According to human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, Dasuki allegedly
stole $6billion as against the amount being peddled in the media, and
has vowed to drag him to the International Criminal Court (ICC) next
week
.
Femi Falana believes that former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki allegedly stole $6 billion
.
According to Breaking Times, Falana made this revelation while
delivering a lecture organised by the Amnesty International (AI), in
Abuja, where he also argued that Dasuki must be prosecuted for crimes
against humanity.
The human rights activist also disputed media reports that President
Muhammadu Buhari was engaging in impunity by detaining the alleged
suspects for more than 48 hours, saying it was untrue.
According to him: “Last week some people were arrested. I think
three of them principally (Dasuki, Raymond Dokpesi, and Attahiru
Bafarawa). Again, contrary to media report, the suspects were not
arrested for diverting the some of $2.1 billion as it has been reported
by the press, but for diverting and misappropriating and conerring $6
billion. I am talking of $2.1 billion and N643 billion.
“Now in any part of the world, this is a serious crime that
affects the generality of Nigerians, that affects our right to
development, that led to the untimely death of over 5,000 soldiers, and
20,000 civilians that have been massacred by the dreaded Boko Haram
terrorists.
“This fund was earmarked for procuring military hardware to
prosecute the war on terror, but a gang of people sat down and resolved
and decided to corner the fund, and continue to deceive our people that
adequate weapons have been procured for our soldiers and therefore they
are indolent, and cowardly by not fighting to defeat the Boko Haram
sect.
“Perhaps, unlike most Nigerians I feel more pain. I feel more
challenged, because I have defended scores of military officers and
soldiers on pro-bono basis because I was convinced that these funds were
diverted and therefore, why are you charging these innocent people with
cowardly behaviour which attracts the death penalty”.
“Those who stole the money meant for procuring arms must not go
unchallenged, nobody must invoke human rights, no lawyer must be
permitted to invoke human rights to cover these crimes against humanity.
“They went beyond just stealing and by next week we are filing a
petition before the international Criminal Court (ICC) to ask that these
guys be tried for crime against humanity because we are only talking of
those who are alive, what of thousands that have been killed recklessly
because of this kind of irresponsibility on the part of a few people.
“Let me clarify this, the right to liberty is guaranteed by
Section 35 of the Nigerian constitution, as well as article 6 of the
African Charter that nobody shall have his right to liberty taken away
or abridged or violated. However, this is not an absolute right if there
is reasonable suspicion that you have committed a criminal offence your
right to liberty can be taken by the state.
“Therefore, when you are told by the media that the Buhari
regime is engaging in impunity by arresting people without taking them
to court within 48 hours is no longer in our law. I made this point on
Sunday and no one has challenged me.
“Transparency International is being hypocritical by saying
Nigeria is more corrupt than Switzerland, that is loose talk.
Switzerland houses all the funds stolen by all dictators including
dictators that have no records of how much they hold, dictators that
have died and nobody has the record of what is kept in Switzerland. So,
TI will leave Switzerland alone and say Nigeria is corrupt. We are only a
victim of corruption.”
Speaking also on the loots recovered from late Sani Abacha, Falana noted that “the
Federal Government has a record of $2 billion recovered Abacha loot,
but our former minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala claimed that
only $500 million have been recovered.
“To help her, the World Bank has just issued a report, a package
of lies, a 700-page report to say that this $500 million that was
recovered under her watch was judiciously spent and they have listed
roads that were not even in existence in Nigeria that were tarred. We
are taking them on, and this will be the last time the World Bank will
tell lies about this country.
“Contrary to the claim of the World Bank and the government of
Nigeria, I say without any fear of contradiction that not less than $4
billion has been recovered from the Abacha loot. It is the most
successful recovered loot in the world, and the records are there.
“(Abdulsalami) Abubakar regime issued a decree, the forfeiture
decree No 45 of 1999 where the regime claimed that it recovered about $1
billion; Obasanjo has just written some book, and am not sure he knew
the implication, in the second volume of his ‘My Watch’, Obasanjo has
admitted that he recovered $2 billion, £100 million and N10 billion”
“The Jonathan administration also recovered $970 million; the US
government has helped us to recover $458 million last year. Buhari
should set up an enquiry to investigate how the Abacha loot was
relooted.”
Meanwhile,
the former governor of Anambra state, Jim Nwobodo, who was named by the
former NSA as one of the beneficiaries of the arms funds, has denied
media reports that he collected N500 million from Ahmed Muazu, former
national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Speaking in a telephone interview on Wednesday, December, 16, the
ex-governor revealed that he received the sum of N100 million from the
PDP for “campaign logistics” and not from the former NSA.
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