The Federal Government has accused the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan of procuring substandard weapons to prosecute the fight against Boko Haram insurgency. Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated this yesterday in Abeokuta, a statement by his special assistant on Media, Segun Adeyemi, said.
According to the statement the minister described as “unfortunate and unsubstantiated a statement credited to former President Goodluck Jonathan attributing the recent successes in the war to the weapons allegedly bought by his Administration that were delivered after he had left office.” He said the Muhammadu Buhari administration owed it a duty to put the record straight, especially because the issues raised by the former president were of public interest and bordered on national security.
The minister said the weapons, munitions and equipment which the former president “said he bought were refurbished and lacked the basic components and spare parts.” Besides, the statement said “additionally, the ammunition bought for both high calibre and small weapons have mostly expired, incompatible with weapons and grossly inadequate.”
It said the situation was so pathetic that soldiers were often transported in Civilian JTF vehicles, civilian vehicles, trailers and water tankers when going to the theatres of operation. “The revelations on the sorry state of things in the past, which have emanated from the investigative panel so far, point clearly to the kind of legacy bequeathed to this administration by the past government. That explains why troops remained largely static and were unable to effectively deploy to completely rout the Boko Haram terrorists in all their known enclaves,” he said.
