Gen. Christopher Musa, the Chief of Defence Staff, has addressed allegations of illicit military procurement by charging foreign nations with financing terrorism in Nigeria and impeding the sale of essential weapons to fight insecurity.
Musa attributed the ongoing fight against insecurity in the nation to “political decision” in his remarks during Saturday night’s appearance on Aljazeera’s Live show.
His responses came after Transparency International released a study claiming that “corrupt defence procurement practices” were responsible for the embezzlement of public monies.
“Those who sell it are corrupt if the procurement process is tainted by corruption,” he stated.
Transparency International had also criticised the nation’s “opaque security funding system known as security votes.” “We do not produce the equipment we need,” the CDS responded.
Two people are needed to tangle. if they claim that corruption exists. Giving and collecting require a person. This implies that people who possess these weapons are just as guilty.
“We have a procurement process that we follow, but we also want to mention that sometimes, even with our money, we have trouble procuring equipment. Why is that?
He pointed out that “we have been denied access to equipment, even when we have our money to get there, it’s difficult,” which is one of the reasons the insurgency has lasted this long.
When questioned about the apparent denial of the nation’s ability to purchase weapons, CDS Musa responded, “political decision.”
He went on to say, “We’re just good guys trying to make sure our country is secure, and then some people seem not happy about it, trying everything to throw us under the bus for whatever reason.”
“You seem to be asking those questions not to me, not necessarily to our viewers, but to people in government,” the interviewer said. What do you wish to express directly to them? You imply that they’re keeping it to themselves.
The military chief said that he was not referring to the government led by Bola Tinubu.
Not specifically our own government. Our government is making every effort. However, there is an international system, you know.
As previously said, we must purchase,we do not produce. Thus, purchasing can be a little challenging at times.
The CDS was also questioned about Nigeria’s receptiveness to international collaborations, particularly in light of rumours of a foreign military installation on Nigerian territory.
“No, not at all,” responded General Musa. No foreign base is encouraged by us. We are able to help Africa, secure the subdivision, and secure our nation.
“We just need to keep doing the joint training that we do and acquire the necessary equipment to help us project this war.” A foreign base in Nigeria would “create more problems,” Musa clarified.
To highlight Nigeria’s position, he gave an example. Consider bringing X into your nation, he said. The second thing is, most of the other terrorists will also want to come since they have those against them.
We don’t want a proxy war to break out between Nigeria, Africa, or West Africa because that’s what’s going to happen next. Before you know it, there is tension because once you let one in, the other one goes the opposite way.
The CDS said, “No, nobody,” in response to the question of whether Nigeria was thinking about using foreign armies outside of West Africa. We’re ready to leave. “As of right now, our troops are still on a United Nations (UN) mission, keeping the peace in Africa.” However, he urged the UN to step in and track down foreign investors in Nigeria’s conflict.
The problem is that we have talked international community. Let’s find out the funding, as we speak now, we have over 120,000 (terrorists) that have surrendered.
“Most of them when they surrendered were coming with hard currencies. How did they get them? How were they funded? How did they get the training, How did they get the equipment?
The interviewer asked, what is your suspicion, Musa said, “Well, maybe international conspiracy, who knows? How have they been able to sustain themselves for 15?
“This is one question everyone should ask themselves. I will just leave it as at, I am sure they know that these are the challenges we are facing. So the United Nations need to come in; we need to trace the funding.”
The interview whose interest it was to see Nigeria destabilised. General Musa responded: “I do not know, you do not know, but your guess is as good as mine.”