12 SUPER TUCANO PLANES: BUHARI NEEDS TO EXPLAIN WHERE $167M OF OUR MONEY WENT

In 2018,President Buhari hurriedly withdrew $496M from the excess crude account without the approval of the senate as is stipulated by the Nigerian constitution to pay for 12 Super Tucano planes.In a letter sent after the money had already been withdrawn, Buhari deliberately left them in the dark as to the model of the planes and told the senate that he was rushing to meet a deadline.That is the first red flag as far as the purported $496M purchase of 12 Super Tucano light assault airplanes is concerned.Was our President being duped by fraudsters?.

The US government (which sent us $40M in aid just weeks ago by the way) would ordinarily buy and hand us those planes if they could, considering our well publicized fight against terror and not set a deadline for the purchase of fighter planes from a defense contractor operating in its territory.It was absurd.But somebody played his card well.

The Bukola Saraki led senate wasn't Buhari's rubber stamp.It would grill him or anyone he sends over on the costs of those planes after finding out all there is to know about them.Buhari then would be forced to disclose the model and why he is paying a staggering $41M each for them when a quick search will reveal an A 29 model ranges from $25M to $30M at the very most.

An article i stumbled on by The Defence Post about a week ago made things explicitly clear.The man didn't want anyone knowing how much was really going to be spent on those planes.The US government has to approve arms requests to defense contractors and it turns out the US Department of defense issued a press release on Wednesday 28th November 2018 saying the Pentagon had awarded a $329M contract to Sierra Nevada for the construction of 12 A 29 Super Tucano light assault air planes for the Nigerian Air Force.

Not only that, a caveat was included in the undefinitized contract for the sum not to exceed $344M.That answers why Buhari hurriedly withdrew $496M; a staggering $167M more than the contract sum.Be clear on this,there was never any ambiguity as to the price he claims to have paid for those planes-$496M!!.And At no point did he say it included other purchases.

There were media reports as early as February 2018 that Buhari had paid for the planes and not until April 17th 2018 did the Senate get his letter explaining why payment had to be quick.HOW DID BUHARI PAY IN EARLY 2018 FOR A CONTRACT THAT WASN'T EVEN AWARDED TILL LATE THAT YEAR?.The press release from the US Department of Defense also clearly states that payment would be made shortly after the award of the contract.Technically,Buhari couldn't have paid for those planes any earlier than 28th November 2018 despite having written to the senate 7 months,2 weeks and 3 days before that saying he didn't seek their approval in accordance with our laws because he had to rush payment.It is as clear as day,Buhari is not being honest.When he sought and got approval from the governors to withdraw $1bn from the Excess Crude Account to tackle insecurity,quite a number of people screamed to high heavens about it being a ploy to reserve money for the 2019 elections.Buhari's dubious purchase has all but confirmed that.

The contract entered into on our behalf by the US government with Sierra Nevada for those 12 planes clearly states that the contract sum is $329M and that it must not exceed $344M.That is a term on which the validity of the contract stands so it is not in any way possible for Buhari to pay more than that amount.He owes us $167M or at the very least, $152M.

Before i read the Defence Post article,i had said much earlier that there was a great chance the americans used the shady plane purchase to scare Buhari behind the scenes into releasing activist,Omoyele Sowore.They had him by the balls so bad,he added former National Security Adviser,Sambo Dasuki as a bonus; a man who ironically, Buhari is prosecuting for embezzling funds meant to fight boko haram.Even without this piece of overwhelming evidence,the $41M Buhari claimed to have paid for each of the 12 light assault planes was just too outrageous.The fact that they weren't forthcoming with the model of the planes meant they were hiding something.

Just days ago,the US raised alarm over Buhari's plan to hand $100M out of an Abacha loot they had recovered to Governor of Kebbi state,Atiku Bagudu and Buhari's people are denying without being confrontational.They don't want to make an enemy of the americans.

Now it is out in the open, the United States government entered into a $329M contract for 12 A 29 Super Tucano light assault planes with Sierra Nevada; planes President Buhari claims to have paid $496M for.Buhari owes us an explanation as to where $167M of that sum went.

IS PRESIDENT BUHARI A BOKO HARAM MEMBER?

Senator Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe state is sponsoring a bill to create an agency to handle the rehabilitation of boko haram members.The bill like the social media and hate speech bills,is believed to be a brain child of the Buhari administration which started the Operation Safe Corridor programme in 2016 for the same purpose; rehabilitating boko haram members.

The causes Buhari is passionate about have almost all the time been sold to us by people other than himself-Lai Mohammed dealt with us on the issue of the FG's plan to start a fulani radio station while Audu Ogbeh handled that of RUGA settlements.

