Armsgate: Buhari’s Game Plan Is To Arrest Jonathan – Cdd

Source: thewillnigeria.com

BEVERLY HILLS, January 18, (THEWILL) – A pro-democracy group, the Committee for the Defence of Democracy, CDD, has sounded an alarm over plans by the federal government to arrest former President Goodluck Jonathan following allegations that he authorized the purported diversion of $2.1bn arms procurement fund.

The group claimed that this latest move by the All Progressives Congress, APC-led government of President Muhammadu Buhari is the climax in the series of blame that the new administration has continued to pile on the immediate past administration of Jonathan.

While urging Buhari to stop blaming his predecessor for Nigeria's woes, the CDD charged him to rather focus his attention on delivering dividends of democracy to Nigerians, as promised during the electioneering campaigns.

Disclosing this in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Comrade Akindele Lawson, the group said, “It is already eight months in the life of the Buhari government and all we have continued to hear is that our problems were caused by the last administration, without anything pointing towards a rescue plan by this government.”

The CDD warned that if the President continues piloting the affairs of this nation with so much focus on the past, there will be no chance for the change, which Nigerians have earnestly anticipated from the APC government, to happen in the nearest future.

It went on to state that it was wrong for anybody to claim that ammunition and military hardware were not procured for the Nigerian military during the Jonathan administration, dismissing the current arms probe as nothing than a probe of the campaign funding of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which is being sensationalized by the APC government.

According to the statement, “It is on record that despite the difficulties that the Jonathan administration faced in procuring arms from some western nations over alleged human rights issues, he still managed to source sizable quantities of platforms, weapons, bullets and other ammunition for the Nigerian Army, Navy and Air Force, which were used to tackle insurgency to a near end before the end of his administration.

“There is no doubt that the purchase of massive arms and ammunition in the last one year of the Jonathan government made it possible for the military to root out Boko Haram terrorists from all parts of Yobe and Adamawa States, leaving only about three local government areas in Borno State, partially under the control of the insurgents, as at May 2015.

The pro-democracy group challenged the Buhari's administration to deny the fact that the Nigerian military was still using the arms and ammunition procured by Jonathan to prosecute the anti-terrorism war in the Northeast, insisting that present administration has not bought any new arms since it assumed power.

“Finally, the CDD, wishes to remind President Buhari and the APC, that elections are over and less focus should be placed on Dr. Jonathan or his party, PDP. Our economy is sliding towards a recession and several uncertainties are already trailing our National polity, as it is time for the APC government to face the business of governance and stop the blame game,” the group asserted.