$2.1B Arms Scandal: Dasuki Begs President Buhari

According to Daily Sun, Dasuki, on Thursday, December 31, begged Buhari to let him go on the bail the Federal High Court in Abuja, granted him.

Counsel to Dasuki, Alhaji Ahmed Raji (SAN), who spoke to Daily Sun yesterday, said: “I would want to appeal to Mr. President to please allow my client to enjoy the bail that was granted to him. I want to beg him in the name of God. I cannot join words with the president. I have the greatest respect for him, both in his official and personal capacities. My appeal is just that I am begging him in the name of God to allow my client to enjoy his bail.”

Recall that Buhari on Wednesday, December 30, during his first presidential media chat on NTA, said he could not release Dasuki and the radio Biafra director, Nnamdi Kanu because they would jump bail as the charges against them are serious.

But in a reaction to the President’s claim, legal luminaries on Thursday, December 31, gave different explanations to the continued detention of the accused persons after they have been granted bail.

Speaking also on the continued detention of the duo, Prince Lanke Odogiyan, the former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), described President Buhari’s stance as a demonstration of dictatorship.

He warned that Buhari’s refusal to release Dasuki and Kanu on bail was a slide into lawlessness, and pleaded with the NBA, human rights organisations and other non-governmental groups to call Buhari to order and halt the country from sliding into anarchy.

“It’s disobedience of court order and if it’s not checked, it can lead to consequences beyond our imaginations.  It’s a manifestation of dictatorial tendencies and it should not be encouraged. The president must be advised by his legal handlers. If he is not satisfied with an order of court, the appropriate thing to do is to appeal. But he can’t disobey it, he can’t ignore it.

“The Nigerian Bar Association, NGOs and human rights bodies will speak with one voice to call Mr. President to order. We have to be careful so that we don’t slide into anarchy. No government should pick and choose what orders to obey,” Odogiyan said.

But in divergent opinion, Chief Ladi Rotimi-Williams (SAN), said Buhari is acting in the interest of the entire country, saying: “The president is at a vantage point to know what is good for the nation at any given time. Sambo Dasuki is a very powerful man and you don’t take such powerful men lightly. I am sure he (Buhari) has placed the interest of the nation over and above the interest of Sambo Dasuki, ditto for Kanu. He is not doing so because he doesn’t like their faces. The interest of the nation overrides everything else.”

Speaking also, Mr. Hannibal Uwaifo, President of the African Bar Association, posited that Buhari is on track. According to him, it is not right to allege that the President is the one behind the continued detention of Dasuki and Kanu. He said the duo is facing the repercussion of infringing on the country’s laws.

Also, Mr. Monday Ubani, former Chairman of the Ikeja branch of NBA, claimed that Buhari’s statements might have been misconstrued.

“Whatever the president has said, he can’t play the roles of the legislature, executive, and the judiciary. The judiciary will certainly handle the cases that are before it. The president can only execute what the judiciary has said. So, I don’t want whatever the president has said to be taken out of proportion. What I understand the president to be saying actually, which he may not have put in a way that every person would understand, is that we can’t allow a system where prominent people alleged to have committed heinous crimes are given all manner of luxuries after they have put a lot of people in problem and they can’t stay here and answer the charges; they now want to go abroad for treatment while this same thing is not extended to the poor,” Ubani said.

Meanwhile, the ongoing trial of Dasuki had taken a political undertone as reports emerged that a statement issued by Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, vice chairman (South-South) of the Peoples Democratic Party, on Wednesday, December 30, declared support for President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration’s campaign against corruption, saying the PDP has disowned itself from every party member involved in the theft of the $2.1 billion arms deal.

However, aside Dasuki who had so far been the scapegoat in the $2.1 billion arms scam, a former minister of state for finance, Bashir Yuguda, a former director of finance at the office of the NSA, Shuaibu Salisu, a former governor of Sokoto state, Attahiru Bafarawa, and his son, Sagir Bafarawa have all been alleged to be involved in the scandal.

President Buhari while speaking on the falling economy of the country recently, hinted that anyone found guilty in the $2.1billion Dasuki arms scandal will lose all his or her property to the Federal Government.