BY Fredrick Nwabufo
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the investigation of Azubuike Ihejirika, former chief of army staff, and Kenneth Minimah, his successor.
A statement signed by John Ode, head of the committee on the audit of procurement of arms between 2007 and 2015, said Buhari gave the directive after receiving the third interim report of the committee.
Eighteen serving and retired military personnel, 12 serving and retired public officials and 24 chief executive officers of companies, were recommended for investigation.
Most of the contracts awarded were said to have lacked due process.
Nurudeen Mohammed, former minister of state for foreign affairs; Bukar Goni Aji, Haruna Sanusi and E.O. Oyemomi, all former permanent secretaries, are to be investigated.
Also, the CEOs to be investigated include Olu Bamgbose of Bamverde Ltd, Amity Sade of Doiyatec Comms Ltd and DYI Global Services, and Edward Churchill of Westgate Global Trust Ltd.
According to the committee, the total amount spent for procurement and operations within the period were N185,843,052,564.30 and $685,349,692.49.
It found that the army contracts awarded by the ministry of defence for the period under review were often awarded without ”significant input from end-user (Nigerian Army) and to vendors who lacked the necessary technical competence”.
The committee said it also found out that the “two companies collected N5,103,500,000.00, representing 86% of the total value of the 3 contracts worth N5,940,000,000.00, but only performed to the tune of N2,992,183,705.31.
“With respect to contracts awarded directly by the Nigerian Army, the Committee found that many of the contracts were characterized by ‘lack of due process, in breach of extant procurement regulations and tainted by corrupt practices.”
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