Dasukigate: People who shared arms money are murderers — Iloh

HOW the $2.1 billion arms fund was shared among prominent political actors and elder statesmen has become history. The startling revelations from principal beneficiaries of that financial largesse have continued to provoke uncompromising reactions from several Nigerians of goodwill. Several stakeholders have reacted differently on the consequences of the impropriety and the procedures of interrogations and prosecutions.
Speaking to National Daily, Dr. Moses Iloh, an elder statesman, lamented that the sharing of the arms money typifies worst crime against humanity on the surface of the earth. He decried that children were killed by the Boko Haram insurgents; thousands of persons displaced; many sent out of schools and legitimate places of economic activities. “This is unpardonable; they created leeway for mass murder of innocent citizens; soldiers were killed, maimed while fighting the Boko Haram insurgents without arms,” Iloh declared. He maintained: “while people were dying, they felt comfortable sharing public fund and enjoying their lives. This is heinous crime, this is mass murder. I am ashamed this is happening in my time. They have no conscience, they are heartless; they should pay for their crimes.”
Iloh insisted that whatever way the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) goes about recovering the monies or ensuring that the people face justice is acceptable and legal. He cautioned that no one should deceive people by talking about rule of law in such heinous crime. He insisted that handling such magnitude of fraud cannot afford the luxury of the rule of law which in the ultimate denouement may provide escape for those who, he said, defrauded the country.
Iloh contended that the case is beyond mere stealing but has more grievous destructive consequences.
Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, retired Commissioner of Police and elder statesman resident in Benue State, also decried that this is money meant for the purchase of arms to fight the insurgents in the North East but the people shared it; which is wrong. He regretted: “they used the money to fund the unsuccessful re-election campaign of former President Goodluck Jonathan in negligence of Nigerian citizens dying in the hands of the insurgents.”
Tsav stated that security issue is a very serious matter; adding that it requires very strict measures to handle. He insisted that handling security matter requires executive involvement in the entire process and not a matter that should be left to the vagary of the rule of law.
He commended the EFCC for doing a god job, expressing his support for the agency. According to Tsav, “they have to detain people for thorough investigations, then, prosecute them so that tomorrow Nigerians don’t say EFCC did not do good job in handling the corruption cases.”