SaharaReporters has obtained
documents relating to a scandalously
inflated $500 million defense
contract that President Goodluck
Jonathan awarded to Arthur Eze, a
Nigerian businessman with a shady
past, a close friend of the president
and his wife, and a major financier of
the ruling Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP).
President Goodluck JonathanOur
security sources said some officers
of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) were
furious over the jumbo contract
described by one source as “a pure
waste.” The sources, most of them
military personnel, told our
correspondent that, in addition to its
sheer extravagance, the contract has
also saddled the Nigerian military
with helicopters that have limited or
no combat utility.
The documents obtained by our
correspondent reveal that Mr. Eze,
the chief executive of Triax, received
the gigantic sum of $466.5 million in
order to weaponize six Puma
helicopters with the aid of an Israeli
company named Elbit Systems. This
meant that each weaponized
helicopter cost close to $78 million.
“For the price of each helicopter
provided by Engineer Arthur Eze, the
Air Force could have acquired seven
top grade military helicopters,” said
one of our sources.
Our sources also noted that the haste
with which the contract was initiated,
approved and executed raised
serious questions. A memo dated
November 20, 2014 and submitted by
the Chief of Air Staff, A.N. Amosu,
revealed that Mr. Eze had on
November 4, 2014 submitted a
proposal to the office of the National
Security Adviser proposing to supply
the upgraded helicopters to the NAF.
The tone of Mr. Eze’s letter, obtained
by us, indicated that he was deeply
involved in sourcing and supplying
hardware to the Nigerian military as it
is embroiled in a fight against Boko
Haram militants.
An Air Force officer said he was
alarmed at the alacrity with which Mr.
Eze’s overinflated proposal was
approved by the NSA’s office. The
NAF followed with an equally quick
endorsement sixteen days later.
One of our sources accused
President Jonathan and Mr. Eze of
using the refusal of the US to sell
Cobra attack helicopters to Nigeria as
an excuse to engage in a large-scale
squandering of funds involving the
Federal Government and Mr. Eze’s
company, the Triax Company Nigeria
Limited. “In the US, a brand new AH
Cobra attack helicopter costs around
$12 million each,” said a source at
the NAF. He added: “That means that,
with $400 million, Nigeria could have
purchased up to 40 brand new
helicopters.”
According to the source, the Cobra
attack helicopter is one of the best
US-made helicopters. “It is highly
effective in the battlefield. It would
have given us big battlefield
advantage over Boko Haram,” he
said.
In an additional proposal, Mr. Eze’s
company sought to purchase 4,000
57mm S5 rockets, 400 80mm S8
rockets, 500 general-purpose bombs,
and 20,000 units of unguided
rockets. His company also received a
contract to refurbish three C-130
planes that had been sitting at the
hanger of the Nigerian Air Force for
several years.
A final invoice Mr. Eze submitted to
the Nigerian government showed that
he would receive $466, 500,000 to
supply six upgraded Puma
helicopters, four units of single-
seater Sukhoi Su-25K (“Frog-foot”)
Soviet-made ground attack jets, and
two upgraded Su-25UB trainers for $
330 million. In addition, he would
receive $14 million for the shipping
of platforms/ground support/line
replacement of the six Puma
helicopters; $44 million for some
arms and ammunition earlier
proposed; $37 million for the
maintenance of C-130 engines, and $
40 million for unspecified armaments
for the NAF.
Our military sources stated that Mr.
Eze’s invoice for the supply of the
refurbished aircraft was massively
inflated by international and Nigerian
standards.
Several of the sources said Triax
delivered the substandard equipment
after Mr. Eze further padded the cost
of the refurbished helicopters and the
C-130. The sources revealed that,
since February 15, 2015, when Chief
of Air Staff Amosu showed off the
helicopters and C-130 planes, none
of the aircraft has been deployed
even once to fight Boko Haram
militants. “They are not in any
combat-ready condition,” one officer
fumed. “We are looking at a total
waste of money for no good reason.”
SaharaReporters could not ascertain
from Mr. Amosu whether the Air
Force had taken delivery of the other
items listed on the invoice Mr. Eze
had signed and submitted to the
NSA’s office.
Mr. Eze’s partners in the defense
deals is Elbit Systems, an Israeli
company that has been involved in
several scandalous defense contracts
in Nigeria, including a multimillion
dollar internet spying project.
Our sources wondered why the
Nigerian government, which is in a
critical stage of counter-insurgency
operations against Islamist group
Boko Haram, would strike such an
overinflated deal with Mr. Eze’s firm
to purchase antiquated helicopters
and other equipment that were
virtually discarded by Romania.
One clear answer may be found in
the fact that Mr. Eze is one of the
biggest personal financiers of Mr.
Jonathan’s re-election. The
businessman, who also controls
huge interests in oil fields both in
Nigeria and other West African
countries, has been funneling
millions of dollars into Mr.
Jonathan’s campaign, said an insider
PDP source. The businessman is
extremely close to Mr. Jonathan and
is reportedly well liked by First Lady
Patience Jonathan because of his
lavish presents to her, including
million dollar gifts.
Mr. Eze is a big-spending billionaire
who is an expert at ingratiating
himself with those in power. During
the brutal dictatorship led by the late
General Sani Abacha, Mr. Eze became
one of the closest confidantes of the
general and his wife. He received a
huge windfall when Mr. Abacha
handed him the $120 million contract
for rural electricity and water projects
in the southeastern states. Even
though the contract sum was
borrowed from the African
Development Bank, Mr. Eze pocketed
the money without doing any of the
projects, a scandal that led to the
firing of the bank’s chief executive.
At the height of Mr. Abacha’s
repression, Mr. Eze used to fly
traditional rulers from the southeast
on frequent visits to pledge loyalty to
the dictator in Abuja. The Triax
executive even stated once that he
would go into exile if Mr. Abacha
gave up power to an elected
government.
Mr. Eze warmed his way to President
Olusegun Obasanjo. As Mr. Obasanjo
sought to change the constitution to
extend his tenure, Mr. Eze was a
vociferous supporter of the scheme.
His closeness to President Jonathan
and his wife has brought him more
riches through inflated contracts and
great political clout. At the urging of
Mr. Jonathan and his wife, the PDP
national headquarters in Abuja
allowed Mr. Eze to determine most of
those announced as winners of PDP
primaries for Federal legislative seats
in the southeast, but especially in his
home state of Anambra. In most
cases, the businessman’s candidates
were declared winners of primaries
that were either not held or were
heavily manipulated.

The only wrong thing I see in this story is that the contract was not awarded to an "Alhaji" somebody.

Who is this man? Menh! The guy chop wella under jona oooo almost everything that deals with military plane etc are done by this guy.

The amount involved in this deal is staggering. Which way, Nigeria?