Goodluck Jonathan spent N2.2bn on prayers against Boko Haram

NNPC executive director in EFCC custody makes stunning revelations about Jonathan’s administration – Says he has no record of the monies issued to people who offered prayers against Boko Haram – Promises to return the money to the EFCC from sales of his properties

Fresh revelations emanating from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have it that ex-president Goodluck Jonathan spent about N2.2billion on prayers to fight Boko Haram. The Nation gathered from an executive director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Aminu Baba-Kusa, that the money was spent on prayers in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia to win the war against insurgency in the country. This latest development is not part of the $2.1billion arms fund for which former National Security Adviser (NSA) Colonel Sambo Dasuki is being tried.
The monies for the prayer, it was gathered, was disbursed through the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), as proposed by Baba-Kusa. Making this revelation was Baba-Kusa himself, in a statement of witness filed in the high court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), where he, Dasuki and three others(Acacia Holdings Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited (owned by Baba-Kusa) and a former director of finance in ONSA, Shuaibu Salisu) are facing trials. The NNPC director confessed that the money was spent on prayers to hasten the defeat of the insurgents, and that it was released in two tranches of N1,450,000,000 and N750,000,000, adding that the proposal was verbal.

I approached the former NSA and discussed Boko Haram problems and I suggested there is need for prayers and he considered and accepted in 2013 when he first came to office. “I personally sponsored many people locally and some few to Saudi Arabia. Some monies were later paid into our companies, which we paid to some of the mallams. “I then arranged to recover my personal expense which I put into our own businesses.
“We have been spending a lot from our businesses and personal accounts. Money paid through UBA, First Bank and ECOBANK. For Acacia Holdings Limited(A/C 1017330319-UBA); ECOBANK(0122012650); and First Bank(Reliance Referral Hospitals Limited A/C 2022394057). The total amount is N2,200,000,000 from October 2014 to April 2015,” Baba-Kusa confessed. According to him, he may not be an expert, “but I used some of the mallams to organise in Abuja, Zaria, Kano, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Kaduna and Saudi Arabia covering 2013 to 2015.

“I give them funds as required from time to time, ranging from N500,000 to N30million, depending on their needs, traveling, sadaqat and others for local expenses and travels to Saudi Arabia for Umrah and Hajj. “I reminded the NSA many times before payments were made. We grew up together with the former NSA with common friends in ABU. “Most of the payments in cash were meant to give out cash to people that have been organising prayers. Some transfers to Acacia to other banks were for logistics and also to some mallams in cash.” On how the prayer contract was arrived at, the suspect said: “The proposal made to the former NSA was not documented by him or myself. The verbal proposal to him was for prayers to overcome Boko Haram within the shortest possible time.
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