuki also claiming ignorance of investigation into the suspicious disappearance
of a driver to his Personal Assistant with a vehicle loaded with $5m? In fact, the
relatives of the driver are still asking the authorities to help look for their son. The
money was withdrawn at the CBN and the PA claimed the driver said he wanted to
go for lunch only to disappear with the money, which was in the boot of the car.
Now, who allows a driver to go out with a vehicle containing such a huge sum of
money?
“You know Dasuki is just playing for time and I think he knows the game is up. By
the way, who told the former president that he could influence the sacked Service
Chiefs to stage a coup and frustrate the handover date? Who championed the idea
of changing the date for the election midway, having realised that Jonathan was not
going to win? Who has been collecting millions of dollars to buy sophisticated
gadgets and equipment to fight insurgency without any appreciable progress until
the tail end of the tenure of Jonathan?”
The source also said that Dasuki cannot explicate his office from the botched
$15million cash-for-weapons deal that went awry in South Africa, adding that the
extension of the investigation to Sokoto was informed by the fact that the former
NSA had taken full control of the house long after his father relocated to Kano before
moving to London to treat an ailment.
Said the source, who pleaded not to be named because of the “sensitivity” of the
matter:
“The truth is that his father relocated from Sokoto a long time ago and that house is
solely being used by Dasuki. What point is he trying to prove by feigning ignorance
about what he keeps in the Sokoto house? Is he saying there is no money lodged in
that house or that some government vehicles were not retrieved from there? Anyway,
by the time he is brought before justice, we will know whether this is frame up or
not. Sometimes, it is not the noise you make on the pages of newspapers that
count but how you defend your integrity”.
Dasuki in an exclusive interview with The Nation on Saturday had described the siege
to his house is mere witch-hunt. He said: “It is just a witch-hunt. If you want me to
make clarifications on any issue, in the spirit of democracy and the rule of Law, have
the courtesy to invite me and as a gentleman, I will honour the invitation. Sending
two trucks to lay siege to my house and restrict my movement is just abysmal.”
Source : The Nation
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