The
Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, on
Wednesday called on President Goodluck Jonathan to address the nation, over the
second botched arms deal, noting that something was fundamentally wrong.
Gbajabiamila, a member of the All Progressives Congress, who
said the details of the deal are sketchy, noted that a second arms deal
scandal, shortly after the first, did not bode well for the image of the
nation.
“If barely just a week ago, we had a
case of $9.3 (million) and then a week after another $5.7 (million). Isn't this
about $15 million? It doesn't really speak well of Nigeria as a country, as an
entity. It projects Nigeria as a banana republic; Where you can just do arms
deal off the shelve, like you’re going into a grocery store to buy groceries.”
“The way I look at it,
without actually apportioning blames as such but sometimes they say – if it
talks like a dog, walks like a dog, by God it’s a dog.
“There’s something
wrong fundamentally; Where a whole country boxes millions of dollars into
several suitcases, charters a jet and takes that money out of the country. It
raises more questions than answers”.
He further asked why
one of the planes in the Presidential Fleet was not used for the purchase, if
it was legal.
“We have over 10
planes in the Presidential Fleet that we pay hard earned money for in this
country. If this was perfectly above board, if this was legit, if there was
nothing untoward about this, if it was official, why wouldn’t you use one of
the planes in the Presidential Fleet”.
“Where is the Nigerian
official that was on that flight”, he asked, highlighting the absence of a
Ministry of Defence official and the National Security Adviser.
Making reference to an
analysis by a former Aviation Minister and a card-carrying member of the
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Femi Fani-Kayode, Rep. Gbajabiamila noted that
the former Aviation minister had blamed everybodyexcept the Nigerian government.
“He blamed everybody
(including) the American government, South African government, the opposition.
He blamed everybody but government. These are the problems we have in Nigeria.
If you cannot say it as it is, then we are in trouble”.
The Representative
argued that President Goodluck Jonathan owed the citizens an explanation as the
issue borders on money laundering and criminality.
He supported the
National Assembly’s investigation into the matter, noting that “the concept of
checks and balances is very essential in any democracy”.
“I feel sorry for
Nigeria. There’s no way and no how in an advanced matured democracy where
issues count and people are held accountable that the legislative arm of
government with a major scandal like this, would determine not to investigate.
“At least investigate, ask questions. That’s
all the APC members were asking”.
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