The Director General of the Department of State Services, Lawal Daura, has disclosed that members of the Presidential Probe Panel on Defence Procurement from 2014 to 2015 were involved is some shady deals, which bordered on corrupt practices.
This was contained in the presentation of Daura to the Senate Panel investigating the face-off among officers of the National Intelligence Agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the DSS.
Members of the Committee set up August 2015 via directives from President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Security Adviser, General Babagana Monguno, are Air Vice Marshal J.O.N. Ode (rtd) – President; Rear Admiral J.A. Aikhomu (rtd) – Member; Rear Admiral E. Ogbor (rtd) – Member; Brigadier General L. Adekagun (rtd.) – Member; Brigadier General M. Aminu-Kano (rtd) – Member; and Brigadier General N. Rimtip (rtd) – Member.
Others are Commodore T.D. Ikoli – Member; Air Commander U. Mohammed (rtd) – Member; Air Commander I. Shafi’i – Member; Colonel A.A. Ariyibi – Member; Group Captain C.A. Oriaku (rtd) – Member; Ibrahim Magu (EFCC) – Member; and Brigadier General Y.I. Shalangwa – Secretary.
Daura told the lawmakers that shortly after the commencement of the investigation activities, operatives of the DSS serving on the panel were removed by the NSA, leaving members from the Military, NIA and EFCC to continue.
He said thereafter, the DSS, acting on intelligence, discovered that some Ad-Hoc members were brought in by the NSA to serve on the committee.
Daura said in the document obtained by The Eagle Online: “These Ad-Hoc members were later found to be involved in some shady deals, which bordered on corrupt practices.
“The service subsequently arrested Umar, the arrowhead of the members involved in extorting money from suspects under investigation in order to give them soft landing.
“At the end of the investigation, he (Umar) was arraigned in Court and is presently being prosecuted at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
“Against this backdrop, the NSA and Magu who where clearly not happy with the arrest and prosecution of Umar, decided to embark on a vendetta to investigate the service on some trumped-up charges, including corrupt practices.
“The starting point of this was the invitation sent to Ita Ekpenyong and Kunle Kadir, former Director of DSS and Head of Account of the DSS, respectively.
“The investigation was actually a voyage of discovery to fish out incriminating evidence against the service with a view to depict it and the Management as being corrupt.”
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