Perry Brimah: Before President Jonathan borrows the $1 billion to fight Boko Haram
Nigerians
have had enough of Boko Haram; it is high time these officials who
benefit from maintaining the terror and protecting Boko Haram, look
elsewhere for funds to embezzle.
“I would like to bring to your
attention, the urgent need to upgrade the equipment, training and
logistics of our Armed Forces and Security services to enable them more
forcefully confront this serious threat. For this reason, I seek the
concurrence o the National Assembly for external borrowing of not more
than $1 billion dollars…” – President Jonathan of Nigeria to David Mark
on July 15, 2014
The president of Nigeria wishes to borrow a billion dollars from abroad to ‘fight Boko Haram.’
Where is our money? Senate
President, David Mark who this letter was addressed to, says that the
$20 billion for an only 18 month period examined was not missing but was
‘unaccounted for.’
We will like to advise that the
Nigerian government please take one billion from that account and use
it for the security upgrade. If the entire 5 years of the Jonathan
presidency are audited, the total amount missing/unaccounted for is
estimated at up to $127 billion. Why will these wicked people not give
Nigeria 5
billion from that missing/unaccounted for billions that they
use to buy senators for impeachment processes with sums of $300-1
million; but rather they wish to disgrace the nation and put us in
binding and crippling foreign debt with this additional loan?
Why does the senate not
immediately truncate Diezani Allison-Madueke’s fraudulent kerosene
subsidy scam that plunders $4million daily from the poor families from
Chibok to Otuoke, a total of $1.5 billion dollars per year and utilize
this money she uses to wear costly jewelry, and diverts through renting
private jets, and uses to keep her stooges tripping with Naomi Campbell
in exorbitant Yachts in land-of-flowers Switzerland, and ‘borrow’
Nigeria these billions for our security upgrades? While, of course not
forgetting to lock her up for the robbery in broad-day-light.
The need for finances and
upgrades to combat terror can well be legitimized; however the simple
format of organized life demands that before new funds are processed for
any operation, there must be an audit and thorough review of prior
utility and investment of funds. What is and has the Nigerian government
done in the past 5 years and with now up to 25% of the annual budget
towards fighting Boko Haram – who are described as having the upper hand
today – and overall upgrading of the Nigerian army? Can we have
external or open internal (known youth activist) auditors review the
current accounts and expenditures of the Nigerian security departments?
Before we borrow this one billion dollars from the white master, can
Nigerian have a detailed presentation of the current administration’s
strategies against terror, the plan to improve the army currently
experiencing as many and over one hundred deserters/week and the long
term over all security update target? Can we see the quality control
system that is in place and will be in place to oversee the utility of
the billions being spent on security from our 25% budgetary allocation
to security and this additional one billion dollars?How does the Jonathan presidency, minister of defense, Spy Aliyu Gusau account for the cobra tanks, APC’s and weapons being transferred to Boko Haram currently, which are being used to decimate unarmed civilian farming populations in the north?
What guarantee do we have that new equipment will not also be transferred to the Boko Haram terrorists and new air defense systems will not continue to be used to rather provide cover for Boko Haram in their activities as obtains today? Without such guarantee the people rather request the full pull-out of the army from the north east as the army constitutes a greater danger by transferring sophisticated equipment to the terrorists while maintaining the de-arming of the sitting duck civilian populace.
What maintenance guarantee do we have for this new expenditure? We purchased drones during the Obasanjo era, as part of the last 15 years of uninterrupted PDP administration of Nigeria and the billions invested into that acquisition are now known to have been nothing more than charity to Israel. It is 2014; we are tired of living as idiots and dying as fools.
Without the arrest of sponsors
of terror, funds are simply being poured into a basket. We demand that
before any further extra-budgetary finances are secured for ‘combating
terror,’ that the sponsors of terror who ‘dine with the president,’ must
be brought to book. We demand that Bamanga Tukur a Boko Haram
sympathizer at the very least is brought to book for his position in
support of the terrorists. We demand that the Borno state government
officials implicated in the Abba Moro White report of 2012 on Jonathan
and NSA Dasuki’s desk are immediately brought to book.
Combating terror is a
multi-pronged approach, simply siphoning billions of dollars alone to a
defunct and de-moralized army; funds for technology, training and
equipment that does not even actually get to the soldiers involved and
dying in combat, simply does not work. Nigeria must go after the
sponsors of terror now and lock them up and kill them, before any other
methods that have failed for the past 5 years of this administration and
that have allowed the pogrom deaths of over 80,000 northern poor
farmers and the displacement of over 3 million, to continue. It is time
for maturity and responsibility.
We patriotic civilians of
Nigeria are ready to step in. We have requested executive approval from
President Jonathan and our men, the thousands of civilian-JTF, the
hunters in Borno and committed Nigerians across the nation including
signed up ex-soldiers are on stand-by for Jonathan’s responsible
approval for a civilian army to sack Borno’s forests of the terrorists.
Our method will cost next to nothing as compared to the present hopeless
and hopelessly expensive approach, and is tested and trusted as we all
are witnessing the impressive impact of civilian volunteers in Iraq’s
resistance to the ISIS Takfiri terror campaign.
Proliferation and sustenance of
terror cannot continue to pay top government officials who see it as a
means to swallow billions of dollars committed to the provision of
security. Nigerians have had enough of Boko Haram; it is high time these
officials who benefit from maintaining the terror and protecting Boko
Haram, look elsewhere for funds to embezzle.
Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Kevin Djakpor's Blog.
