Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday said he did not grant any approval for the construction of an armoury to former Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, or any governor during his presidential term between 2010 and 2015.
“I am not aware of any approval (to build an armoury to stockpile weapons),” Mr Jonathan told Press men Thursday afternoon through a close associate, who was a minister in his administration.
He advised this newspaper to further confirm from former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, that no such approval was granted.
Mr Dasuki has in the past four years been in the custody of the State Security Service (SSS) and this newspaper was unable to directly contact him. But a former director at the office of the National Security Adviser, who worked closely with Mr Dasuki during Mr Jonathan’s era, said no such approval was given during Mr Dasuki’s tenure.
“Oga (NSA Dasuki) did not grant anyone approval to build an armoury,” the former official said. He asked not to be named so as not to be victimised by the current administration.
“Maintaining an armoury in Government House is an illegal activity, and we did not approve any such request during our time. We did not permit any governor to store arms and ammunition.
“If he is insisting there was an approval granted him for his armoury, we challenge him to make the documentation public.”
Mr Jonathan was Nigeria’s president at a time of heightened insecurity, during which the Boko Haram sect became a full-blown danger to Nigeria’s corporate existence.
The Jonathan administration was preoccupied with containing Boko Haram and other manifestations of insecurity under his tenure, and Mr Amosun, as an opposition politician, would have raised a red flag if he sought to purchase weapons and stockpile them at his official residence.