The Federal Government has made a massive policy reversal by disbanding the probe panel set up by President Buhari to investigate to investigate the procurement of arms between 2007 and 2015.
This has come at a time that the panel, headed by AVM J.O.N. Ode (retd.), has turned its searchlights on the tenure of the present National Security Adsiver, Babagana Monguno, as the Chief of Defence Intelligence between July 2009 and September, 2011, sources close to the presidency say.
The panel, which uncovered a $15bn fraud in arms procurement, had submitted its first interim report in November 2015 while it presented the second report in January 2016 after which President Buhari ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate 18 serving and retired military officers, mainly from the Air Force.
According to Punch, the office of the NSA announced the dissolution of the panel on Saturday on the grounds that it has outlived its usefulness.
“The NSA is of the view that they have run out of time. You know they have a time frame and he said they wanted to perpetuate themselves. And you know they have a budget and have been drawing money,” a top source at the presidency told Punch.
Meanwhile, a source close to the presidential committee says he isn’t aware of the dissolution, claiming that only the president has such powers.
“I have not been told officially that the panel has been dissolved. It was the President that set up the panel. We will wait for him to return,” he said.
The unfolding events will undoubtedly stoke rumours of a ‘cabal’ that has hijacked the presidency following the continued absence of President Buhari.
It will be interesting to see his decision regarding the committee, whose task has barely been completed.
