WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.960 Imagine a nation in crisis. Right. Like you are 00:00:02.960 --> 00:00:05.740 looking at a country absolutely desperate for 00:00:05.740 --> 00:00:09.099 military equipment to fight off a brutal encroaching 00:00:09.099 --> 00:00:11.380 insurgency. The stakes literally could not be 00:00:11.380 --> 00:00:14.419 higher. Exactly. Entire communities are at risk. 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:16.960 The military is stretched to its breaking point 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:19.780 and You know, the government allocates a massive 00:00:19.780 --> 00:00:22.559 budget to save its citizens. Which makes total 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:25.440 sense in a crisis. Right. And then you find out 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:28.300 that the $2 .2 billion specifically meant for 00:00:28.300 --> 00:00:31.899 life -saving helicopters, jets, and bombs didn't 00:00:31.899 --> 00:00:34.179 actually go to the battlefield. No, it did not. 00:00:34.420 --> 00:00:37.799 Instead, it just vanished. It went into 11 literal 00:00:37.799 --> 00:00:40.460 suitcases of cash, political campaign funds, 00:00:40.619 --> 00:00:43.899 and I'm not making this up. spiritual purposes. 00:00:44.259 --> 00:00:46.619 It is wild. The sheer audacity of it almost sounds 00:00:46.619 --> 00:00:48.659 like the plot of an over -the -top political 00:00:48.659 --> 00:00:50.759 thriller. It really does. But the paper trail 00:00:50.759 --> 00:00:54.799 we are looking at today is very, very real and, 00:00:54.799 --> 00:00:56.939 well, the consequences were devastating. So today 00:00:56.939 --> 00:00:59.460 we are taking a deep dive into an incredibly 00:00:59.460 --> 00:01:03.060 comprehensive Wikipedia article detailing Nigeria's 00:01:03.060 --> 00:01:07.040 staggering $2 billion arms deal. A scandal widely 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:10.549 known as DeSupygate. Yes. And our mission today 00:01:10.549 --> 00:01:13.790 is to unpack exactly how a critical defense budget 00:01:13.790 --> 00:01:16.890 simply evaporated into thin air. Right. We are 00:01:16.890 --> 00:01:18.969 going to look at the actual mechanics of moving 00:01:18.969 --> 00:01:21.450 that much money. And the cinematic way the truth 00:01:21.450 --> 00:01:24.469 finally came to light, plus the frankly bizarre 00:01:24.469 --> 00:01:27.170 excuses given by the people caught in this web. 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:29.939 There are some truly unbelievable excuses in 00:01:29.939 --> 00:01:32.400 here. Oh, absolutely. Now, before we get into 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:34.400 it, because this deep dive touches on highly 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:37.400 politically charged events involving Nigeria's 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:40.060 major political figures and parties, specifically 00:01:40.060 --> 00:01:42.560 former President Goodluck Jonathan and President 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:45.579 Mohamedou Buhari, I need to state clearly for 00:01:45.579 --> 00:01:48.379 you. Yeah, this is an important disclaimer. We 00:01:48.379 --> 00:01:50.980 are not taking any sides here. Nope. Nor are 00:01:50.980 --> 00:01:53.019 we endorsing the viewpoints of any political 00:01:53.019 --> 00:01:55.700 figures or parties. Our mission is strictly to 00:01:55.700 --> 00:01:57.939 report impartially on the facts and ideas contained 00:01:57.939 --> 00:02:00.260 in our source material. Exactly. And to really 00:02:00.260 --> 00:02:03.819 grasp the gravity of those facts, we need to 00:02:03.819 --> 00:02:06.239 set the stage visually and historically. Right, 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:07.780 because this didn't just happen in a vacuum. 00:02:08.060 --> 00:02:10.500 No. The background of the story isn't some quiet 00:02:10.500 --> 00:02:13.900 boardroom. It's a nation under immense stress. 00:02:13.939 --> 00:02:18.659 Yeah. Picture a dimly lit room packed with scattered 00:02:18.659 --> 00:02:22.120 financial ledgers, bank withdrawal slips, and 00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:25.000 just piles of unfulfilled military contracts. 00:02:25.080 --> 00:02:27.840 A total mess. And the timeline is crucial here. 00:02:28.139 --> 00:02:31.759 We have to anchor ourselves in April 2014. OK, 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:34.340 April 2014. Look is immediately following the 00:02:34.340 --> 00:02:38.180 tragic, globally recognized kidnapping of 276 00:02:38.180 --> 00:02:41.580 schoolgirls in Chibok by the terrorist group 00:02:41.580 --> 00:02:43.800 Boko Haram. Right. I mean, the international 00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:46.580 outcry at that moment was deafening. It was every 00:02:46.580 --> 00:02:48.020 day. The pressure on the Nigerian government 00:02:48.020 --> 00:02:51.259 is just immense. To comprehend the scale of this 00:02:51.259 --> 00:02:53.479 theft, you really have to understand the profound 00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:55.840 desperation of that specific moment. Yeah, they 