Nigerian News Headlines Today

Nigerian major newspapers have today focused on the 13-man panel to probe the country’s arms deal from 2007 to date.

Vanguard reports that President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, set up a 13-member panel to probe two of his predecessors, late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, on procurement of arms and ammunition for the armed forces.

The investigative committee’s mandate is to identify irregularities and make recommendations for streamlining the procurement process in the armed forces.

The committee, which was constituted by the the national security adviser, Major-General Babagana Monguno (retd), on the directive of the president, is headed by AVM J.O.N. Ode (retd.) while Brig-Gen. Y. I. Shalangwa is secretary.

Other members are Rear Admiral J. A. Aikhomu (retd.), Rear Admiral E. Ogbor (retd.), Brig-Gen. L. Adekagun (retd.), Brig-Gen. M. Aminu-Kano (retd.), Brig-Gen N. Rimtip (retd.), Commodore T. D. Ikoli, Air Commodore U. Mohammed (retd), Air Commodore I. Shafi’i, Col A. A. Ariyibi, GP Capt C.A. Oriaku (retd) and Mr. I. Magu (EFCC).

Vanguard front page

But the committee of former military chiefs may face a major obstacle – arms, ammunition and military hardware are not subjected to vetting by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).

Such purchases, The Nation learnt last night, are over 350 in the last eight years. Some of them sparked crises between service chiefs and political authorities.

But many retired top military officers are believed to be prepared to testify before the panel, which got no deadline for its job.

For “security reasons”, arms purchases by the military do not go through the BPP – the office that examines government procurements to ensure cost-effectiveness and others.

The Nation front page

Before the president raised the panel, there had been some petitions before the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), among others, on some shady deals; in arms procurement.

The investigative committee’s mandate, according to a statement from the presidential adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, is to identify irregularities and make recommendations for streamlining the procurement process in the armed forces.

The statement said the constitution of the probe panel was in response to the myriad of challenges that the Nigerian armed forces have faced in the course of ongoing counter-insurgency operations in the North-East, including the apparent deficit in military platforms with its attendant negative effects of troops’ morale,Guardian reports.

The Guardian front page

Meanwhile, the Department of State Services has charged the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.) to court for alleged illegal possession of firearms.

The service, in a statement by a DSS official, Tony Opuiyo, on Monday in Abuja, said Dasuki was charged to court for owning firearms without licence.

According to Punch, the DSS had on July 16, 2015 carried out search operations on the ex-NSA’s residences in Asokoro, Abuja and Sokoto, where its operatives claimed to have recovered seven high calibre rifles including magazines and military gears at the houses located at 13, John Khadya Street, and 46, Nelson Mandela Street, both at Asokoro, Abuja, and 3 Sabon Birni Road, Gwiwa Area, Sokoto, Sokoto state.

Punch front page

The DSS had also explained their actions regarding the siege on the home of Dasuki, saying the operation which warranted the agency to embark on the search on his properties was based on a credible intelligence linking Colonel Dasuki with an alleged plan to commit treasonable felony against the Nigerian state.

Colonel Dasuki was said to have resisted the operations with the aid of soldiers guarding his home, even after the presentation of a duly-signed search warrant.

The DSS explained that the delay in getting into the former NSA’s home stretched the operations from what should have taken just about two hours to over 10 hours,The Sun reports.