Former Chief of Army Staff and the Nigerian Ambassador to Benin Republic, Lt. Gen TY Buratai (rtd) has decried as fabricated lies and a mischievous campaign of calumny, reports that ICPC stormed his property and recovered huge sums of money saying it is a calculated attempt to tarnish his image and reputation.
An online newsmedium had in a recent publication, alleged that cash meant for arms, ammunition to fight Boko Haram was discovered in Abuja home of Amb. Buratai.
But reacting swiftly to the report, the legal team of the former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt General T.Y. Buratai (Retd), described the allegations as a sponsored smear campaign against the COAS person and sheer fabrication.
The team led by the legal advisor, Osuagwu Ugochukwu ESQ, in a press release on Friday, stated that the allegations are false, concocted to tarnish the image of the Ambassador and are malicious.
He said, “My attention has been drawn to a recent publication on the 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.
“I have gone through the said publication and have interfaced with Ambassador T.Y.Buratai and can authoritatively say that 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 $1bn for the military through the Ministry of Defence.
“It is a fact that the first batch of six Super Tucano fighter jets arrived Nigeria on July 22, 2021, while the final batch of the 12 A-29 Super Tucano fighter jets arrived on October 18, 2021. No arms fund is ever missing contrary to some previous mischievous publications,” he said.
Continuing he said, “It should be put on record that no such amount N850M or any similar sum, was found with Ambassador Buratai nor does he have any aide bearing such name as mentioned in the report.
Osuagwu added that “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 the vehicle not also supplied by SR) worth N450m and neither is ICPC investigating any of such allegations.
“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. Gen T.Y Buratai (RTD),” he concluded.