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:58.710 were under a microscope. kidnapping created an 00:02:58.710 --> 00:03:01.530 urgent existential need to procure arms. The 00:03:01.530 --> 00:03:04.250 military needs hardware and I mean they need 00:03:04.250 --> 00:03:06.849 it yesterday. Exactly. But instead of going through 00:03:06.849 --> 00:03:09.729 standard highly regulated international military 00:03:09.729 --> 00:03:12.669 channels to get this hardware the procurement 00:03:12.669 --> 00:03:15.009 process just goes entirely off the rails. Yeah 00:03:15.009 --> 00:03:16.590 and then let's talk about what standard usually 00:03:16.590 --> 00:03:19.750 means. Good point. In a global crisis, nations 00:03:19.750 --> 00:03:23.030 typically rely on sovereign -to -sovereign military 00:03:23.030 --> 00:03:24.909 agreements. Right, so government -to -government. 00:03:25.169 --> 00:03:28.550 Exactly. That means one government directly purchasing 00:03:28.550 --> 00:03:30.930 from another government's authorized defense 00:03:30.930 --> 00:03:33.310 department. Which makes sense. It is designed 00:03:33.310 --> 00:03:36.509 that way specifically to ensure strict tracking, 00:03:36.849 --> 00:03:39.370 auditing, and, you know, to keep high -grade 00:03:39.370 --> 00:03:41.210 weapons out of the hands of warlords. Right, 00:03:41.289 --> 00:03:43.800 you want a paper trail. But the initial procurement 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:46.780 attempts detailed in this investigation completely 00:03:46.780 --> 00:03:49.259 bypassed that framework. They just ignored it. 00:03:49.500 --> 00:03:51.419 Pretty much. Instead of sovereign to sovereign 00:03:51.419 --> 00:03:53.919 agreements, the Nigerian government approached 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:56.800 an American living in Prague. Wait, hold on. 00:03:56.939 --> 00:03:59.699 A man named Marion Ford. An American expat in 00:03:59.699 --> 00:04:02.259 the Czech Republic. Yep. Why on earth would a 00:04:02.259 --> 00:04:05.919 sovereign nation bypass established defense contractors 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:08.919 or foreign governments for a random individual 00:04:08.919 --> 00:04:11.840 living in Prague? Well, that is the multi -billion 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:15.060 dollar question, and it gets more convoluted. 00:04:15.060 --> 00:04:17.240 Of course it does. Because Ford didn't even have 00:04:17.240 --> 00:04:19.899 the necessary legal licenses to trade in arms. 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:22.680 You have got to be kidding me. I am not. He was 00:04:22.680 --> 00:04:24.939 in no position to fulfill a massive government 00:04:24.939 --> 00:04:28.189 defense contract. So what did he do? Well, to 00:04:28.189 --> 00:04:31.129 cover his own lack of credentials, he signs an 00:04:31.129 --> 00:04:33.050 agency agreement and negotiates with another 00:04:33.050 --> 00:04:36.129 arms dealer. Another one? Yeah, or a DeLarian 00:04:36.129 --> 00:04:38.829 who operates a company out of Fresno, California 00:04:38.829 --> 00:04:42.370 and Sofia, Bulgaria. Okay, wait. Are you telling 00:04:42.370 --> 00:04:46.389 me the supply chain for a nation fighting a terrifying 00:04:46.389 --> 00:04:50.269 insurgency went from the capital of Nigeria to 00:04:50.269 --> 00:04:54.170 an unlicensed guy in Prague to a broker splitting 00:04:54.170 --> 00:04:56.829 his time between California and Bulgaria? That 00:04:56.829 --> 00:04:59.149 is exactly the chain of custody, and it falls 00:04:59.149 --> 00:05:01.939 apart incredibly fast. I can imagine. DeLarian 00:05:01.939 --> 00:05:04.360 was later charged and arrested by the U .S. Department 00:05:04.360 --> 00:05:07.319 of State because his company lacked the compulsory 00:05:07.319 --> 00:05:09.980 international arms deal brokering licenses required 00:05:09.980 --> 00:05:12.160 for these contracts. So nobody had a license. 00:05:12.379 --> 00:05:15.319 Right. We are talking about vendors dealing in 00:05:15.319 --> 00:05:18.120 hundreds of millions of dollars without the basic 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:20.740 legal paperwork to move weapons across borders. 00:05:20.839 --> 00:05:22.560 OK. Let's unpack this. It's like your house is 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:25.180 on fire. Right. Yeah. You take out a massive 00:05:25.180 --> 00:05:28.920 loan to buy a fleet of fire trucks. A huge loan. 00:05:29.100 --> 00:05:31.300 But instead of going to a legitimate manufacturer, 00:05:32.199 --> 00:05:35.000 you hire an unlicensed guy off the street who 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:37.500 subcontracts another unlicensed guy in a different 00:05:37.500 --> 00:05:40.149 country. That is exactly what happened. And they 00:05:40.149 --> 00:05:43.649 never deliver the hoses, and the money just evaporates. 00:05:43.829 --> 00:05:45.730 Because the numbers we are talking about here 00:05:45.730 --> 00:05:49.089 are staggering. They really are. The 2015 Investigative 00:05:49.089 --> 00:05:51.689 Committee report brought to light extra budgetary 00:05:51.689 --> 00:05:56.509 spending to the tune of 643 .8 billion naira. 