Quite a number of prominent nigerians in commentaries on the current spate of killings in the country, have at one point or the other over the last few years,hinted of an islamization and fulanization agenda.Some even accusing the security agencies of complicity.At this point,it is not safe to wave those concerns aside.

Why is this government very interested in releasing captured boko haram fighters in a war it is still fighting?.It is one thing for boko haram to surrender or fall to the might of the nigerian military and another thing altogether for these terrorists to be released because they say they have 'changed' while their colleagues are still out there killing innocent nigerians at an alarming rate.Quote me anywhere,no country in the world does that.

Captured boko haram terrorists need not bother denying whatever they are accused of,all they have to do is just say they have 'repented'.My heart goes out to every soldier at the battle front laying his life down for this country.We don't deserve it.He loses friends fighting these terrorists but still musters enough courage to carry on.Some he has had to sit and watch being slaughtered in videos.

My heart goes out to the families of the Auno attack victims who were told their loved ones were set ablaze in vehicles conveying them to Maiduguri.Their leaders obviously aren't worried about sending out reinforcements to these blood suckers; reinforcements to the tune of 1,400 persons going by the figures presented days ago by the Borno state government.

If the military chooses to believe its own lies then that is its problem but to be frank,they are nowhere close to defeating boko haram.I don't think any President would be stupid enough to send out 'rehabilitated' members of a terrorist group at this point of a war in spite of the very frightening chances of strenthening them.Except of course he is a boko haram member himself or is at the very least,sympathetic to their cause.

President Buhari's extremist tendencies are no secret.

As a matter of fact,former presidential candidate of the AAC and publisher of popular news site Sahara Reporters,Omoyele Sowore said while still in DSS custody that he was denied phone calls to his family while boko haram commanders not only enjoyed that privilege,they also had access to televison sets and cable tv in their cells.In 2001,Buhari said "We will not stop the agitation for the total implementation of sharia in the whole country.I will continue to show openly and inside me the total commitment to the sharia movement that is sweeping all over Nigeria ".Also in 2012,the boko haram sect of all the people alive,appointed President Buhari to mediate on its behalf in a proposed sit down by the Jonathan administration.

I don't know about you but for me,anyone appointed a mediator on behalf of a group is presumably well acquainted with its ideologies and goals.

Buhari's recent statements on boko haram have quite regrettably appeared more PR for the sect.Shortly after it had killed a Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, boko haram executed a christian student of the University of Maiduguri named Ropvil Dalyep on his way back to school and openly declared war against christians in that video.Buhari said boko haram had killed even more muslims than christians.If he was trying to depict boko haram as targeting more muslims than christians,he failed woefully.Most people already know anyone; muslim or christian who doesn't believe in what boko haram is selling is considered an enemy.Buhari acting like he didn't know is not a good look.

During his condolence visit to Borno after the Auno massacre,his comments suggesting the local leadership in Borno were in bed with boko haram at such a delicate time could have just been a carefully orchestrated plan to cause chaos,promote distrust and allow the terrorists more room to operate than a genuine grievance.Everything points to that there is an ulterior motive behind the efforts Buhari,Geidam and co. are putting into releasing boko haram members.

None of them is worried about what it would mean to the christian population for a people that have openly promised to wage war against them to be released.Or what it would do to the morale of soldiers fighting the war against terror to know government with its eyes very wide open sent the enemy possible reinforcements by the thousands.None of them care what the average nigerian that has been asking how many arrested boko haram terrorists have been prosecuted will think.

May we know the whole truth some day.

LETTER TO EL RUFAI @ 60-YOUR REPUTATION FOR HYPOCRISY OVERSHADOWS THE GOOD YOU DO

Dear Mallam El Rufai,

Happy Birthday.Let me first start by saying i have nothing personal against you.Expect to see me singing your praises when next you do anything that calls for such.You i must say, are a queer type of politician.The type everyone agrees does well any time he is called upon to serve but is also curiously enough, widely despised for aligning personal interest with public discontent to pursue his selfish ends.Your reputation for hypocrisy is legendary.

The people you worked for and sang praises of are also the same people you have turned on to move up in life.However i must say that in 2010,you rendered the most honest of your duplicitous declamations when you described President Buhari as 'expired and perpetually unelectable'.You went on to not only sing his praises as a member of his party but to actively work for his victory in 2015.What you said has proven true.

