CCB Goes After Army Chief Buratai Who Bought $1.5m Dubai Mansions Over Alleged False Asset Declaration

Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai might be in serious trouble as the Code of Conduct Bureau is going after him over alleged false asset declaration.

Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai

 

The Code of Conduct Bureau has pledged to invite Nigeria’s Army Chief, Tukur Buratai, for questioning as it verifies his asset declaration to determine whether or not he is culpable of false asset declaration, Premium Times.

 

Buratai who is a lieutenant general, caused controversy after evidence emerged that he owned property worth millions of dollars in Dubai. This is coming after the Nigerian Army in June admitted that Mr. Buratai owned property in Dubai but said they were legal and he declared them in his asset declaration form.

“It is a fact that the Buratai family have two properties in Dubai that were paid for instalmentally through personal savings three years ago,” the army spokesperson Sani Usman said. “This, along with other personal asset have consistently been declared by General Buratai in his Asset Declaration Form as Commander Multinational Joint Task Force Commander and as Chief of Army Staff”.

 

Now, the CCB has said it will investigate Buratai. This was communicated to a civic group who had written the CCB expressing concern over reports suggesting the army chief violated Nigerian laws in acquiring the property. The group asked the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, to investigate and prosecute Mr. Buratai for false asset declaration.

 

“Evidence of payments (payment tellers of Skye bank) made on behalf of General Buratai and published by Sahara Reporters shows that one of the properties was purchased after the assumption of office by General Buratai as Chief of Army Staff. The payment was effected and contract consummated between July 24 and August 17, 2016,” the Civil Society Network against Corruption, CSNAC, wrote in its petition to the CCB.

“It would be important for your Bureau to investigate the source of this acquisition and the differences between the General’s most recent asset declaration and the penultimate one,” CSNAC’s head, Olanrewaju Suraju, wrote while calling for Mr. Buratai’s prosecution.

 

Reacting to the petition, the CCB said its reasons for not investigating Mr. Buratai’s asset declaration early enough was because he was "coordinating the fight against Boko Haram in the North East as at that particular period…”

“Please be informed that General Buratai’s asset would have been verified and that he was equally communicated on this,” Ijeanuli Arinze responded on behalf of the CCB chairman in an August 5 letter.

“Now that the war on insurgency has been considerably contained, the military officers that were earlier scheduled, including General Buratai himself, would, shortly, be invited for the exercise,” it said.

 

It is still unclear if the CCB has invited the army chief. But, one thing is sure that if the CCB find Mr. Buratai guilty of false asset declaration, it could prosecute him before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.