00:05:56.649 --> 00:05:59.430 Huge amount. Plus an additional 2 .2 billion 00:05:59.430 --> 00:06:03.230 dollars in foreign currency. And out of 513 contracts 00:06:03.230 --> 00:06:06.310 awarded, the committee found about 53 completely 00:06:06.310 --> 00:06:09.699 failed contracts. 53. Yeah, and these were supposed 00:06:09.699 --> 00:06:12.399 to be for 12 helicopters, four Alpha jets, bombs, 00:06:12.620 --> 00:06:15.500 and ammunition. That is heavy military hardware. 00:06:15.699 --> 00:06:18.139 Just gone. The amount wasted on these failed 00:06:18.139 --> 00:06:20.779 contracts was actually more than twice the $1 00:06:20.779 --> 00:06:23.339 billion loan that the National Assembly had approved 00:06:23.339 --> 00:06:25.459 to borrow from the World Bank. Wait, twice the 00:06:25.459 --> 00:06:28.480 World Bank loan? Yes, a loan specifically taken 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:31.139 out to fight the insurgency. That is just sickening. 00:06:31.339 --> 00:06:33.779 And what's fascinating here is the structural 00:06:33.779 --> 00:06:37.040 anomaly of how this money was legally to move 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:39.100 in the first place. Right. How did it even leave 00:06:39.100 --> 00:06:43.180 the Treasury? The funds were inexplicably disbursed 00:06:43.180 --> 00:06:45.519 directly into the Office of the National Security 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:48.680 Advisor. Sambo -desuki. Exactly. And that completely 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:52.220 bypasses standard military procurement protocols. 00:06:52.519 --> 00:06:55.350 I need some clarity on that. Why is routing money 00:06:55.350 --> 00:06:57.670 to the National Security Advisor considered a 00:06:57.670 --> 00:07:00.610 structural anomaly? I mean, doesn't the NSA handle 00:07:00.610 --> 00:07:03.310 national security? They do, but they handle the 00:07:03.310 --> 00:07:05.589 strategy of national security. Ah, strategy. 00:07:05.870 --> 00:07:08.310 Yeah, intelligence gathering, advising the president. 00:07:08.870 --> 00:07:12.420 The NSA's office is an advisory body. Okay, that 00:07:12.420 --> 00:07:14.480 makes sense. It is not traditionally structured, 00:07:14.839 --> 00:07:17.319 staffed, or audited to act as a massive procurement 00:07:17.319 --> 00:07:19.699 hub for heavy military hardware. They aren't 00:07:19.699 --> 00:07:22.079 buyers. Right. The Ministry of Defense, on the 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:24.860 other hand, has layers of bureaucracy, auditors, 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:27.040 and oversight committees. Checks and balances. 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:29.920 Exactly. Designed specifically to scrutinize 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:33.060 defense spending. By routing billions of dollars 00:07:33.060 --> 00:07:36.379 directly through the NSA's office instead, the 00:07:36.379 --> 00:07:38.379 standard checks and balances of the Ministry 00:07:38.379 --> 00:07:41.300 of Defense were entirely circumvented. Wow. It 00:07:41.300 --> 00:07:44.120 was a calculated bureaucratic blind spot. So 00:07:44.120 --> 00:07:46.639 they essentially found a massive loophole in 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:48.399 the government's accounting architecture. Yes, 00:07:48.399 --> 00:07:51.660 they did. But, you know, it is one thing to misallocate 00:07:51.660 --> 00:07:54.519 funds on a digital spreadsheet or exploit a blind 00:07:54.519 --> 00:07:57.480 spot. How do you actually move billions of dollars 00:07:57.480 --> 00:07:59.800 onto the table? That is the crazy part. This 00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:02.800 brings us to the physical logistical mechanics 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:05.620 of the embezzlement and the eventual collapse 00:08:05.620 --> 00:08:08.379 of Dasuki's operation. And it all centers on 00:08:08.379 --> 00:08:11.629 one guy. A man named Shibu Solisu. Yeah, Shibu 00:08:11.629 --> 00:08:13.709 Solisu was the former Director of Finance in 00:08:13.709 --> 00:08:15.629 the Office of the National Security Advisor. 00:08:15.810 --> 00:08:19.089 Okay. He operated a joint bank account with Dasuki. 00:08:19.290 --> 00:08:22.149 Convenient. Very. And when the Department of 00:08:22.149 --> 00:08:24.310 State Security Services began investigating the 00:08:24.310 --> 00:08:27.529 missing funds, Solisu was arrested. Because he's 00:08:27.529 --> 00:08:30.800 the money guy. Exactly. In the world of complex 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:33.519 financial investigations, the director of finance 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:35.820 is the person who holds all the keys. Right. 00:08:35.879 --> 00:08:38.220 They sign the paperwork. They know where every 00:08:38.220 --> 00:08:40.580 skeleton is buried because they literally signed 00:08:40.580 --> 00:08:42.759 the checks for the shovels. That's a great way 00:08:42.759 --> 00:08:45.220 to put it. And following his arrest, and under 00:08:45.220 --> 00:08:48.659 interrogation, Salisu decides to flip. And the 00:08:48.659 --> 00:08:50.820 details of his confession are mind -blowing, 00:08:51.080 --> 00:08:54.500 truly. Salisu explains how, on a specific date, 00:08:54.649 --> 00:08:58.129 November 20, 2014, he was directed by Dasuki 00:08:58.129 --> 00:09:00.850 to go to the Central Bank of Nigeria. The Central 00:09:00.850 --> 00:09:03.570 Bank. Right. His instructions were to withdraw 00:09:03.570 --> 00:09:07.590 $47 million in cash plus a balance in euros. 