Contrary to rumours that his home was raided by agents of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, former Chief of Army Staff Lt. General Tukur Buratai has denied owning a residence in Wuse, Abuja.
Buratai referred to the reports as smears and made-up stories that were published to damage his reputation in a statement signed by his legal counsel, OSUAGWU Ugochukwu ESQ.
A story titled:-
“EXCLUSIVE: Anti-Corruption Agency, ICPC Uncovers Billions In Cash Meant For Arms, Ammunition To Fight Boko Haram In Abuja Home Of Ex-Chief Of Army Staff, Buratai” in an online publication (Not Vanguard) claimed that N1.85 billion was found in the home of the retired army general when ICPC conducted a raid.
But putting the records straight, Buratai through OSUAGWU opined: “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 on23/06/2022.
“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 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).”