I am sure over the last few months you have seen several old tweets of yours against the Jonathan administration being dug up and spoken of in relation to the current state of the country under President Muhammadu Buhari.You expressed worries over our debts doubling under President Jonathan in 2012 and how it would affect the future of the younger ones.Today you have not only remained mute while our debt profile has trippled under President Buhari from N7.8trn to over N27 trn,you have sat down as head of an ad-hoc committee on the ownership of power distribution companies to say N1.7trn has been pumped into the power companies in 3 years.

Note also that Vice-President Yomi Osinbajo had mentioned earlier that government had spent N900bn since coming into office on power and was planning a further N600bn in 'intervention'.Going by what you both have told us,the Buhari administration has already spent about N3trn on power.What Buhari is probing Obasanjo for spending in 8 years with no results,he has already done in 5.If you point a finger at someone, 3 are pointing back at you.You all will never take that probe seriously because it will arouse much interest in Buhari's own expenditure since he assumed office.

Even if N1.7trn was really spent on the companies in 3 years as you have claimed,don't you think its stupid to pump that much with your eyes wide open and then heap the blame on them?. My point Mallam Nasiru is that you have not only remained mute while a worse panhandler than Jonathan continues to mortgage away our future,you are a key component of the system and was caught more or less justifying a classic case of how our future is being wasted away.

At the very least you were assured of a ministerial appointment if Buhari won.The motive was never our best interests.The few that doubted it then will agree now.The most intriguing recollection of your past utterances the internet has spawned over the last month has to be an interview you had with tv news station,TVC while President Jonathan was in office.Let me quote some of the things you said-

"We are just applying military force and we think we can resolve an insurgency?.Its not going to happen.I have been in government.I have ran a territory.I know the amount of information i get, security reports i get as Minister.The President gets 50 times that.And i put it to you and i challenge anyone including DG SSS to this; the SSS knows who these insurgents are.They are not ghosts,they know them.The President knows them.They are just unwilling to do it".

Going by this logic President Buhari knows who boko haram is.And to be quite honest,Buhari should not only be accused of knowing who and where boko haram are but also of being in bed with them.His extremist tendencies are no secret.In 2001,he said "We will not stop the agitation for the total implementation of sharia in the whole country ".

As you very well know also,they appointed him a mediator on their behalf in a proposed dialogue by the Jonathan administration in 2012.Political activist and Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore said while in DSS detention,he was denied calls to his family while top commanders of the sect had access to Phones,TVs and Cable in their cells.Since the Operation Safe Corridor programme began in 2016,a mind-blowing figure of 1,400 boko haram terrorists have been released.

Nigerian soldiers who spoke to TheCable are bitter as to why that is the case with one even quoted as saying they go through a lot to arrest these terrorists only for some top persons to come and negotiate their release.That is not done anywhere else in the world.No one captures ISIS or Al-Shabaab terrorists and lets them go after a short while only because they say 'they have repented'.Except of course they are part of the 'cause' or are at the very least, sympathetic to it.

The only time President Jonathan considered releasing boko haram terrorists was when they proposed an exchange for the kidnapped Chibok girls.Mallam,you are silent.

As you turn 60,i hope you dedicate the remainder of your days to speaking the truth at all times to power and not only when it works in your favour.You are said to be angling for a VP slot in 2023 with the visits of Former President Obasanjo and Former Vice-President Namadi Sambo being interpreted as a ploy to buttress political value.

The fact that you are not much coveted despite having done well in office is entirely your doing.I hope you transit from self-love to genuine love for country.Happy Birthday once again.

WHY IS BUHARI BORROWING $22.6BN TO 'COMPLETE' PROJECTS LESS THAN HALF THAT SUM WILL FUND FROM START TO FINISH?.

The United States government will soon send over a fresh $308M looted from our treasury by late head of state and former boss of President Buhari, General Sani Abacha.The Attorney General of the Federation,Abubakar Malami in a statement published on the website of the American embassy,said the funds will be put into the 2nd Niger bridge,the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and the ,Abuja-Kano expressway.Evenly spread across all 3, that would mean N37bn to each and a significant raise in levels of completion.

The Senate under Bukola Saraki if you remember withheld a $29.9 bn loan approval on the ground that there was nothing sent to it indicating what the money would be used for.Eventually Buhari got approval for a $6 bn loan and is now before this senate seeking its nod to go for about $22.6 bn which Saraki's red chamber did not approve.Though many doubt it will happen,the senate claims to be considering a public hearing before it makes a decision.

Buhari has set forth as his reasons for seeking this fresh loan,the completion of '5 Legacy Projects' which are the 2nd Niger bridge,the Lagos-Ibadan expressway,the Abuja-Kano expressway,the East-West road and the Mambilla power station.Also note that in 2018, Lai Mohammed specifically told nigerians that the Buhari administration had set aside $1.5bn for these same 5 projects.The monies that have been tied to these projects since their commencement are enough to build a world class city and it is time we wake up and start asking the right questions.

