The South African media
have published documents confirming the legitimacy of the $9.3million
botched arms deals between Nigeria and the former apartheid enclave.
Reports by Rapport and City Press affirmed federal government’s official position that the transactions were legitimate.
The media houses said
contrary to insinuations, end user certificates and a ‘shopping’ list
accompanied the transactions as well as a note from Nigerian government
authorizing the deals.
According to the
reports, documents showed that the earlier consignment was approved by
the Nigerian government through the Office of National Security Adviser
(ONSA), which is officially mandated to issue the end-user certificate
for such transactions involving the nation’s security agencies.
An entire “shopping
list” was also said to have been supplied with the certificate, which
included everything from helicopters to unmanned aircraft, rockets and
ammunition.
A top security source in
the intelligence service disclosed that“In issuing end-user
certificate, the ONSA ensures that it carries all relevant agencies and
stakeholders along. Therefore, such a responsibility is not a unilateral
development.
“For security reasons, the chains leading to the issuance of end-user certificate cannot be put in the public domain.
“The recent interest in
arms purchase was informed by the challenges of insurgency which our
nation had been grappling with in the last few years. This is why the
understanding of all Nigerians is necessary.
“Nigeria is desperate to
counter activities of terrorists no matter what it takes even when some
of our friends are not being fair to us.
“The government appeals
to the media and all Nigerians, especially the opposition, to consider
the overall national interest on security issues. They should not read
negative meaning to every good intention of government in tackling
insecurity in the country”.
Continuing, the source
said“The federal government and some top intelligence officers are
concerned about how some officials of South Africa decided to frustrate
the efforts of Nigeria at containing the activities of terrorists
operating in the North-Eastern axis.”
DailyPost gathered that
there are concerns that despite the leeway given to South African
companies to thrive in Nigeria, there are still officials of the country
who are determined to frustrate Nigeria, which in April this year
overtook South Africa as Africa’s largest economy.
Government loyalists insist that the botched deal is being used by some prominent persons for political reasons.
They also accused“vested interests”of wishing the war against insurgency was not won.
On the latest story of
seizure of over $5million by South Africa, those in security circles say
it may just be a refreshment of the old story with a new angle.
...Culled from Daily Post
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