$15m Arms Deal: Why we have been silent, “Running a government is not the same thing as running a Shoprite” – FG

The Presidency, yesterday, opened up on the controversy surrounding the seizure by South Africa of Nigeria’s $15m meant for the purchase of arms for the Nigeria Intelligence Service.

On September 5 this year, two Nigerians and an Israeli national attempted to smuggle into South Africa $9.3m cash conveyed in a chartered private jet which was seized by the South African authorities. About three weeks after, another $5.7m was seized when a South African company that was contracted to help purchase the arms by an Abuja based company tried to pay back the money

Speaking on the seizure, yesterday, Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Communication, Dr. Doyin Okupe, explained why the government has been silent on the issue.

Okupe said, “The Nigerian government cannot share all information about the issues because it is a security matter. It is an issue which we cannot just bring to pubic domain. For goodness sake, we need to have some quiet innocent support. I am surprised that Nigerians want to discuss security issues openly and publicly when a war is still going on.

“These are very serious national security affairs and running a government is not the same thing as running a Shoprite, where everything is on the table and on display. There is nothing shady about the South African deal and the Office of the NSA has done very well because at the appropriate time, they came in that, ‘yes, this money belongs to us and this was what it was meant for;’ that explanation itself was okay. There is no hanky panky on this matter.”

– Vanguard