Buhari terminates $195m ‘Israeli’ security contract promoted by Amaechi

President Muhammadu Buhari, earlier last week, terminated a new defence procurement contract initiated by the members of his cabinet over allegations of fraud.
The contract, signed off by the Federal Executive Council in December 2017, would have seen the contractor, HSLi, net $195 million in exchange for an undisclosed number of special mission aircraft, special mission helicopters and 12 fast intervention vessels for the Nigerian Navy.
The Guardian later reported that the contract would see Nigeria acquire three helicopters, three aircraft, three big battle-ready ships, 12 vessels and 20 amphibious cars to secure Nigerian waters.
Friendly offer?
The deal was midwived by Nigeria’s transport minister, Rotimi Amaechi, but the House of Representatives raised questions about details of the contract and the identity of the contractor.
In the memo dispatched by the Chief of Staff to the president, Abba Kyari, directing the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to terminate the contract, the president also ordered the National Security Adviser and the Nigerian Intelligence Agency to investigate how the contractor obtained security clearance for the job without an end-user certificate.
The president also ordered that the contractor should be made to supply items equivalent to the $50 million upfront payment which they received recently.
The contractor, HSLi, passed around as an “Israeli company” by the transport minister is not a registered business entity in Israel, a Premium Times investigation revealed. They, however, hold close ties with Mitrelli, another Israeli Company which also holds close ties with the minister.
In 2012, while Mr. Amaechi was the governor of oil-rich Rivers state, he awarded a $140 million contract to Mitrelli (aka LR Group) to develop a farm in Etche, a suburb of Port Harcourt, the state capital. LR Group recently rebranded as Mitrelli as it transitioned into an arms business.
But shortly after the contract was awarded, critics began raising questions about the administration’s hiring of foreign firms to secure Nigerian waters, saying it could undermine Nigeria’s sovereignty and national security.
The House of Representatives also launched an investigation into the contract following a petition from civic groups who complained that the contract was fraught with sharp practices.