Ex President Goodluck Jonathan has denied claims by the Federal Government 13-man committee, probing arms procurement that his administration awarded arms contract worth a staggering $2Billion.
According to him, the claims by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration were false and unsubstantiated.
I did not award any $2 billion contract for procurement of weapons” Where did the money come from?” and repeating emphatically that “I did not award a contract of $2billion for procurement of weapons”.
The former president spoke at an event titled: “Presidential elections and democratic consolidation in Africa: Case studies on Nigeria and Tanzania, co-hosted by National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
He siad “Sometimes, I feel sad when people mention these figures..When the president (Buhari) paid official visit to the US, there were some figures that were mentioned that I don’t believe.”
He drew attention to figures like the $150billion alleged to have been stolen in previous Nigerian administrations, but Jonathan scoffed at the probability of “$150 billion American money” being missing and “Americans will not know where it is,” adding that at any rate President Buhari did not accuse his administration.
“He didn’t say my government, he said previous administrations… “$150 billion is not 150 billion Naira,” he stated, suggesting, “People play politics with very serious issues.”
The former president was equally dismissive of people who alleged that the sum of $59.8 million was misappropriated within a 12-month period while he was in office.
“In Nigeria, if you lose $59.8 million in a year, federal and state governments will not pay salaries,” he said, adding that there is no way Nigerian budget can accommodate such a loss without the country coming to a standstill.
“Of course we brought international audit teams, forensic auditors and they didn’t see that,” he said.