Any attempt to tarnish my image will be resisted legally, says Buratai

FORMER Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai (rtd), has said his name and those of other ex-service chiefs were not mentioned in a BBC Hausa, interview granted by the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno.

Buratai who stressed that no arms procurement funds went missing during his time as COAS threatened to institute a lawsuit against anybody that attempts to tarnish his image.

Buratai said this against the statement attributed to Monguno during the interview with BBC Hausa.

 “No one knows what happened to the money, but God willing, the president will investigate to find out where it went or where the goods went,” the NSA said. 

Monguno was quoted to have said about billions of dollar earmarked for the procurement of arms during Buratai and other ex-service chiefs’ tenure.

Though Monguno has since denied making the statement, saying he was quoted out of context, Buratai said no money was misappropriated during his time as COAS.

A statement issued by his lawyer, Osuagwu Ugochukwu, read in part, “I can confirm that LT General Buratai and other ex-service chiefs were never mentioned in the interview and neither was any arms fund missing under the stewardship of LT Gen T.Y Buratai.

“Interestingly, NSA Babagana Monguno has denied making such accusations. We therefore urge members of the public to discountenance any such misquoted narrative suggesting sleaze on the integrity of RTD LT Gen T.Y Buratai”. 

The statement added that anyone interested in knowing how arms were procured by the ex-service chiefs and particularly LT Gen T.Y Buratai should channel such request for information to the Ministry of Defence and stop the habit of speculation and false information peddling.

“Because any attempt to further tarnish the image of the former Chief of Army staff will be resisted legally,” the statement stressed.