Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has applauded President Muhammadu Buhari’s determination to recover all stolen funds from the Defence Sector with a recent release of a report indicting some high profile erstwhile military and defence authorities of gross mismanagement.

HURIWA, however, asked President Muhammadu Buhari to further subject the findings of the Presidential Committee on Mismanagement of Procurement of Defence Hardware from 2007 till date to credibility test by globally tested and trusted firearms’ procurement auditors who have no political affiliations to either Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or the All Progressives Congress (APC) to avoid the claims of witch-hunt and targeted attacks of members of the opposition party and erstwhile President Goodluck Jonathan.

Besides, the Rights group has in a statement jointly signed by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, demanded the expansion of the forensic investigative activities to cover procurements made in the Police sector since it is clear that Nigeria Police is not only ill equipped but completely not prepared to professionally implement and enforce the Rule of Law in Nigeria.

HURIWA believes that the rot in the policing institution has its roots from the widespread corruption in the procurement practices in over two decades and therefore must be investigated and stolen fund retrieved even as the culprits must face the full wrath of the law.

HURIWA recalled that the Presidency said it had received an interim report of the investigative committee on arms procurement during the administrations of former Presidents Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan.

A statement by President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina, made public the summary of the findings of the committee, which had past former top military chiefs as members.

Buhari had commissioned investigations into the purchase of arms in August, three months after he assumed office as President.

While the 13-man committee, which was inaugurated on August 31, 2015, is yet to complete its work, its interim report has unearthed several allegedly fraudulent financial transactions following which the presidents directed the relevant organisations to arrest and bring to book, all individuals who have been found complicit.

The committee wrote in its report: “As part of the findings, the committee has analyzed interventions from some organizations that provided funds to the Office of the National Security Adviser, Defence Headquarters, Army Headquarters Naval Headquarters and Nigerian Air Force Headquarters, both in local and foreign currencies.”

But HURIWA said thus: “The Federal Government must subject these earth shaking investigative findings to global best practices and must avoid any contrived and programmed witch-hunt targeting high profile officials that worked in the Defence and military sector in the immediate past dispensation.

“While we commend the President for his administration’s readiness to recover to the last kobo the entire looted Defence fund but we are convinced that whatever is worth doing is worth doing very well and it must be shown that there are no hidden political agenda in initiating the investigation in the first instance. The courts of law must be allowed to handle the matter and let the due process of the law take precedence over the zeal to fight political opponents.”

•Photo shows Comrade Onwubiko.

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