Lt. General Tukur Buratai (rtd), former chief of army staff, has reacted to reports suggesting that his home was raided by the operatives of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
The ICPC had announced on Friday, that it recovered N170 million cash, $220,965, G-Wagon and other items from a military contractor in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
The announcement came on the heels of a publication by an online medium (Not THE WITNESS) 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 alleged that N1.85 billion was recovered from the retired army general’s house when ICPC raided his home.
The report had led to many accusing Buratai of siphoning funds meant for procurement of military hardware for soldiers fighting Boko Haram in the North East.
However, reacting to the development, the former army chief denied the reports, noting that he has no house in Wuse where the discovery was supposedly made.
In a statement signed by his Legal Advisor, Osuagwu Ugochukwu ESQ, Buratai described the reports as smear and fabricated tale, published to tarnish his image.
“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 23/06/2022,” the statement said.
“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 5th April 2018 President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the purchase of equipment worth $1bn 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 is ever missing contrary to some previous mischievous publications.
“For the records no such amount (#850M 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).”