Former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, on Friday, denied having a home in Wuse, or bulletproof cars, contrary to reports that his home was, raided by the operatives of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
Buratai, in a statement, by its Legal Advisor, Barr. Osuagwu Ugochukwu, described the reports as smear and fabricated tale, published to tarnish his image.
An online media, published a story – ‘Exclusive: Anti-graft Agency, ICPC Uncovers Billions In Cash Meant For Arms, Ammunition To Fight Boko Haram In Abuja Home Of Ex-Chief Of Army Staff, Buratai,’ – reported that N1.85 billion, was recovered from the retired army general’s house when the ICPC raided his home.
The statement reads in part: “My attention has been drawn to a recent publication on webpage of Sahara reporters titled, ‘Exclusive: Anti-graft Agency, ICPC Uncovers Billions In Cash Meant For Arms, Ammunition To Fight Boko Haram In Abuja Home Of Ex-Chief Of Army Staff, Buratai’ which was published on June 6, 2022.
“I have gone through the said publication and have interfaced with Ambassador T.Y. Buratai and can authoritatively say the content of the publication is false, concocted and malicious.
“It is on record that on or about April 5, 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari approved the purchase of equipment worth $1billion for the military through the Ministry of Defence. It is a fact that first batch of Six Super Tucano fighter jets arrived Nigeria July 22, 2021, while final batch of the 12 A-29 Super Tucano fighter jets arrived October 18, 2021. No Arms fund was ever missing contrary to some previous mischievous publications.
“For the records, no such amount, N850 million or any similar sum, was found with Ambassador Buratai nor does he have any Aide bearing such name. Ambassador Buratai has no office or house in Wuse Abuja (address not supplied by SR) nor does he have any bulletproof cars, BMW, G-Wagon (Particulars of vehicle not also supplied by SR) worth N450m and neither is ICPC investigating any such.
“We view this as an orchestrated act aimed at tarnishing the image of LT General T.Y Buratai and we shall take all legal steps to hold the publishers accountable for such grievous character assassination on the image of LT.T.Y Buratai (RTD).”
