The unnecessary public discourse on $496 million defence helicopters
By Bashir Adefaka
It would be recalled that due to lack of adequate equipment before the emergence of Buhari, Nigerian troops were being overpowered by Boko Haram firepower to the extent that they were fleeing the battle ground into neigbouring Cameroon, while military formatiosn and jet fighters packed on ground were being attacked and many officers and personnel killed. Corruption is another evil militating against the progress of the country that President Buhari promised at the campaigns to fight before it kills Nigeria and Nigerians. Since the judiciary appeared to be tilting towards the corrupt people awarding them freedom and giving them plea bargain that is ridiculously unheard of, the President sent two major anti-corruption Bills to the Senate and up till today the Bukola Saraki-led Senate refused to allow those Bills to be read on the floor talk less that they would be debated upon.
The masses of Nigeria recently woke into a fresh controversy coming from no other place but the Senate of the Nigerian National Assembly over an issue that not new about how the Federal Government purchased 20 Tucano helicopters for $496 million for the Nigerian military.
The President of the country, Muhammadu Buhari, had approved the said amount to purchase the helicopters as part of the efforts to fight insecurity in parts of Nigeria particularly the Boko Haram in the North East. He said his approval was given in anticipation of (Senate) approval, considering the urgency of the need to meet the deadline Nigeria had with the makers/suppliers country of the helicopters.
Successive governments had been accused of inaction in the past talking about equipping the military and other security agencies to do their jobs of protecting citizens and defending both territorial integrity and internal security of this country. In order to take departure from the in-activeness of the past, the sitting President set out from the onset by striking diplomatic deals with nations in the West, Europe and around Nigeria in order to secure their cooperation on equipment and other support for Nigeria being that security had been major challenge of particularly the immediate past government that the current government promised in its electioneering campaign to tackle before insecurity collapses Nigeria.
It would be recalled that due to lack of adequate equipment before the emergence of Buhari, Nigerian troops were being overpowered by Boko Haram firepower to the extent that they were fleeing the battle ground into neigbouring Cameroon, while military formatiosn and jet fighters packed on ground were being attacked and many officers and personnel killed. Corruption is another evil militating against the progress of the country that President Buhari promised at the campaigns to fight before it kills Nigeria and Nigerians. Since the judiciary appeared to be tilting towards the corrupt people awarding them freedom and giving them plea bargain that is ridiculously unheard of, the President sent two major anti-corruption Bills to the Senate and up till today the Bukola Saraki-led Senate refused to allow those Bills to be read on the floor talk less that they would be debated upon.
In the wake of the fact that this Senate has obvious failed give supportive force to the efforts of the Buhari’s Administration in his big to tackle corruption and put its government in proper shape, such an unwilling legislative arms cannot be awaited particularly in time of need for approval that is not expressly its own responsibility. This is the position of many legal experts who say the there is nowhere in the Constitution that includes the source of the $426 million spent by Buhari to purchase the 20 Tucano helicopters as part of those funds that the Senate must approve before their spending by the President.
What the Constitution says, and it has been proved beyond reasonable doubt, about Senate approval of money to be spent by the President or Executive is that all monies in the consolidate Federation Account. But the account from which the President took the $426 million is Excess Crude Account (ECA) that does not belong to the Federation Account. ECA is Federal Government, State Governments and Local Governments Account. Is the Senate saying that it must be one to approve money for such Account? If the states and Local Governments could give the President their approval to spend $1 billion from that account that they jointly own with the Federal (not Federation) Account, where is the place of the Senate in this matter.
Moreso, the question that Senate should be asked is, when Buhari took the money, did he take it to his home in Daura to upgrade his cow and fruits farms? If no, then where did take it to? If it is on national security he spent the money, what is the pivotal reason of you being in government if not to secure the territorial integrity and internal security of the country for the peace and safety of the people? And if that is what Buhari has spent the money that he has all the rights to spend on, what are you as Senators portraying yourselves to be in attacking that defence and security and safety of lives and properties in this country be guaranteed? Does it then not mean that whereas the Muhammadu Buhari-led Executive is the only arm of government that is working for the people while the rest two arms: Legislature and the Judiciary that has allegedly given them shield are only there to advance their individual interest?
It is therefore the advice of The DEFENDER that the Legislature should mind its business and Judiciary should brace up to punish whoever among the lawmakers proves stubborn frustrating the efforts to restore peace and security for development of Nigeria. This is imperative because a Member of the House of Representatives reportedly said after the President’s letter seeking that the money spent on the Tucano helicopters be included as part of 2018 Appropriation Bill was read by Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, that he had committed impeachable offence.
Yet the President’s request is understandable. The money he spent does not belong to the Federal Government alone. It belongs to Federal, States and Local Governments and the Federal Government needs to return the money back to where it was taken. That is the socially and morally thing that is best practice in matter of this nature. If it is on this matter that that lawmaker said Buhari had committed impeachable offence, then for what reason was Ovie Omo-Agege purportedly suspended from Senate plenary by Saraki if not something like this? When your elected member opposes your personal (not legal) will, you drop the axe on him and suspend him depriving the people of his constituency their representation and benefits. But when any of your elected member rains abuses on the person and office of the President, you ignore it as if he has said nothing. The Judiciary should stand his ground and punish any such lawmaker. That is the way to say democracy not by the cries against the crisis, few days ago, in the Senate which was a provoked crisis.
On a final note, if we may ask, why do lawmakers love to politicize national security whenever an effort is made by the President to solve a security problem? The money spent is not for personal use, after all the same Saraki was in the 7th Senate when the then Senate President, David Mark, now still sitting as floor member under the Saraki leadership approved $1 billion for then President Goodluck Jonathan to fight Boko Haram and failed to ask up till today how and what the $1 billion was spent on. Is it not because Buhari came in that we now know that what Jonathan actually took and which was approved by the same David Mark-led Senate membered by Saraki was actually more than $1 billion but which was spent for personal use without any of them still active Senators asking questions? But they can now persistently fire President Muhammadu Buhari, who (we are not saying he is perfect but) is not caught with any such dubious deals as they are alleged all the times to have been involved in.
Let the Senate beware and leave Buhari alone to do his job!
*Adefaka is Lagos based media practitioner.
