Nigeria Looks for Missing $5.5 Billion in Defense Spending
- Defense contracts meant to bolster fight against Boko Haram
- Cash spent on helicopters, jets, ammunition that never arrived
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Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the arrest of former National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki and other unidentified officials for allegedly misappropriating as much as $5.5 billion worth of contracts to buy defense equipment to fight the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
A government committee investigating weapons deals said it discovered total “extra-budgetary interventions” of 644 billion naira ($3.3 billion) in local currency and $2.2 billion in foreign funds, Femi Adesina, a spokesman in Buhari’s office, said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday. Dasuki awarded “phantom” contracts for the purchase of four jets, 12 helicopters and bombs, Adesina said. Dasuki denies the charges, his lawyer Ahmed Raji said.