Coordinating minister of the economy and Minister of Finance in the immediate past federal administration, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala has accused Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, some other persons and the media of being on a campaign of falsehood with the intend of smearing her reputation over the alleged arms deal involving the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd). Governor Oshiomhole had called on the federal government to arrest and prosecute the former minister, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala over her alleged role in the $2 billion arms deal. Okonjo-Iweala in a statement signed by her Chief Press Secretary Paul Nwabuikwu and made available to Daily Times, accused Oshiomhole and others of distorting the contents of the January 20, 2015 memo in which she responded to a request by the former National Security Adviser, saying that they quoted selectively from the document to make ‘their false allegations’ of “illegal diversion” of funds.
The former minister said that the January 20 memo confirmed that “she is a transparent person of integrity and patriotic professional who worked hard to protect the interest of the country and that her accusers are purveyors of falsehood on a political mission to tarnish an innocent patriot. “For your information and a fuller understanding of the issues, please see the attached January 20 memo by Dr Okonjo-Iweala,” it stated. The memo which was addressed to the then President Goodluck Jonathan dated 20 January 2015, with file number CMEHMF/FMF/2015/18 was entitled: RE: REQUEST BY NSA FOR TRANSFER OF FUNDS. The memo read: Attached, please find a request by the National Security Adviser (NSA) for the transfer of US$300 million and British Pounds £5.5 million of the recovered Abacha funds to an ONSA operations account. The NSA has explained that this is to enable purchase of ammunitions; security and other intelligence equipment for the security agencies in other to enable them fully confront the ongoing Boko Haram threat.
His request is sequel to the meeting you chaired with the committee on use of recovered funds where the decision was made that recovered Abacha funds would be split 50- 50 between urgent security needs to confront Boko Haram and development needs (including a portion for the Future Generations window of Sovereign Wealth Fund). (2) This letter is to seek your approval to borrow these funds, for now, to disburse to the NSA. These funds form part of projected Federal Government Independent Revenue to be appropriated.
In light of this and for accountability, given the peculiar nature of security and intelligence transactions, we would expect the NSA to account to your Excellency for the utilisation of the funds. According to the attached document, the memo was signed by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Honourable Minister of Finance and was approved on the 29 January, 2015.
Coordinating minister of the economy and Minister of Finance in the immediate past federal administration, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala has accused Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, some other persons and the media of being on a campaign of falsehood with the intend of smearing her reputation over the alleged arms deal involving the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd). Governor Oshiomhole had called on the federal government to arrest and prosecute the former minister, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala over her alleged role in the $2 billion arms deal. Okonjo-Iweala in a statement signed by her Chief Press Secretary Paul Nwabuikwu and made available to Daily Times, accused Oshiomhole and others of distorting the contents of the January 20, 2015 memo in which she responded to a request by the former National Security Adviser, saying that they quoted selectively from the document to make ‘their false allegations’ of “illegal diversion” of funds.
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