JUST IN: ARMY GENERAL IN TROUBLE FOR THREATENING TO ‘KILL’ BUHARI OVER DEFENCE CONTRACT
JUST IN:
ARMY GENERAL IN TROUBLE FOR THREATENING TO ‘KILL’ BUHARI OVER DEFENCE CONTRACT
Fresh news report as A General, who is the coordinator
of peace keeping in the Ministry of Defense, Lym Hassan, has been secretly
recorded allegedly threatening to ‘eliminate’ Pres. Buhari over a defense
contract.
He was arraigned before the military
court on October 30, 2017 and charged with two allegations: spreading rumours
that Buhari was dead and demanding $600,000 bribe from a defence contractor.
The Cable had reported that Buhari
approved a $1,464,750 contract on September 26, 2016 for the relocation and
refurbishment of Level 2 Ministry Hospital under the United Nations
Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) following a
directive from the UN.
In February 2017, the contract was
awarded to Opems Integrated Concepts Ltd for $1 million for a two-month
execution period ending April 2017. But the job was not done, with Nigeria
failing to meet the August 2017 deadline for the relocation of the hospital.
The ministry of defence later issued
a directive to serving military officers to go and execute the contract, which
involved supply of medical equipment as well as dismantling and re-assembling
the hospital at a new camp.
The bulk of the contract sum had
allegedly been shared, and Hassan was said to have still demanded $600,000 from
Opems. Unknown to Hassan, he was recorded while allegedly making the demand,
sources told TheCable.
Asked by the contractor if he was not
afraid of Buhari’s anti-corruption war, Hassan allegedly retorted: “If the
president queries us, we will eliminate him.”
An insider in the defence ministry
told TheCable: “With the charge sheet now reading that Hassan was spreading
rumours that the president was dead, the game has changed. The facts of the
matter have been tailored to throw him under the bus.
Hassan has become the scapegoat but
the bulk of the contract money was shared across board. He carelessly talked
himself into trouble and he will carry the can for all those who participated
in the bazaar.”
