TheCable

President Muhammadu Buhari has revealed that those involved in the diversion of funds meant for arms procurement of arms would refund monies stolen before proceeding to jail.

The procurement scam, popularly referred to as Dasukigate on social media, has damaged the reputation of many high-profile politicians and businessmen.

In an interview with BBC Hausa service, the president said he promised to stamp out corruption, reiterating that he would be true to his words.

“Remember during the campaigns, we said Nigeria is facing three things and nobody disputed that assertion. Firstly, there was widespread insecurity – a war in the north-east, while the country’s oil was being stolen at random in the south; secondly, there is massive unemployment.

“Thirdly, bribery and corruption was basically suffocating the country. If we don’t kill these monsters, this country would go down.

“That is why those who stole monies meant for arms procurement and shared it among themselves are being arrested and are being shown documents so that they would be asked to refund the money or face prosecution.

“We would use those documents to prove what they stole, collect all the assets acquired from the proceeds and then jail them.”

The president also blamed the Goodluck Jonathan administration for mutiny by Nigerian soldiers.

“I want people to understand that after I settled down and got a good grasp of what the country was going through, we removed all the service chiefs and appointed new ones.

“We also undertook an investigation and found out how the monies meant for arms procurement were diverted and shared by officials in the last administration.

“They sent the boys to the war front without arms and ammunition, leading some of them to mutiny after which they were arrested and detained.

“We have been able to raise money and fund the war. Go and ask the people of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, how many of their local governments were under the control of insurgents? And how many are currently still under the insurgents.

“Maybe we would not win the war completely by the end of the month, but the insurgents have now resorted to putting on explosive vests on young children, mostly girls aged 15 and below and then sending them to markets, mosques and churches to detonate.

“Boko Haram itself knows that the era of them taking over communities and local governments is over. If people would be fair to us, they would know that the Nigerian Army has basically met the deadline and are winning the war.

“You cannot find any significant number of Boko Haram members in Adamawa and Yobe, only maybe in about three local governments of Borno, in the area around our borders with Chad Republic. They are not in a position to threaten Nigeria now, so we have won.”