00:09:07.769 --> 00:09:12.149 In cash. In cash. And deliver it to Dasuki's 00:09:12.149 --> 00:09:14.389 residence in Asakoro. Right. And he says, this 00:09:14.389 --> 00:09:17.210 money was delivered in 11 suitcases. The physical 00:09:17.210 --> 00:09:19.730 reality of that transaction is difficult to even 00:09:19.730 --> 00:09:21.990 wrap your head around. It's absurd. We are talking 00:09:21.990 --> 00:09:24.470 about a state institution, the central banking 00:09:24.470 --> 00:09:27.450 authority of the nation, handing over tens of 00:09:27.450 --> 00:09:29.690 millions of dollars in physical foreign currency 00:09:29.690 --> 00:09:33.090 to a single individual to stuff into briefcases. 00:09:33.389 --> 00:09:35.149 Here's where it gets really interesting, because 00:09:35.149 --> 00:09:37.210 I want you to picture the actual physics of this. 00:09:37.330 --> 00:09:40.629 Yeah, the math is crazy. $47 million in cash. 00:09:40.710 --> 00:09:44.080 Right. Let's assume it was all in crisp $100 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:47.220 bills. Which is best case scenario for space. 00:09:47.500 --> 00:09:50.659 Exactly. A million dollars and hundreds weighs 00:09:50.659 --> 00:09:54.240 about 22 pounds. Okay. That means 47 million 00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:57.139 dollars weighs over a thousand pounds. Oh my 00:09:57.139 --> 00:10:00.500 god! We are talking about physically wheeling 00:10:00.500 --> 00:10:03.279 half a ton of paper out the front door of a central 00:10:03.279 --> 00:10:06.519 bank. Half a ton? How do you casually transport 00:10:06.519 --> 00:10:09.440 11 back -breaking suitcases out of a highly secure 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:11.899 financial institution without anyone pulling 00:10:11.899 --> 00:10:14.700 an alarm? Well, it speaks to the deeply ingrained 00:10:14.700 --> 00:10:17.320 complicity within the system at that time. Right. 00:10:17.379 --> 00:10:19.820 People had to know. Operations of this magnitude 00:10:19.820 --> 00:10:21.879 don't happen in secret. They happen in plain 00:10:21.879 --> 00:10:24.259 sight because the abnormality has been entirely 00:10:24.259 --> 00:10:26.980 normalized. That is terrifying. The bank tellers, 00:10:27.299 --> 00:10:29.759 the security guards, the vault managers, everyone 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:32.740 involved either turns a blind eye or assumes 00:10:32.740 --> 00:10:35.460 this staggering breach of protocol is coming 00:10:35.460 --> 00:10:38.419 from an authority so high up that it simply cannot 00:10:38.419 --> 00:10:40.220 be questioned. They just look the other way. 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:43.320 Yeah. They weren't hiding behind complex offshore 00:10:43.320 --> 00:10:45.539 shell companies at this point. They were simply 00:10:45.539 --> 00:10:48.559 relying on institutional silence. But that silence 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:52.129 is exactly what breaks. Precisely. It is a textbook 00:10:52.129 --> 00:10:55.409 example of how fragile corrupt networks actually 00:10:55.409 --> 00:10:58.429 are. Because it just takes one person. A network 00:10:58.429 --> 00:11:02.230 like this relies entirely on the unwavering loyalty 00:11:02.230 --> 00:11:04.210 of subordinates. The guys carrying the bags. 00:11:04.470 --> 00:11:07.009 Exactly, the people physically carrying the thousand 00:11:07.009 --> 00:11:09.490 pounds of cash and signing the withdrawal slips. 00:11:10.009 --> 00:11:12.009 The moment one of those subordinates realizes 00:11:12.009 --> 00:11:14.450 they are going to take the fall in flips, the 00:11:14.450 --> 00:11:18.610 entire undocumented informal trail suddenly becomes 00:11:18.610 --> 00:11:21.340 a matter of sworn public record. Which leads 00:11:21.340 --> 00:11:24.259 to this incredibly tense confrontation. This 00:11:24.259 --> 00:11:26.879 is a movie scene. Colonel Dasuki is arrested 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:30.419 on December 1st, 2015 and transferred to the 00:11:30.419 --> 00:11:32.340 Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the 00:11:32.340 --> 00:11:36.600 EFCC. Right. And initially, he plays it tough. 00:11:37.059 --> 00:11:39.639 He refuses to write a statement. He claims the 00:11:39.639 --> 00:11:42.220 whole thing is just a media trial. He is stonewalling 00:11:42.220 --> 00:11:44.720 them. Completely. He's not giving an inch. Because 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:46.980 he is operating under the assumption that they 00:11:46.980 --> 00:11:49.860 have no hard evidence. Right. No contracts, no 00:11:49.860 --> 00:11:52.720 crime. In his mind, if there are no official 00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:55.240 Ministry of Defense contracts, there is no crime 00:11:55.240 --> 00:11:58.320 to prosecute. He believes the institutional silence 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:01.240 is holding. But then the EFCC operatives don't 00:12:01.240 --> 00:12:03.600 even argue with him. They just silently hand 00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:05.980 him a copy of Shaibu Salishu's written confession. 