Alleged N1.8bn Arms Fraud: PDP Wants Ex-Army Chief, Tukur Buratai, Recalled, Prosecuted

Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to, as a matter of urgent national importance, recall the former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and current Nigerian Ambassador to the Republic of Benin, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai (rtd), to come and say all he knows about the alleged looting of ₦1.8 billion.

The said amount, according to the party’s spokesman, Mr. Debo Ologunagba, in a communique, was for the procurement of arms for the prosecution of the seemingly unending war against terrorism.

The PDP, according to Ologunagba, wants Buratai to be investigated and be made to clear his name over the said N1.8billion which the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, reportedly recovered from a private property in Abuja linked to Buratai.

The party, Ologunagba further stated, predicated its demand for Buratai’s recall and investigation on a previous assertion by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Babagana Monguno, that $1billion drawn from the treasury for the purchase of arms to prosecute the war against terrorism in Nigeria had developed wings. The said amount was said to have disappeared during Buratai’s tenure as COAS.

“That assertion by the NSA heightened suspicion on allegations of barefaced looting of money meant to equip our security forces,” Ologunagba said. “Such corruption under the APC administration has led to the upsurge in unhindered terrorism attacks, mass killing of citizens and loss of many of our gallant fighters in the front in the last seven years. said.

“It is, therefore, of serious interest to Nigerians when reports that the ICPC discovered the sum of N1.8 billion in various currencies, expensive cars and pieces of jewelry secreted in a property in Abuja allegedly linked to the former COAS broke out.

“There are already apprehensions that the discovered money is part of the security fund that was criminally diverted. This is especially against the backdrop of the frenzy and spirited efforts by certain quarters linked to the APC to suppress investigation and free flow of information, politicize the matter and sweep it under the carpet.

“Nigerians will recall that our Party has, on several occasions, alerted that the looting of our treasury is officially sanctioned and enabled by the APC administration with its refusal to prosecute those who were alleged and found to have been involved in massive corruption.

“It would also be recalled that the PDP drew attention to plans of the APC to create a slush fund account from monies fraudulently drawn from the national treasury to finance their plot to rig the 2023 general elections.

“This is evidenced by the massive use of money by the APC to prosecute a vote-buying scheme in the recent Ekiti State Governorship election. The prevalence of vote-buying in that election by the APC was even acknowledged by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, which prompted the INEC Chairman to demand speedy trial of those arrested for vote-buying in the Ekiti State election.

“The reports of massive looting by APC leaders and their cronies in government Ministries, Departments and Agencies further confirm the APC administration as a haven for treasury looters.

“Moreover, the recently exposed looting of N80bn by the suspended Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, which investigation has now gone cold is suspected to have been engineered by the cabal at a very high level of the APC administration.”

Concluding, Ologunagba said the PDP stands with Nigerians to insist that Gen. Buratai should be recalled and investigated.

However, the ICPC may have taken the sail off the demand by the PDP to investigate, and if complicit, prosecute Buratai.

In a release issued by its spokesperson, Mrs Azuka Ogugua, upper Friday, June 24, 2022, the anti-graft agency debunked what it called the “inaccurate “ and concocted reports” in the media about the seizure of multibillion-naira cash, dollars, Rolex watches stockpiled in an Abuja property allegedly linked to the ex-COAS.

In the release, Ogugua said: “The attention of the commission has been drawn to some inaccurate and concocted reports in the media about the seizure of multibillion-naira cash, dollars, Rolex watches stockpiled in an Abuja property.

“The commission wishes to state that ICPC operatives raided a property in Wuse II of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja on June 16, on suspicion of money laundering.

“Facts available for the time being indicate that the property is owned by K Salam Construction Company, a military contractor.

“The commission recovered money and other items from the property viz. N175,706,500; 220,965 dollars; G-Wagon; 2022 editions of BMW and Mercedes Benz cars; customized mobile phones; several designer wristwatches, including three Rolexes, and some property documents.

“The commission arrested the Managing Director of K Salam Construction Company Nigeria Limited, Mr Kabiru Sallau and investigation is ongoing.

“The commission is yet to conclude its investigation and prefers not to preempt its outcome and also avoid the frenzy of a media trial.”