The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has begun investigations into fresh allegations that 12 top officers of the Nigerian Army misappropriated the sum of N5billion earmarked for 2015 election operations.
Chief of Army Staff, Maj-Gen Tukur Buratai
The 12 officers were before now being probed in connection to the alleged diversion of $2.1billion arms procurement fund by former national security adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki (rtd), to private pockets and political figures.
The Nation reports that also being presently investigated, with respect to the diversion of the N5bn election operation allocation, are some retired officers. The fund was also released by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
The sum of N5bn is said to have been illegally drawn from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under a curious overhead before it was then diverted to personal accounts by the officers involved.
It was gathered that another vote was budgeted for the army in the 2015 budget for the election operations leading to duplication of funds.
Some Army officers were said to have helped themselves to the N5billion cash since “operation funds” were regarded as “mere fluid budget.”
An army source told The Nation: “Some of the affected officers have been invited to Abuja. If found guilty of mismanagement of funds and political indulgence, they might face severe sanctions including dismissal or retirement.”
According to The Nation, about N16.5billion was released to the Nigeria Police, Nigerian Air Force, Nigerian Army and ONSA for “logistic requirement for 2015 elections.”
The breakdown is as follows: IGP General Election OPS Fund Account (N10billion); Nigerian Air Force OPS Account (N1billion); Nigerian Army Operations Account (N5billion) and ONSA (N500million).
Story: The Nation
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