Details of the Dasuki Gates Scandal

Dasuki Gates is the term used to describe the scandal around the arms procurement deal fraud in Nigeria that led to the embezzlement of around $2 billion from the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), under the leadership of Colonel Sambo Dasuki, the former NSA. This illegal deal came to light as a result of an interim report made on arms procurement by the presidential investigations committee under the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

This committee reported that an extra-budgetary spending of almost around N643.8 billion and an extra spending of around $2.2 billion was done in the foreign currency component by the Goodluck Jonathan administration. This revelation led to the name of this now famous scandal as Dasuki Gates due to the involvement of the former NSA, Sambo Dasuki. As per the preliminary investigation, around $2 billion were likely to have been disbursed for the procurement of arms for fighting the Islamic insurgents in Nigeria. But that a part of this disbursed money was utilized for sponsoring the re-election of the former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan.

At the centre of the Dasuki Gates is the retired colonel Sambo Dasuki, who was Nigeria’s National Security Adviser in the immediate past. Once these reports came out, Dasuki was arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) on 1^st December, 2015 and handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) the next day.

Apart from Colonel Dasuki, two other prominent leaders caught in the middle of the Dasuki Gates are the former Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, and People’s Democratic Party spokesperson Olisa Metuh. Their trial had been postponed and was to be conducted the same day- March 24^th, 2016. It will be presided over by Justice Okon Abang.

Alex Badeh has been accused of laundering a sum of almost N 3.9 billion, while the Metuh EFCC connection makes things worse for Metuh, as he has been accused of laundering money to the tune of N400 million by the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC).

Apart from the Dasuki Gates and Metuh-EFCC spat, there is another player in the picture. Mr. Nicholas Ashinze, who is the former special assistant to Sambo Dasuki, has sued the EFCC on the grounds of illegal detention, and is asking for a compensation of N500 million.

Nicholas Ashinze was arrested on 23^rd December, 2015 on the grounds of his alleged involvement in the $2.1 billion arms deal fraud (now known as Dasuki Gates)- something for which his boss Dasuki has also been arrested for. However, Ashinze has not been formally charged in court and is kept in the EFCC custody for now.