The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Aminu Wali, has said the failed arms deals, in which millions of dollars were seized by South Africa, were handled by contractors working for the Federal Government.
Wali said the FG was not part of the deal directly, noting that the government did not sign any contract with the South African government.
South African authorities had confiscated $9.3m and another $5.7m in two separate incidents, which the FG had been at pains to explain or defend.
Wali, who was reluctant to respond to questions on the deal, initially said he was not qualified to answer questions on the botched arms deal, saying he could only speak on foreign policy.
He stated that it was only the Ministers of Finance and Defence that could take questions on the seizure of the money, stressing that the matter was not in his purview.
Wali said, “Now if you hear the explanation, which I heard, then it (arms deal) doesn’t affect us, in fact it doesn’t even affect Nigeria, because Nigeria is not directly involved. There are companies that are involved. I’m telling you what I know, Nigerian government never signed (arms deal) contract with South Africa government, there are companies that act on behalf of us that got involved.”
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