By Emmanuel Ukudolo
December 10, 2015 – Former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has condemned Edo State Governor, Mr. Adams Oshiomole for distorting content of her memo dated January 20, to the former National Security Adviser, Col Ibrahim Dasuki (retired) for funds to prosecute the terror war against Boko Haram.
In a statement, Media Adviser to the former minister, Mr. Paul C Nwabuikwu said the NSA made a case to use returned funds looted by the late Sani Abacha for urgent security operations since, he had affirmed that there cannot be any development without peace and security.
“Based on this, a decision was taken to deploy about $322m for the military operations, while the expected $700m would be applied for development programmes as originally conceived”, she said.
He explained that following the discussions and based on the urgency of the NSA’s memo, Dr Okonjo-Iweala requested the President to approve transfer of the requested amount to the NSA’s Office for the specified purposes.
“But, as captured in the memo, she insisted on three conditions: a. only a part, not the entire Abacha funds would be spent on the arms; the rest would be invested in developmental projects as originally conceived; b. the money was to be treated as borrowed funds which would be paid back as soon as possible; c. the NSA’s office was to account for the spending to the President who was the Commander in Chief, given the fact that the Minister of Finance is not part of the security architecture and does not participate in the Security Council”, he said.
He added that the attempt to link the former Minister’s name to any misuse of these funds for any purpose other than security as far as she understood it is totally false and cannot stand.
She described recent publications in online media as part of the campaign of falsehood against former Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala by Edo Governor, Adams Oshiomhole and other powerful and corrupt interests
