A new twist to the ongoing trial of the embattled former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col Sambo Dasuki may emerge in the days ahead as his loyalists at the weekend said they would soon release videos of personalities that benefitted from the controversial $2.1billion arms deal.

Those familiar with the sharing of the monies told Political Economist that a prominent Emir was among those who got a huge share of the cash in the build up to the general elections last year.

They said the release of the video is necessary to help properly situate facts regarding the deal stressing that some prominent Nigerians who collected huge sums from the arms money were now publicly denying doing so and even working surreptitiously for the continued incarceration of Dasuki.

Dasuki is currently being prosecuted for presiding over the sharing of $2.1 billion meant for the purchase of weapons to fight insurgency. The money was allegedly shared among key political actors in the run up to the 2015 presidential election.

Some notable politicians are being tried in courts for al­legedly benefitting from the scam. However, some loyalists of the embattled ex-NSA, miffed by what they called open backstabbing of their boss vowed that they would make public the video con­taining the identities of all the people that benefitted from arms money.

The loyalists who spoke in confidence submitted that they were shocked to watch some key beneficiaries of the huge sums openly denying Dasuki and working hard for his continued incarceration. They blamed the non-release of Dasuki despite the bail granted him by three different courts on the secret activities of some unnamed in­dividuals, who they said were now pretending to be angels after receiving huge amounts from the ex-NSA.

One of the loyalists said: “We have witnesses and recordings of these visits. A man received two retired army officers in his private sitting room, called his nephew to collect the bag and would thereafter say he saw nothing, heard nothing. This is very laughable.

“How did his nephew who has never worked in his life accumulate over N850 million in his bank account in a new generation bank? Let them cover what they think they could, and we would certainly spill the beans for Nigerians to see their hypoc­risy.

“All of us would meet in court. But before then, if they keep denying, we would release some clips on both YouTube and other forms of social media for the world to see their nakedness.”

Another loyalist added: “We have now known the real reason the retired Col Sambo Dasuki is still being incarcerated even after three courts have granted him bail. Certain influential persons might have influenced the administration to keep him behind bars under the pretext of corruption fighting back. The threat coming from some associates of the former NSA is real. They are serious about their determination to release the recordings of his meetings with people, some of them now in government who denied that they ever received money during such meetings.”

Speaking on behalf of others, one of the loyalists claimed that he was aware of the trend of investigations and interrogations Dasuki has been made to undergo apparently at the instance of some powerful persons. He disclosed that the former NSA has had everything screened including wristwatches, eyeglasses, buttons, pens, cufflinks, tie clips, rings and related objects. On why they have not spoken all this while, he said that they had refrained from commenting because they had believed that the main trial would commence. With the prolonged delay in the commencement of the trial, Dasuki’s loyalists believe this is the right time to release the damning records in their pos­session. –

• Main report from The Sun.