An embarrassed Nigerian Army struggled today to defend the buying of two Dubai properties by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai and his two wives. It tried to explain to the Nigerian people that the Army Chief did not pay for the properties in a single transaction.
The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said in a statement that while it was true that the Buratai family has two properties in Dubai, they were bought with personal savings in 2013.
Usman said Buratai had consistently declared the properties along with other properties in his assets declaration form as Commander, Multinational Joint Task Force and as Chief of Army Staff.
He described the report over his ownership of the Dubai houses as a smear campaign, aimed at maligning the the Chief of Army Staff.
He said that similar moves to smear the image of the COAS in March 2016 failed to fly because the allegations by the ‘Concerned Citizens’ were false.
He said the “Concerned Soldiers and Officers from the North East” who alleged this in a petition obtained by an online news network was obviously non-existent.
Usman likewise described as false the claim that the huge lodgments were being made into an account owned by the COAS at Skye Bank.
He said, “It is pertinent to state that the Chief of Army Staff does not have any account with Skye Bank as alleged, let alone making deposits in the imaginary bank account to the tune of the amount stated in the write-up.
“Similarly, he has not been involved in any form of shady or dishonest transaction, not to talk of “contract scam”.
“In addition, General Buratai was never near either Defence Headquarters or Army Headquarters in 2013. It is pertinent to also note that he was never a Director of procurement in Army Headquarters as alleged.
“As a matter of fact, the Nigerian Army never had a Directorate of Procurement till when he established one last year when he became Chief of Army Staff.”
If the Nigeria Army thinks that this would suffice in explaining how a soldier could own two properties in Dubai or if it thinks that the matter will go away, the Army must be mistaken. Nigerians expect to know how much Buratai has earned as a soldier and if that was enough, after taking care of his immediate family (with two wives) and extended family, he still had enough to afford such luxury. Nothing else will do.
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