00:12:06.100 --> 00:12:09.720 Oh, to be a fly on that wall. And Dasuki's reaction 00:12:09.720 --> 00:12:13.659 is iconic. He reads it, realizes his own director 00:12:13.659 --> 00:12:16.740 of finance has detailed the exact dates. The 00:12:16.740 --> 00:12:19.480 central bank withdrawal, the 11 suitcases, the 00:12:19.480 --> 00:12:21.840 cash. everything. Everything. And he just looks 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:24.080 at them and says quote you mean Solis who wrote 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:26.539 all these? You mean he said these? Give me a 00:12:26.539 --> 00:12:29.200 pen and paper. Give me a pen and paper. The entire 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:32.120 multi -billion dollar house of cards collapses 00:12:32.120 --> 00:12:34.840 in that single request for a pen. It's amazing. 00:12:35.019 --> 00:12:37.620 Once Desuki starts writing, the investigation 00:12:37.620 --> 00:12:40.200 instantly shifts from how the money was moved 00:12:40.200 --> 00:12:42.639 to who actually received it. Right. He's not 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:44.940 going down alone. Exactly. To protect himself 00:12:44.940 --> 00:12:47.539 or perhaps just realizing the dam had completely 00:12:47.539 --> 00:12:50.820 broken, Desuki starts naming names. And he names 00:12:50.820 --> 00:12:53.379 a lot of them. A very long list. He practically 00:12:53.379 --> 00:12:56.419 writes a directory of notable Nigerian figures. 00:12:56.460 --> 00:12:59.299 He does. And this is where we get into the absolutely 00:12:59.299 --> 00:13:02.820 absurd ways the beneficiaries tried to justify 00:13:02.820 --> 00:13:05.190 receiving these massive payouts. The excuses 00:13:05.190 --> 00:13:08.269 are, well, they are something else. Because remember, 00:13:08.769 --> 00:13:11.669 this money was explicitly appropriated for fighting 00:13:11.669 --> 00:13:14.529 a deadly insurgency. Like life and death stakes. 00:13:14.950 --> 00:13:18.750 So Dusuki names Chief Raymond Doc Pesci, the 00:13:18.750 --> 00:13:22.309 chair emeritus of DEWAR Communications. The investigation 00:13:22.309 --> 00:13:25.870 showed Doc Pesci received $2 .1 billion naira 00:13:25.870 --> 00:13:29.009 from the NSA's office. $2 .1 billion. And when 00:13:29.009 --> 00:13:31.570 confronted, His defense was that the money was 00:13:31.570 --> 00:13:34.490 payment for media and political campaigns for 00:13:34.490 --> 00:13:36.830 the reelection of Good Luck Jonathan. Which is 00:13:36.830 --> 00:13:39.950 a remarkably brazen admission. Very. He is openly 00:13:39.950 --> 00:13:42.269 acknowledging that funds originating from a national 00:13:42.269 --> 00:13:44.809 security procurement budget money meant for weapons 00:13:44.809 --> 00:13:47.490 to fight terrorists were utilized for partisan 00:13:47.490 --> 00:13:49.470 political broadcasting. He didn't even try to 00:13:49.470 --> 00:13:51.490 hide it. No, he didn't deny getting the money. 00:13:51.649 --> 00:13:53.909 He simply argued that his service was a legitimate 00:13:53.909 --> 00:13:56.669 invoice. But the justifications get even further 00:13:56.669 --> 00:13:59.120 detached. from anything resembling defense spending. 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:01.360 Oh, they get so much worse. That is putting it 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:04.960 mildly. Tasuki also names Adahiru Bafurawa, the 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:07.480 former governor of Sokoto State. Right. Evidence 00:14:07.480 --> 00:14:12.820 showed Bafurawa received $4 .6 billion naira 00:14:12.820 --> 00:14:16.600 from the NSA's office. $4 .6 billion. When investigators 00:14:16.600 --> 00:14:18.820 asked him to explain why he received the equivalent 00:14:18.820 --> 00:14:21.340 of millions of dollars from an arms budget, his 00:14:21.340 --> 00:14:24.460 defense was that he received it for, and I quote, 00:14:25.280 --> 00:14:27.860 Spiritual purposes. Spiritual purposes. Yes. 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:30.659 As a line item on a defense ledger. I just, I 00:14:30.659 --> 00:14:32.600 have to stop here and ask how this functions 00:14:32.600 --> 00:14:34.899 on a bureaucratic level. It doesn't. At what 00:14:34.899 --> 00:14:37.120 point does embezzlement stop even trying to look 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:39.059 like defense spending? Well, clearly around the 00:14:39.059 --> 00:14:41.940 4 .6 billion mark. Right. How does an auditor 00:14:41.940 --> 00:14:45.279 or anyone in a financial oversight role look 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:48.320 at a desperately needed military budget and stamp 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:51.570 approved on 4 .6 billion naira? for spiritual 00:14:51.570 --> 00:14:53.529 purposes. Well, if we connect this to the bigger 00:14:53.529 --> 00:14:56.509 picture, it reveals a deeply cynical mechanism 00:14:56.509 --> 00:14:58.990 of systemic corruption. Yeah, explain that. In 00:14:58.990 --> 00:15:01.490 highly corrupt systems, national emergencies 00:15:01.490 --> 00:15:04.669 are very often utilized as blank checks. So the 00:15:04.669 --> 00:15:07.850 crisis is the cover. Exactly. There is a concept 00:15:07.850 --> 00:15:11.620 called the Fog of War. When an insurgency like 00:15:11.620 --> 00:15:14.860 Boko Haram creates a true existential threat, 00:15:15.820 --> 00:15:18.440 normal protocols are suspended in the name of 00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:20.480 national security. Because it's an emergency. 