Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday refuted claim that former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col Sambo Dasuki (rtd), misappropriated $2.2billion meant for the purchase of arms.
Jonathan appointed NSA as replacement for General Owoye Azazi on June 22, 2012, a position the 61-year-old held until July 2015.
Dasuki is now standing trial before a Federal Capital Territory High Court for charges brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
Speaking at the Oxford Union, Oxford United Kingdom, on youth entrepreneurship, Jonathan said it was “not just possible” for Dasuki to have stolen $2.2 billion after his administration procured several equipment for the country’s military.
“They said the National Security Adviser stole $2.2billion. I don’t believe somebody can just steal $2.2 billion. We bought warships, we bought aircraft, we bought lots of weapons for the army and so on and so forth and you are still saying 2.2 billion, so where did we get the money to buy all those things?” he asked while responding to a question.
While admitting that corruption was an issue during his administration, the former president said some of the allegations were “exaggerated”.
“Yes, there were some issues. Yes, there are still corruption issues, but some of it was blown; I’d say exaggerated, and they give a very bad impression about our nation. You cannot say the national security adviser stole $2.2billion. It is not just possible,” he said.
He, however, said that as some of the corruption cases were still in court, he would rather allow the legal processes to reveal the facts of the matter and that he did not want to appear as challenging the incumbent government.
“One thing about the issue of corruption is that these matters are in court; let’s allow some of these processes to end. Lately some judges’ (homes) were also invaded. There are so many things involved and we have to follow up these matters to conclusion before we know the fact.
“I don’t want to be seen as a former president challenging what the sitting government is doing so I have decided to keep quiet for the court to look into them,” he said.
He said allegations of corruption were not unique to his administration.
He further argued that corruption was a global problem, but said the perception of corruption was greater in Nigeria due to the Nigerian media’s obsession with reporting on corruption.
“I am not saying there is no corruption in Nigeria, there is corruption. If you look at corruption there is almost no country that is free, the degree varies, the perception varies,” he said.
“Transparency International talks about the way corruption is being perceived in different economies, why do we talk about the way corruption is being perceived, it depends on the issue raised in the media every day.”
