The House of Representatives committee on Navy has demanded explanation from the Nigerian Navy on why the service acquired some foreign war vessels arbitrarily without its knowledge.
The committee also disclosed that several of its letters written the Navy requesting documents to facilitate effective oversight of the security agency have not been addressed
Chairman of the committee, Yusuf Gagdi, who led members to Naval Headquarters, made this known while speaking with reporters after a closed door meeting with the leadership of the Navy in Abuja.
He said: “We came for an oversight function, you all know every committee has that constitutional power. So we came to the Navy to ask questions on tax payers’ money and how monies appropriated to the Navy is being spent.
“We came to ask questions on how interventions by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is being spent by the Navy. How the junior officers are being treated by the senior officers, including the famous case of Seaman Haruna. How he was suddenly dismissed. It is our responsibility, on behalf of the Nigerian people, to ask questions on these pertinent issues.
“We’ve asked them, but we are generally uncomfortable with them, so we’ve said we are going to go on oversight visit, to perform a deeprooted oversight to know how resources are being applied and how disciplinary matters are being handled by the navy.
“So by the special grace of God, it’s not a new thing, we are only doing our job. And I have told you without any fear of contradiction that the committee is not satisfied.
“We cannot say anything now until we have gone to see those projects, the platforms that are being built, then we can come back here, and have another interaction.”
Gagdi also frowned on the manner the Navy handled the case of a personnel, Seaman Haruna Abbas, who was said to have fired about 15 rounds of bullets when he was to be arrested for a military offence, leading to his trial and dismissal after he pleaded guilty.
Following allegation that he was detained for six years without trial, his wife had cried out through a popular radio medium, Brekete Family Radio and Television programme on Human Rights Radio, leading the Defence headquarters to order investigation into the matter.
It was subsequently unraveled that a court martial, comprising officers of the army, navy and airforce, tried Abass who pleaded guilty in the presence of his wife as eyewitness, after which he was dismissed from service. (Vanguard)