Former Minister of Works and Housing,Babatunde Fashola told nigerians in 2018 that the 'main work' for the 2nd Niger bridge would cost N210 bn.With the benefit of retrospection, 'main work' now very much appears government's illusionary tactic to evade accountability.Just months later,the same government Fashola represented went ahead to award a N206 bn contract to Julius Berger Plc for its construction.To shock you,the contract was awarded after the spokespersons of both arms of the national assembly in a joint statement said unequivocally that there were allocations for the project in the 2016 and 2017 budgets that were NEVER UTILIZED; N12.5 bn in the 2016 budget and N7.5 bn in the 2017 budget.That means a total of N20 bn was supposed to go into the 2nd Niger bridge project but didn't at a time a contract for its construction hadn't even been awarded.

In December 2018, government released (not just approved), N33 bn for the construction of the bridge.Add that to the N20 bn the Senate said wasn't used and that gives you N53 bn.If half of the Abacha loot ($160M) is sunk into Nigeria's most expensive construction project, the Buhari administration would have paid for half of it already.The senate in justification of its slash in the funding of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway project to about N10bn in the 2017 budget accused the then Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola of lying to nigerians about the project and said only N26bn was released by Buhari out of the N40bn allocated to it.Give or take,government has so far spent much more than N40bn out of an estimated N168bn in the name of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.Especially if you consider also the $1.3bn Lai Mohammed mentioned.

Julius Berger like we all already know received an initial N50bn for the N155 bn Abuja-Kano expressway.Minus of course budgetary allocations and Lai's $1.3bn largesse.The case of the East-West road project is a very curious one.It is estimated to cost N167bn and the Federal Government allocated N6.7bn to it in the 2017 budget and N20bn in that of 2018.In April 2019,the then Minister of Niger-Delta,Pastor Usani Uguru told the house of representatives that government had allocated it N24bn and just days later,he was telling the National Gas and Oil Host Producing Communities (HOSTCOM) that President Buhari had approved N100bn for its completion.

WHY IN THE WORLD DOES BUHARI NEED AS MUCH AS $22.6BN JUST TO COMPLETE THESE PROJECTS?.Just $2bn (N726bn) will start and finish the N220bn 2nd Niger bridge,the Lagos-Ibadan expressway estimated at N168bn,the N155bn Kano-Abuja expressway and the N167bn East-West road with N16bn to spare.Note that i said start and finish.These are all on-going projects where although the several dubious amounts of huge sums being tied to them may not be commensurate to what it is on ground,some work has been done.Why is Buhari trying to borrow money that will start and finish them about 20 times over?.

The man is mortgaging away the future of this country and is sure to feel much more relaxed now with a National Assembly leadership he helped put in place.If you didn't back then,i'm sure now you are starting to understand why a sum as outrageous as N37bn would be allocated to the NASS for renovation.They need the money in place to be disbursed when issues like this come up.Fears of Buhari going for a 3rd term have abated after the man's express denial of harbouring such intentions but the manner in which public wealth is being unaccounted for means Nigerians have to be wary of a last minute dollar rain for that purpose.

As things currently stand,experts have said we would at least spend the next 30 years servicing the debt Buhari has piled on us.Government itself estimated the Mambilla Power project to cost a total of $5.8bn.Even if we choose to over-look the many times government has told us it has set aside money for all of these projects and have not asked what the money ended up being used for, $7bn is more than enough for what he has listed as 'legacy projects' including Mambilla.Nigerians need to push for the senate to make its hearing public.Let Buhari or whoever is coming to represent him explain to the country why they need $22.6bn to 'complete' on-going projects when much less than half that sum would start and finish them.

El Rufai was saying weeks ago that the Federal Government had spent N1.7trn on the Power companies in 3 years.They know the companies will not raise their voices for fear of losing their licenses.I ask-what degree of imbecility does it require to keep pumping in as much as N1.7trn without any tangible results?.Especially into companies the FG itself regulates.

They have spent N1.7trn on power with supply now worse than it used to be and by the time Buhari leaves in 2023 (If he does),they may have surpassed Obasanjo's N3trn.Remember that he was asking to borrow $1bn for power from the World bank just last year.Ponder no more on why Buhari will never take Obasanjo's power probe seriously.If he does, people will start asking about his own expenditure.

The entire Abacha loot will go into projects Buhari has been financing and wants to get a whole $22.6bn loan to complete.Even a blind man can see something is not right.