by Kolapo Olapoju
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, is apprehensive over the $1bn loan demanded by the Federal Government to fight insurgency in the country.
At a national symposium to commemorate the first memorial anniversary of late Pro-National Conference co-founder, Baba Omojola,- Falana stated that the funds may be diverted for the 2015 elections.
According to him, the nation’s military had been rendered ineffective by immense corruption and internal fraud within the system that has seen the N4 trillion defence appropriation squandered, over an apparent lack of accountability.
He said, “The money that has been voted for defence of our dear country in the last five years is N4 trillion. This year alone, it is N968 billion. The president has come back for a loan of $1bn which is about N177 billion added to N968 billion in one year. That is over a trillion naira. At the end of the day, our soldiers are being sent to the war front having no weapon to fight.”
“As of yesterday, the $1bn has not been processed, so if we are not careful the money is going to be diverted to fund the forthcoming general elections.”
Falana, who is representing some of the military officers standing trial for mutiny, said his interaction with the officers showed they were too under-equipped to face the superior firepower of the insurgents.
He said, “As for the boys they accused of mutiny, when I spoke with them, they said, ‘oga, we are not guilty of mutiny. We want to fight and die for this country, but there is no equipment. They are asking us to face the Boko Haram sect that has sophisticated weapons. We are simply being asked to commit suicide and that is why we say we have the right to life. We don’t want to die cheaply.”
