Buratai Inaugurates Factory for Military Hardware
The Buhari Media Organisation has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar of allegedly hiring a US lobbyist with millions of dollars to help him secure an American visa.
BMO’s allegation against Atiku is coming as the main opposition party has said that President Muhammadu Buhari has entangled himself in a web of corruption by trying to launder his WAEC certificate scandal, instead of being remorseful and apologising to Nigerians.
BMO alleged that PDP had claimed that it would be paying one Brian Ballard who is believed to be close to US President Donald Trump the equivalent of N400 million over a one-year period to ostensibly lobby Washington on behalf of its candidate ahead of the 2019 presidential election.
In a statement by its Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju, and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, BMO said the move was just to score cheap political points.
It described such an action as another chapter in PDP’s “book of corruption”
The group added that even if Trump’s friend convinced the US authorities to clear the path for Atiku to finally enter the US, it won’t clear the former Vice President of the corruption scandals that have over the years stuck to him.
“Nigerians are not prepared to easily forget how the PDP Presidential candidate’s name featured in high profile sleaze probe ranging from that of the Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF) to Siemens during his eight-year tenure as Vice President
“Not even a close ally of Trump can wipe clean a slate of corruption that took years of intense begging for his former principal to reluctantly accept his apology but which he still wants him to seek the forgiveness of Nigerians’
Meanwhile, the Buhari’s group has described the prediction by the United States Initiative for Peace (USIP), a body set up by the US Congress that President Buhari will win the 2019 presidential election as credible.
A statement signed by its Chairman NiyiAkinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, the group said:
“We are impressed that the USIP said the report is based on its interactions with Nigerians from different sectors and that ‘though many Nigerians feel that the current administration has not fully met their aspirations, this is not likely to cost the All Progressive Congress (APC) government its hold on power”.
In a another development, the PDP has said that President Buhari has entangled himself in a web of corruption by trying to launder his WAEC certificate scandal, instead of being remorseful and apologising to Nigerians.
The PDP insisted that nothing is more humiliating to the country than having its presidency entangled in high-level of international corruption involving the name and personality of the president, the latest being the procuring and parading of fake WAEC certificate attestation.
The PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, noted that the development has further worsened the image of the president, whose administration is overburdened by allegations of enormous financial corruption.
He also said that the president has not been able to provide explanation for the over N10 trillion siphoned under its watch, particularly in the oil and gas sector.
According to him, “The presidency displayed the highest form of corruption and decadence by involving in manipulations, forgery and lies in an attempt to hoodwink Nigerians with bogus claims even when it had become clear that the president does not possess the claimed WAEC certificate.” The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, has inaugurated the Nigerian Machine Tools (NMT) Protective Solutions Limited factory, the first Nigerian factory to manufacture NATO standard ballistic vests and helmets in the country.
Pleased with the standard of the factory, and the zeal for local production of ballistic facilities, Buratai encouraged the local production of such facilities to boost employment in the country.
He called for patronage from all security agencies nationwide to support Made-in-Nigeria ballistic facilities, and went ahead to order 10,000 ballistic vests and 10,000 helmets for the Nigerian Army. According to him, he would ensure that the ordered ballistic vests and helmets were deployed to areas of insurgency, and noted that this would further safeguard the lives of combatants in the military.
Buratai who arrived the factory with a retinue of top military brass to commission the ballistics facilities, was led through a factory tour of the facilities, including the heavy machine parts, small machine parts, the foundry, which is the second largest in Nigeria, and the training school.
The Chief of Army Staff expressed utter amazement during the facility tour, and wondered at the size and equipments available within the country.
He congratulated the management of NMT, and expressed his excitement about the level of ingenuity that was coming out from Nigeria.
The army chief further enthused that the NMT industrial complex was key to the security architecture of the nation, and was in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s administrations thrust on security and patronising Made-in-Nigeria products.
He further said it would give impetus to local industry in the production of military hardware through partnership.
He said the idea to partner with Nigerian Machine Tools was first conceptualisd in 2016 with a contract to supply 2000 ballistic vests.
The army boss in his speech, attested to the fact that NMT Protective Solution Vests have been tried and tested in battle and they were found to have met international standards.