A name that has always been associated with controversy as far as the issue of national security is concerned, both during the military era and our present democracy, has been in the news for the wrong reasons for the major part of the last quarter of this year.
Dasukigate or Dasukibonanza, whatever binoculars one prefers to view it from, may not be enough to describe the “man of the moment”, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), the former National Security adviser to the immediate past president, who has been caught in his own pool of unshakable profligacy.
The Dasukigate which has become a subject of daily discussion was an organized looting of funds meant for arms procurement by the former National Security adviser.
Since FG beamed its search light on the activities of the former security adviser, it’s been a gale of revelations, accusations, counter accusations and denials of how billions of naira budgeted for the purchase of arms for our armed forces in the fight against insecurity in the past was allegedly misappropriated and diverted for personal use.
Who got what and who was left out of the sharing formula has become a national issue among our successive thieving politicians who partook in the largess.
Nigerians are still in disbelief over how a man who the lives of about 170 million Nigerians were entrusted in his hands when Nigeria’s territorial integrity was under heavy threat by the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents ended up becoming our worst night mare.
Col. Sambo Dasuki, as the National Security adviser, had all the financial backups and every other support (both local and international) needed in the fight against terrorism but he preferred to run like a headless chicken and watched in comfort the pains, trauma and agony Nigerians passed through on daily basis in the hands of the dreaded Boko Haram sect.
Which of his arms deal scandal are we going to mention and which of them should be swept under the carpet? Is it the diversion of public funds allocated for the purchase of arms to prosecute the war against terrorism or the more than 15,000 Nigerians that lost their lives, including our gallant men of the armed forces that paid the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty or the innocent citizens that have turned refugees in various IDP camps scattered across the Northern states and environs or the near state of perdition majority Nigerians found themselves under him as the security adviser?
The Bible is indeed right when it says, “The heart of man is desperately wicked”, and a man whose heart is not just desperately evil but brutish has emerged in our society.
On the issue of misappropriation/diversion of public funds allocated for the purchase of modern arms and ammunition, Col. Sambo Dasuki wouldn’t have had the temerity to disburse money as he pleases if he had no one drumming for him.
People should just spare me the injunction, “innocent until proven guilty”, those that have kept their fingers on the pulse concerning the Dasukigate would agree with me that with the overwhelming evidence coming out daily from all sectors of the economy against one man, I foresee our prisons being occupied with the right persons as against what was obtained in the past, including all those that were complicit in the arms gate scandal.
The immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan, should not feign ignorance as well because it was under his nose that all the water passed under the bridge and he didn’t do anything to tackle the situation. If there’s any worthwhile reputation left in him, the Dasukigate has stripped him of such reputation.
The ongoing investigation into the arms gate scandal is an indication we have left the era when consequences hardly follow actions to an era where justice is patiently waiting to be blindly administered to those that plundered and pillaged our national wealth. The burden of expectations in now on president Buhari to prove to the world that his anti-corruption posturing all these years was/is not a well crafted rhetoric.
Those who master the art of climbing trees with their teeth are in a better position to know the trees whose backs are bitter. Col. Sambo Dasuki should continue to cooperate with our financial watch dogs to identify all those that joined him in climbing the trees whose backs are bitter.
