Arms Deal: South Africa to return Nigeria’s $15m

Remember the South Africa arms deal Last year September which caused a lot of controversies and name of top people revealed to be in connection with it! If you remember it, now there is hope as new report says that South Africa is considering returning the money back to its original owner- Nigeria.

The money which was meant for the purchase of arms to fight the Boko Haram insurgents, was seized in two batches of $5.7m and $9.3m last year. It should also be known that till today the two Nigerians Involved in transporting this money to South Africa has still not been revealed.

According to a South African newspaper, The Mail & Guardian, it stated that South Africa had begun to work out the process of returning the money and the effort is aimed at starting on a clean slate with Nigerian President elect, Muhammadu Buahari.

The money in question was taken to South Africa through Lanseria Airport in Johannesburg in three suitcases by a delegation said to represent the Nigerian government.

The Mail & Guardian stated that South Africa wanted to use the money to extend an olive branch to Buhari’s government and mend relations between the two countries, which became strained during the tenure of outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan. It quoted a South African government source as saying, “The positive thing about [Buhari] is that one of the people who supported him is Atiku Abubakar. That makes him our man and he will automatically work well with [President Jacob] Zuma.”

The newspaper stated that although formal talks had not yet begun, South Africa had apparently started sending “positive signals” through its diplomats in Nigeria and to the Nigerian embassy in Pretoria.

“To ensure that the process of returning the money or regularising the sale of arms looks as clean as possible, the Hawks investigation will continue, the source said, but will be managed politically to reach a conclusion that is diplomatically favourable.

“One way is to make the investigators say: ‘Yes, a law has been broken, but it’s true that the government [of Nigeria] is the owner of that money and genuinely wanted to buy arms legally. They might have flouted the rules, but it’s a genuine transaction.’ [We will say] this money does not come from dirty hands or rebels or arms dealers,” the source said.

“We will find a way to regularise the transaction and either return the money or give them arms.”

The South African ambassador to Nigeria, Lulu Mnguni, said there had been discussions between his country and Nigeria to return the money before the expiration of the tenure of the Jonathan administration on May 29,2014.

Mnguni however said he could not comment on the report that the South African government planned to give the money to the incoming government, noting that he has no such information.

“We have been holding discussions about returning the money to the current government in Nigeria before the expiration of its tenure on May 29, but I can’t react to the report in a newspaper on the issue, but I will get across to my principal and let you know the position of things,” he said on the phone.