00:15:20.759 --> 00:15:22.940 Right. The urgency dictates that you don't have 00:15:22.940 --> 00:15:25.519 time for auditors or oversight committees. Wow. 00:15:25.740 --> 00:15:28.179 And once that oversight is removed, it creates 00:15:28.179 --> 00:15:30.820 the perfect environment for a massive political 00:15:30.820 --> 00:15:34.029 slush fund. So they just use the panic. Yes. 00:15:34.669 --> 00:15:37.009 The money isn't just stolen by one person. It 00:15:37.009 --> 00:15:40.049 is systematically redistributed to maintain political 00:15:40.049 --> 00:15:42.570 loyalty and fund election machinery. And it's 00:15:42.570 --> 00:15:45.230 all hidden. All under the impenetrable guise 00:15:45.230 --> 00:15:47.789 of classified security operations. That perfectly 00:15:47.789 --> 00:15:50.549 explains the third major figure Dasuki named, 00:15:51.389 --> 00:15:54.490 Ambassador Bashir Yaguda. A former minister of 00:15:54.490 --> 00:15:56.769 state for finance. Right. Yaguda's confessional 00:15:56.769 --> 00:15:59.289 statement is wildly detailed. He sang like a 00:15:59.289 --> 00:16:01.590 bird. He really did. He admitted to receiving 00:16:01.590 --> 00:16:04.190 billions and claimed he distributed those payouts 00:16:04.190 --> 00:16:06.509 to various politicians. Just handing it out. 00:16:06.730 --> 00:16:09.850 He specifically detailed, giving 100 million 00:16:09.850 --> 00:16:13.950 naira each to six zonal chairmen of the People's 00:16:13.950 --> 00:16:17.600 Democratic Party, the PDP, for election mobilization. 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:20.039 It's just straight up campaign finance. Exactly. 00:16:20.279 --> 00:16:23.720 He is naming names, talking about transfers to 00:16:23.720 --> 00:16:26.340 specific companies on the instructions of party 00:16:26.340 --> 00:16:28.659 leaders. Wow. He even talks about sending money 00:16:28.659 --> 00:16:32.600 to a gubernatorial candidate. It maps out a comprehensive 00:16:32.600 --> 00:16:35.679 nationwide network of political patronage. It 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:37.799 really does. The national security budget was 00:16:37.799 --> 00:16:40.700 effectively functioning as a localized ATM for 00:16:40.700 --> 00:16:42.980 political campaigns across various states and 00:16:42.980 --> 00:16:45.639 zones. An ATM. That is exactly what it was. It 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:47.440 wasn't an arms budget at all. It was an election 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:50.120 budget. But as you can imagine, when these confessions 00:16:50.120 --> 00:16:52.580 start leaking out to the press, the public and 00:16:52.580 --> 00:16:54.879 political fallout is nuclear. Oh, the backlash 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:58.100 was massive. Because not everyone named in Dasuki 00:16:58.100 --> 00:17:00.500 and Yaguda's confessions went down quietly. Of 00:17:00.500 --> 00:17:03.740 course not. The messy reality of untangling systemic 00:17:03.740 --> 00:17:07.230 corruption is that it generates fierce highly 00:17:07.230 --> 00:17:10.589 public counter accusations. We see immediate, 00:17:10.869 --> 00:17:13.069 vehement pushback from several high -profile 00:17:13.069 --> 00:17:15.750 individuals. Yeah, like Chief Bo George. Right. 00:17:16.109 --> 00:17:17.910 One of the political figures, Yaguda claimed 00:17:17.910 --> 00:17:21.349 to have given 100 million naira. And George furiously 00:17:21.349 --> 00:17:24.089 denied the allegation. He was not happy. He released 00:17:24.089 --> 00:17:27.609 a statement. calling the claim a depraved continuation 00:17:27.609 --> 00:17:31.190 of lynch mob journalism. Lynch mob journalism, 00:17:31.369 --> 00:17:35.109 that is a strong phrase. Very strong. He explicitly 00:17:35.109 --> 00:17:37.650 stated it was a blatant falsehood, admitting 00:17:37.650 --> 00:17:40.930 only to receiving $30 ,000. And what was that 00:17:40.930 --> 00:17:43.109 for? To reimburse committee members for their 00:17:43.109 --> 00:17:46.289 transportation, accommodation, and feeding allowances. 00:17:46.410 --> 00:17:49.009 Which is a very long way from a hundred million 00:17:49.009 --> 00:17:52.450 naira. Exactly. The rhetoric is incredibly heated. 00:17:52.700 --> 00:17:55.240 and the denials reach all the way to the top 00:17:55.240 --> 00:17:56.880 of the political ladder. Right up to the former 00:17:56.880 --> 00:17:59.700 president. Yeah. Former President Goodland Jonathan 00:17:59.700 --> 00:18:02.599 was actually speaking at a forum in Washington 00:18:02.599 --> 00:18:05.099 D .C. when he was asked directly about these 00:18:05.099 --> 00:18:07.259 allegations. And his response was fascinating. 