Information About Dasuki Gates & Metuh-EFCC

The infamous arms deal fraud in Nigeria, also known as Dasuki Gates, has created a gaping hole in the country’s already suffering economic and political stability. Dasuki Gates is the title given to this arms procurement fraud in which almost around $2.1 billion were embezzled from the office of NSA (National Security Adviser), under Colonel Sambo Dasuki, a former NSA. This scam was brought to light in an interim report on arms procurement made under Goodluck Jonathan government by the presidential investigations committee.

This committee found in its investigation that almost N643.8 billion of extra-budgetary spendings were made, in addition to around $2.2 billion in foreign currency, during the Goodluck Jonathan regime. One of the prime involvements in this scandal is of Colonel Sambo Dasuki, after which the scandal is named—the Dasuki Gates. The committee in its initial investigation found that almost approximately $2 billion were supposed to have been spent for procuring arms to fight Boko Haram and other Islamist terrorists in Nigeria; however, a large chunk of this amount was instead diverted to sponsor the re-election campaign of the ex-Nigerian President, Mr. Goodluck Jonathan.

This embezzlement of funds known as the Dasuki Gates, was carried on under the leadership of the now retired Sambo Dasuki, who was the NSA during this time.  Mr. Dasuki was arrested on December 1, 2015 by the DSS (Department of State Services) as soon as the findings came to light. He was then handed over to the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes) the very next day for further processing and prosecution.

There are two more well-known names in the centre of this Dasuki Gates scandal in addition to Colonel Dasuki. These include Olisa Metuh, spokesperson of the People’s Democratic Party, and Alex Badeh, the former Chief of Defence Staff. Initially two separate trials were to be held for these two, but then later they were delayed and moved to a common date—24^th March, 2016. This trial was presided over by the famous Justice Okon Abang.

The Metuh-EFCC connection is well-known in the country, and has hence made things unfavourable for Olisa Metuh, who is believed to have laundered amount of almost N400 million as per the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes). While Alex Badeh is believed to have laundered money to the tune of around N 3.9 billion.