BOKO HARAM: Jonathan bought 'Junk' weapon - Presidency

Reacting to former President Jonathan's assertion in his interview with international news and current affairs television channel based in Paris, France 24, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu said the current government could not prosecute the war against insurgency with arms bought by the Jonathan-led administration, saying they were junks.

''We have it on good authority that the former president did not get the correct briefing on these facts,'' he said. ''Weapons that were bought by his government were mostly junk. From the revelations of the procurement investigation committee now going on, it is clear that his government was misadvised in their procurement processes.  Evidence shows that some of his service chiefs used criminally-minded vendors to defraud the country of billions of Naira. For instance, bullion vans, the ones used in ferrying cash to and from banks, were procured and presented in military colours as armored personnel carriers. Bullion vans have what the military call 'soft skin,' which is easily penetrated by bullet. On good authority, we have equally been informed that 'floatation jackets' were brought in as bullet-proof jackets. If the correct procurement procedure had been followed, in a government-to-government order as we now have under the Buhari-led administration, this disservice to the nation would not have happened. This administration found out, upon investigation, that most of those things the soldiers at the front were complaining against were true. The personal weapons they were made to carry were those bought in the 60s, 70s and the 80s. Those defective weapons are now being replaced even as investigations are still going on.''

 - The Recorder