00:18:07.400 --> 00:18:09.680 It really was. He said, quote, Where did the 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:12.680 money come from? I did not award any two billion 00:18:12.680 --> 00:18:15.440 dollar contract for procurement of weapons. But 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:17.920 analysts and critics immediately jumped on that 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:20.289 statement. pointing out that it was a deeply 00:18:20.289 --> 00:18:23.769 evasive denial. Oh, absolutely evasive. By focusing 00:18:23.769 --> 00:18:26.589 entirely on whether he personally signed a single 00:18:26.589 --> 00:18:31.069 specific $2 billion contract, he completely ignored 00:18:31.069 --> 00:18:34.210 the exact massive amounts that were appropriated 00:18:34.210 --> 00:18:37.390 to the NSA's office under his watch. Classic 00:18:37.390 --> 00:18:39.990 political maneuvering. Right. To many observers, 00:18:40.210 --> 00:18:42.630 dodging the broader question sounded a lot like 00:18:42.630 --> 00:18:45.190 a tacit admission that something had gone terribly 00:18:45.190 --> 00:18:48.269 wrong during his administration. It is a classic 00:18:48.269 --> 00:18:50.789 political strategy. You deny the specific phrasing 00:18:50.789 --> 00:18:53.230 of the accusation while sidestepping the broader 00:18:53.230 --> 00:18:55.710 reality of the missing funds. Exactly. I didn't 00:18:55.710 --> 00:18:58.170 sign a paper that said two billion. Right. He 00:18:58.170 --> 00:18:59.869 didn't sign a single contract for two billion 00:18:59.869 --> 00:19:02.529 dollars. Therefore, the premise is false. Regardless 00:19:02.529 --> 00:19:05.069 of the hundreds of smaller contracts. Exactly. 00:19:05.150 --> 00:19:06.950 The hundreds of contracts that funneled that 00:19:06.950 --> 00:19:09.599 exact amount into the ether. But despite the 00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:12.640 high level denials, the investigation yielded 00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:15.720 tangible, undeniable results. They actually got 00:19:15.720 --> 00:19:19.200 some money back. They did. The presidential spokesman 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:22.299 later issued a statement noting that over 7 billion 00:19:22.299 --> 00:19:25.019 naira had actually been recovered from indicted 00:19:25.019 --> 00:19:27.200 companies and individuals. That is significant. 00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:29.920 And with another 41 billion, naira slated to 00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:33.480 be refunded. Which is a huge win for the investigators. 00:19:33.740 --> 00:19:37.099 So what does this all mean? The ripple effect 00:19:37.099 --> 00:19:40.359 of this single investigation touched almost every 00:19:40.359 --> 00:19:42.099 corner of the political establishment. That was 00:19:42.099 --> 00:19:44.140 everywhere. You had a former Minister of State 00:19:44.140 --> 00:19:48.380 for Defense, Musilu Obanikoro, who was interrogated 00:19:48.380 --> 00:19:50.740 by authorities. Right. He ended up explaining 00:19:50.740 --> 00:19:53.400 how he paid a former governor of Akiti State 00:19:53.400 --> 00:19:57.019 $5 million from funds that were meant for the 00:19:57.019 --> 00:19:59.400 purchase of arms. Just casually passing around 00:19:59.400 --> 00:20:02.359 $5 million. The web touched everything. The sheer 00:20:02.359 --> 00:20:04.519 volume of people who had to be involved to move 00:20:04.519 --> 00:20:07.240 this much money. the bankers, the politicians, 00:20:07.819 --> 00:20:10.480 the couriers, the media executives, is astounding. 00:20:10.680 --> 00:20:12.839 It is. And while the recovery of that 7 billion 00:20:12.839 --> 00:20:15.220 naira certainly proves the efficacy of the probe 00:20:15.220 --> 00:20:19.039 itself, it also underscores a much darker psychological 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:21.200 reality about this environment. What do you mean? 00:20:21.400 --> 00:20:24.299 Well, how deeply entrenched the entitlement to 00:20:24.299 --> 00:20:27.160 these funds truly was. The source material notes 00:20:27.160 --> 00:20:30.059 something incredible. Okay. Some of the citizens 00:20:30.059 --> 00:20:31.940 and officials who returned the money claimed 00:20:31.940 --> 00:20:34.160 they didn't even know the funds given to them 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:36.819 were the proceeds of illegal dealings. Wait, 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:39.339 really? Are you saying they just accepted millions 00:20:39.339 --> 00:20:41.160 of dollars and never asked where it came from? 00:20:41.339 --> 00:20:44.799 Exactly. That is insane. They were so accustomed 00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:47.920 to receiving massive, unexplained payouts from 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:50.539 political leaders for their loyalty or services. 