Corruption: Report tears presidential panel apart

Members of the Presiden­tial Panel on Arms Deals are now divided over the non-presentation of its findings to President Muhammadu Buha­ri, several months after they con­cluded work on it.

The development is being seen as an attempt by fifth columnists to derail President Buhari’s anti-cor­ruption crusade.

The AUTHORITY learnt that those behind the plot were forces opposed to the President’s anti-corruption and change agenda.

The AUTHORITY’s findings, which was confirmed by Alhaji Rabi’u Hassan, a principal mate­rial witness and a major contribu­tor to the work of the Presidential Panel investigating arms deal un­der ex-President Goodluck Jona­than, revealed that since the pan­el submitted its first interim report through the Office of the Nation­al Security Adviser (ONSA) un­der Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) and its second interim report to Bu­hari on the Nigerian Air Force, it had failed to submit the one on the probe of the Nigerian Army.

Sources close to the panel and the ONSA revealed that a report on the Nigerian Army and the one on the defunct Presidential Implementation Committee on Maritime Security and Safety (PICOMSS) have been ready for the past three or four months.

The alleged suppression of the release of the report to the President is being linked to a principal member of the committee.

The panel had scrutinised among others the padding of the 2011 budget where the sum of N50 billion was unlawfully appropriated and allocated to PICOMSS.

The money, it was learnt, was hidden as a sub-head under the budget of the ONSA for which 30 percent of the padded sum was al­legedly paid upfront to a section of the leadership of the National Assembly.

The report of the investigation of the Nigerian Army may have been kept away from the President because certain persons bent on perpetuating nepotism and cro­nyism decided to keep it close to their chests, a source said.

For instance, the sum of N18 billion, which was said to have been traced to a relative of a senior panel member, was uncovered by the audit and financial sub-com­mittee of the Presidential Panel of Investigation that dug into the af­fairs of the defunct PICOMSS.

Five years ago, Hassan blew the whistle on similar conspiracy, official massive corruption and fraud; subversion of the vital se­curity and defence interest of Ni­geria at PICOMSS in his official petition to Jonathan.

Further corroboration of these revelations came to light when our correspondent stumbled on the court record of a recent mo­tion filed by Hassan at the Feder­al Capital Territory (FCT) High Court No. 14 by Hassan, who has been joined with Atawode and ac­company, Hypertech Nigeria Lim­ited, as co-defendants in a case by the EFCC marked Federal Gov­ernment of Nigeria (FGN) versus the defendants.

According to sources, the de­velopment has factionalised the Presidential Investigation Pan­el and has led to a serious disqui­et within the committee and the ONSA; with some members kick­ing against the antics of a key offic­er and his cohorts.

Hassan, who declined to com­ment on the issue before the court as it is subjudiced, agreed to speak on the substantive issue of his orig­inal petition on PICOMSS, which borders on the criminal act of budget padding in the 2011 budg­et, where the sum of N50 billion was unlawfully appropriated and allocated to PICOMSS.

The N50 billion, allegedly sto­len directly from the treasury and unlawfully allocated to PICOMSS, is the substantive issue at stake and was the basis for Hassan’s petition to the President on PICOMSS. Hassan said that he was invited and conscripted to serve as the money bag that would pay off that 30 percent, which equals N15 bil­lion of the N50 billion upfront to the leadership of the legislative arm of government.

He said this was duly report­ed to the appropriate authorities by him. He was instructed to un­derstudy the situation and report back. Later he was told to pull the rug off the deal.

“This act of budget padding has been a tradition since the insti­tution of democracy in 1998. The controversy of this that character­ised the 2016 budget of the current government was only a confirma­tion of this established trend,” Has­san said.

According to him, “Buha­ri was not given the proper un­derstanding and definition of the term and the phenomenon that is called budget padding. For as long as the President has no true understanding of what this phe­nomenon means, he will remain chasing shadows.

“This is because Buhari was left with the impression that budget padding was a process perpe­trated by members of the public service and thus he focused his at­tention and punitive measures on the perceived culprits in the civil service. This is why he is address­ing the symptoms and not the root causes of the problem.’’

“For the general understand­ing of Nigerians,’’ Hassan defined budget padding as ‘’an act or pro­cess where the leadership of the National Assembly appropriates and allocates vast sums of money, solicited or unsolicited by agencies of government for bogus projects in which an agreed fixed percent­age of 30 percent of the padded sum is paid upfront to these ele­ments.”