Bashir Magashi In Trouble As Coalition Demands $1bn Arms Procurement Probe

<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Bashir Magashi has questions to answer<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that a Coalition for Truth and Justice&comma; CTJ&comma; has beamed its search light on the Federal Ministry of Defence saying all the controversies emanating from arms procurement must be cleared&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The group made this demand at a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a statement made available to the National Association of Online Security Reporters&comma; NAOSRE&comma; the group called on the Minister of Defence&comma; Bashir <strong>Magashi<&sol;strong>&comma; to clear his name from the controversial purchase of security equipment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Bashir Magashi is a retired Nigerian Army Major General and current Defence Minister of Nigeria&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the statement&comma; the group noted that Magashi must explain how his ministry expended the &dollar;1billion approved by the Federal Government in April 2018&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The coalition national coordinator&comma; Timothy Charles&comma;  who described the minister’s silence as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;unholy” and an &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;embarrassment” to the administration of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">President<&sol;a> Muhammadu Buhari  noted that the time has come for the truth about arms procurement to be revealed&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Charles said the group is alarmed that the Chief of Army Staff&comma; Lt Gen&period; Attahiru Ibrahim is carrying out acts to shield the minister&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Coalition for Truth and Justice&comma; therefore&comma; advised the COAS to be bold enough to stand by the truth instead of being clever by half and attempting to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The group also urged all well-meaning Nigerians to demand that the minister comes out clear by providing facts and details on arms procurement under his watch&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;While absorbing the former service chiefs of any involvement&comma; the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;washingtonpost&period;com&sol;">Coalition<&sol;a> for Truth and Justice added that Bashir Magashi must come clean for Nigerians to take the federal government more seriously in its quest to address the security challenges in the country&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;