Dasukigate: Hunting the hunter

On Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari was also listed among those that benefited from the office of the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki. SAMUEL OGIDAN writes on how the hunter becomes the hunted
The unprecedented revelations from the investigations into how $2.1bn meant for the procurement of arms to combat Boko Haram and other related security challenges in the country have taken anoth¬er dimension as the hunter has become the hunted.
Since the issue of the former National Se¬curity Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki and how he handled the funds meant for the pro¬curement of arms came into the open, it has been one revelation after the other, to the ex¬tent that President Muhammadu Buhari has also been listed as one of the beneficiaries.
The initial story of Dasuki when his house was invaded by the Department of State Ser¬vices (DSS) and his subsequent arrest was that he was being witch-hunted by some persons in the corridor of power, maybe as a result of his actions and inactions in the days of yore.
But so far, the mind boggling revelations of the quantum of money the office of the NSA had expended before, during and after the 2015 generation elections have angered the people and flayed emotions.
So far, Chairman emeritus of DAAR Com¬munication, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, Atta¬hiru Bafarawa, Basir Yuguda and Sagir Atta¬hiru had been implicated in the arms deal.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been having a field day in hunting for the people implicated by Dasuki, who have in one way or the other benefited from the arms’ money.
Though the number of people implicated in the deal is still counting, on Tuesday, rev¬elation where President Buhari was fingered as beneficiary from the Dasuki arms funds, set confusion in the camp of the ruling par¬ty and put a dent in the wheel of progress in the fight against corruption.
It was alleged that President Buhari ben¬efited two SUV cars, one a bullet proof and the other a regular jeep amounting $300,000 gotten from the office of the NSA during the administration of former President Good¬luck Jonathan.
But reacting swiftly to the allegation, Pres¬ident Buhari, in a statement from his media officers, denied the allegation, saying he only got two SUV cars and not monetary benefit of $300,000.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba She¬hu, in his twitter handle had debunked the al¬legation, insisting that the President did not receive any monetary compensation from the immediate past government.
According to him, the claim in the social media that monetary gift and the SUVs were given to the President in the wake of the at¬tack on his convoy in Kaduna last year, was not true.
He said: “We unequivocally deny that President Buhari received $300,000 or any monetary compensation whatsoever from the Jonathan Presidency or any of its officials, in the aftermath of that attack, or at any other time since then.
“While it is true that one armoured SUV and one untreated SUV were sent to the Pres¬ident in the aftermath of the attack, the ve¬hicles were in keeping with his entitlements as a former Head of State under Remunera¬tion of Former Presidents and Heads of State (and other Ancillary Matters) Decree of 1999.
“There was nothing untoward, illegal or tending to corruption in the former Head of State and Presidential aspirant as he was, receiving vehicles to which he was statuto¬rily entitled, from the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
Another of his media aides, Femi Adesina, while defending his principal during a radio programme with Raypower FM, maintained that the President did not get anything from the office of NSA, adding that the two SUV cars were from the Federal Government and nothing more.
But the opposition Peoples Democrat¬ic Party (PDP) took President Buhari to the cleaner over the alleged benefit, saying PDP has been vindicated.
The party, in a statement by its spokes¬man, Olisa Metuh said the denial by Presi¬dent Buhari on the alleged benefiting from funds relating to the arms deal scandal, and the consequent controversy trailing it, under¬scores the need for a more neutral and trans¬parent body like an Independent National Truth Commission to examine all issues re¬lating to handling of security votes and campaign funding without interferences from the government.
The PDP pointed out that the leak that President Buhari benefited from the office of the former NSA against the convention of dealing with the office of the SGF also stresses the fact that the war against corrup¬tion should be holistic, transparent and not politicised.
“We challenge this administration to a no-holds-barred public inquisition on all issues of security votes and campaign ex¬penses. This is more so as we have evidence that President Buhari and the APC budgeted and spent billions of naira corruptly sourced for their Presidential campaign, in addition to on-going sleazes in the system under the APC government.
“We therefore caution this government to come to terms with the fact that this nation cannot afford to contain, at this time, undue and avoidable pressure coming ceaselessly from its totalitarian tendencies
and actions.
“Our position on the issue of fighting cor¬ruption in the country remains that there should be a holistic and all-encompassing approach that is devoid of persecution and selective victimisation of opponents of the government. If the government is indeed in¬terested in tackling corruption, then it will do well to strengthen the agencies charged with fighting corruption and allow such agencies the freedom to do their work without inter¬ference.”
Now that it has been revealed that Pres¬ident Buhari also benefited from the office of the NSA, even though his media aides have exonerated him from any wrong do¬ing, would the anti-graft agency take a se¬rious look into this allegation and come out clean with a result that would convince Nige¬rians that the fight against corruption by this present administration is total and holistic? Nigerians are waiting anxiously.