Jonathan, Zuma Open Talks Over Botched $15m
Arms Deals.
…Obasanjo, Mbeki move to avert diplomatic
impasse
…FG may not release list of those who ferried
cash to SA
Following tension over the $15million botched
arms deal, President
Goodluck Jonathan and his South African
counterpart Jacob Zuma have opened up talks to
avert diplomatic row.
Also, ex-Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Thabo
Mbeki were said to have stepped into issues
surrounding the arms deal.
But there were strong indications that the Federal
government will not release the names of those
who ferried the $9.3million to South Africa for
“strategic security reasons.”
According to a highly-placed source in
government, who spoke in confidence, the arms
deal was being “treated at the presidential level”
to avoid a diplomatic row.
The source said: “The two leaders have discussed
extensively in the last one and a half weeks on
the arms deal and why the matter had to be
handled at the diplomatic level.
“The key point in their talks is that the two
nations should not allow the issue to degenerate
to a diplomatic row. I can tell you that Jonathan
and Zuma have struck some understanding on
how to treat the matter maturely without
rubbishing the integrity of any of the two
countries.”
Responding to a question, the source added: “The
federal government insisted that the deal had
nothing to do with fraud or money laundering as
being alleged. But it is not opposed to any
investigation by the South African Government or
agency.
“The South African Government has pledged due
process and fairness in managing the ongoing
investigation. Certainly Nigeria is interested in
having its cash back and this demand might
require deeper diplomatic understanding.”
It was however gathered that ex-Presidents
Obasanjo and Mbeki have waded into the matter
to avert what a source described as “diplomatic
impasse.”
Another source said: “Obasanjo and Mbeki who
initiated Nigeria-South
Africa Bi-National Commission in 1999 are
worried that the arms deal might affect the
robust economic relationship between both
countries.
“They do not want the situation to degenerate
into a diplomatic row because for some time,
there had been some distrust between the two
nations arising from the disagreement on the late
Muammar Ghadaffi; the election of the Chairman
of AU Commission; Yellow Fever Vaccine debacle
and deportation of Nigerians; the trial of Henry
Okah; and the latest arms deal. The two former
Presidents have decided to reach out to Jonathan
and Zuma any moment from now.”
But there were indications yesterday that the
Federal Government is not ready to disclose the
identities of the Israeli and Nigerian who ferried
the controversial $9.3million cash-for- arms-deal
to South Africa.
A security chief said: “For strategic security
reasons, we will not disclose the identities of
these individuals. Apart from the insurgents being
interested in them, some Western countries who
lost the arms deal to those we engaged in South
Africa might target them for business isolation.
“There is no way a nation will expose those
helping it to danger because of ‘crucial arms
deal.’ The Anti-Terrorism Act allows the nation’s
security agencies to take decisions in the
overriding interest of the country.”
No comments: