Exposed: Asari Dokubo was in the Jet caught smuggling $9.3m?

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked
President Goodluck Jonathan to explain to
Nigerians what Mujaheed Asari Dokubo, was
doing on the plane that illegally ferried US$9.3
million to South Africa, where Asari Dokubo,
another Nigerian and an Israeli were arrested,
according to a published report.In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday
by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, the party said since the federal
government has taken ownership of the funds
by saying the National Security Adviser (NSA)
issued the end-user certificate for the arms
purchase, it stands to reason that the same
government will know the involvement of all
those aboard the plane.
APC said the questions become pertinent
because even the NSA, who issued the end-
user agreement for the purchase, does not and
cannot purchase arms for any of the armed
services. The Service Chiefs have separate
budgets from the NSA for arms purchase:
“Under our Constitution, the NSA is an
adviser and has no executive powers to
deploy troops from any of the services or
purchase arms for them. That the arms
purported to be purchased from South
Africa were ordered from the office of
the NSA is nothing but a mere
fabrication, and raises serious questions
about the motive for the purchase.
"
“Nigerians will therefore like to know on
whose behalf Asari Dokubo was
purchasing arms. This is very crucial
because Asari Dokubo has been
threatening that Nigeria will not know
peace if his benefactor, President
Jonathan, is not re-elected. Therefore,
Nigerians will like to know whether he has
started stockpiling arms to make his
threat a reality, since elections are due in
a few months’ time.
"
“If these arms are meant to fight insurgency,
as the government has claimed, what is Asari
Dokubo’s business purchasing arms for the
Nigerian military, if indeed they were for the
military?
“Does it not occur to the Nigerian government
that this man who once took arms against the
state may not have jettisoned his sinister plan
against the same state? Which country will
ever allow a man who once carried arms
against the state to now be purchasing arms
for the same state? Even if it is true that he is
purchasing the arms for the state, what
prevents him from also using the opportunity
to purchase arms for his own sinister motive?
Could this be why Asari Dokubo has been
talking publicly and confidently, without
official censure, that President Jonathan must
be re-elected or Nigeria will not know peace
again?” the party queried.
“…on Tuesday, we again asked President
Jonathan to come clean on the US$9.3 million
and US$5.7 million deals. We also asked him
to tell Nigerians the identity of the two
Nigerians who were on the plane that illegally
ferried money to South Africa. Now that the
Nigerians are known, and they are the
President’s men, the story has taken a new
dimension,” it said.
APC said since those who claim to be fighting
for Nigeria’s unity may actually be the ones
working against it, since those who lay claim to
patriotism may actually be any but patriotic, it
is more urgent now, than ever, for the
National Assembly to take these cash-for-arms
deals seriously, instead of dismissing the
concerns of Nigerians on the basis of some
rules as the House of Representatives has
glibly done.
The party commended the media for keeping
the story alive and for working hard to
unearth the identity of the Nigerians aboard
the ill-fated plane that illegally flew money
into another country in violation of that
country’s laws and all known tenets of
decency.
APC called on the media, in pursuance of its
constitutional role of a watchdog, not to relent
in exposing the circumstances surrounding the
cash-for-arms deals, which have seriously
embarrassed Nigeria in the comity of nations
and which have the potential to threaten
Nigeria’s unity, going by the latest revelations.