The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Communication, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has given reasons why the
government has been silent on the seized $9.3 million and $5.7 million
money.
Dr Doyin Okupe said, “The Nigerian government cannot share
all information about the issues because it is a security matter. It is an
issue which we cannot just bring to public domain. For goodness sake, we need
to have some quiet innocent support. I am surprised that Nigerians want to
discuss security issues openly and publicly when a war is still going on.
“These are very serious national
security affairs and running a government is not the same thing as running a
Shoprite, where everything is on the table and on display. There is nothing
shady about the South African deal and the Office of the NSA has done very well
because at the appropriate time, they came in that, ‘yes, this money belongs to
us and this was what it was meant for;’ that explanation itself was okay. There
is no hanky panky on this matter.”
According to the Vanguard, the
second controversial deal has legitimized the first because it was a normal
banking transaction.
A company was mandated to do a
national security assignment for the Federal Government of Nigeria and because
of the extant laws in South Africa, that company was unable to deliver its
contractual agreement with the Nigerian government; the company now wants a
refund which is normal.”
He also used the occasion to exonerate
CAN’s President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor from
alleged involvement of his aircraft in the controversial $9.3m arms deal in
South Africa.
“The linking of Pastor Ayo
Oritsejafor is the most unfortunate thing; to put the very respectable,
responsible, honest and sincere President of CAN in this matter is the extreme
of mischief. It just shows you what Nigerians do, they go to any extent to
politicize everything. What bothers me here is the manner with which people want
to bring down Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor on this matter. It is pure absurdity.
“Oritsejafor has no business in
this matter. It is true that he owns the aircraft but there are over 200
private Nigerians who have jets. Apart from those who use it frequently, some
give it out to get some money and defray some of the costs. If you put your jet
down, you pay money and parking charges every day. He gave the private jet to a
company to manage. The company is handling it and these people gave out the
plane that is available.
“What has this to do with
Oritsejafor? If I have many cars at the airport and decide to give one to car
hire services and he decides to carry somebody having Indian hemp, will you
link it up with the man who gave it out? Excuse me, this is ridiculous.”
Okupe then used the occasion to
advise Nigerians to stop playing politics with every issue of national concern
saying it is not in line with patriotism.
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