00:20:50.730 --> 00:20:53.130 that they simply didn't question it. It was just 00:20:53.130 --> 00:20:56.990 a normal Tuesday. Yes. The abnormality of receiving 00:20:56.990 --> 00:20:59.430 unmarked government funds had become completely 00:20:59.430 --> 00:21:02.130 normalized. To them, it wasn't stolen money, 00:21:02.309 --> 00:21:05.190 it was just how business was done. Wow. Which 00:21:05.190 --> 00:21:07.349 brings us back to where we started. and allows 00:21:07.349 --> 00:21:09.809 us to summarize this incredible deep dive for 00:21:09.809 --> 00:21:12.130 you. It is quite the story. A desperate, urgent 00:21:12.130 --> 00:21:15.210 national security crisis. A moment where the 00:21:15.210 --> 00:21:17.210 country was begging for the means to protect 00:21:17.210 --> 00:21:20.170 its own civilians from a violent insurgency was 00:21:20.170 --> 00:21:22.730 hijacked. Completely taken over. Instead of buying 00:21:22.730 --> 00:21:25.490 the helicopters, the jets, and the bombs to fight 00:21:25.490 --> 00:21:29.009 Boko Haram, that massive budget became a piggy 00:21:29.009 --> 00:21:32.789 bank. A $2 billion piggy bank. For political 00:21:32.789 --> 00:21:35.910 campaigns, for media influence, and for inexplicable 00:21:35.910 --> 00:21:39.359 sp - spiritual favors. And the only reason this 00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:42.319 entire untouchable normalized network collapsed 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:45.299 was because of 11 physical suitcases of cash 00:21:45.299 --> 00:21:47.559 and a subordinate's willingness to pick up a 00:21:47.559 --> 00:21:49.619 pen and write it down. And that is exactly why 00:21:49.619 --> 00:21:51.460 you should care about this. Yeah. This isn't 00:21:51.460 --> 00:21:54.039 just an abstract story about numbers moving around 00:21:54.039 --> 00:21:56.960 on a banking spreadsheet or politicians arguing 00:21:56.960 --> 00:21:59.539 in the press about who signed what. It has real 00:21:59.539 --> 00:22:02.319 world consequences. It is about the brutal real 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:05.259 world cost of corruption. Exactly. When money 00:22:05.259 --> 00:22:07.400 that is specifically meant to fight a violent 00:22:07.400 --> 00:22:10.200 terrorist group is diverted for political survival, 00:22:10.700 --> 00:22:13.140 the ultimate price isn't paid by the politicians 00:22:13.140 --> 00:22:15.420 in the capital. No, they're insulated from it. 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:18.220 It is paid in blood by the civilians left unprotected 00:22:18.220 --> 00:22:20.779 in their villages, and by the soldiers sent to 00:22:20.779 --> 00:22:23.660 the front lines to face a well -armed enemy without 00:22:23.660 --> 00:22:26.500 the equipment they need to survive. That is heavy. 00:22:26.740 --> 00:22:29.359 The failure of those 53 contracts is measured 00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:32.559 directly in human lives. It is a profound betrayal 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:35.440 of public trust. You take a tragedy like the 00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:37.980 Chibok kidnapping, which horrified the entire 00:22:37.980 --> 00:22:40.839 world, and use it as a smoke screen to empty 00:22:40.839 --> 00:22:43.819 the treasury. It is incredibly dark. It really 00:22:43.819 --> 00:22:45.740 leaves you wondering about the sheer fragility 00:22:45.740 --> 00:22:48.680 of how these crimes are actually caught. It does. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:50.579 And this raises an important question, something 00:22:50.579 --> 00:22:52.740 for you to really think about long after we wrap 00:22:52.740 --> 00:22:55.920 up here. Let's hear it. This entire multi -billion 00:22:55.920 --> 00:22:58.900 dollar house of cards collapsed primarily because 00:22:58.900 --> 00:23:02.099 one man, Shebu Selissu, decided to write down 00:23:02.099 --> 00:23:05.380 his confession about carrying physical cash and 00:23:05.380 --> 00:23:08.519 physical suitcases out of a physical bank. He 00:23:08.519 --> 00:23:10.759 left a trail that a human being could follow. 00:23:10.859 --> 00:23:13.259 Right, something tangible. But we are now living 00:23:13.259 --> 00:23:16.180 in a rapidly accelerating modern era of digital 00:23:16.180 --> 00:23:19.319 untraceable shell companies, decentralized finance 00:23:19.319 --> 00:23:22.460 and cryptocurrency. If the architects of these 00:23:22.460 --> 00:23:25.240 massive griffs stop relying on physical suitcases 00:23:25.240 --> 00:23:27.740 and paper receipts. Which they will. Right. If 00:23:27.740 --> 00:23:29.920 they adapt to the digital shadows where money 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:32.960 moves across borders in microseconds. Yeah. How 00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:35.960 many Dasuka gets are happening right now? Completely 00:23:35.960 --> 00:23:38.579 invisible to the world. That is a chilling thought 00:23:38.579 --> 00:23:41.799 to end on. Because the investigative X -ray machine 00:23:41.799 --> 00:23:44.319 simply doesn't work if there is no paper trail 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:46.920 to illuminate. Exactly. Well, thank you for joining 00:23:46.920 --> 00:23:49.799 us on this deep dive. Stay curious, keep looking 00:23:49.799 --> 00:23:52.559 past the surface, and always keep questioning 00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:54.779 the information around you. We'll see you next 00:23:54.779 --> 00:23:54.960 time.