(Onitsha Nigeria, 27th of June 2016)-The Southeast Based Coalition of Human Rights
Organizations (SBCHROs) comprising: International
Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety), Anambra
State Branch of the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), Center for Human Rights
& Peace Advocacy (CHRPA), Human Rights Club (a project of LRRDC)(HRC),
Forum for Justice, Equity & Defense of Human Rights (FJEDHR), Society
Advocacy Watch Project (SPAW), Anambra Human Rights Forum (AHRF), Southeast
Good Governance Forum (SGGF), International Solidarity for Peace & Human
Rights Initiative (ITERSOLIDARITY) and Igbo Ekunie Initiative (pan Igbo rights
advocacy group), are deeply concerned and worried that the Buratai Dubai Property
Corruption is a verge of being swept under the carpet by the Presidency
of Gen Muhammadu Buhari.
This is not the first time such
high profile and damning corruption accusations against President Muhammadu
Buhari’s hatchet men are swept under the carpet. It is on indisputable record
that the “anti corruption” policy of the Buhari administration is totally
directed and targeted against the opponents of its administration and others it
considers as “enemy-citizens”. A former governor of one of the States in the
South-south zone was a mere clinic attendant in a hospital owned by his
predecessor-governor before his election in 1999 as a State legislator and
later as a speaker; from where he became governor in 2007. Today, he is widely
believed to have acquired so much wealth illicitly through public filtered
funds and is said to be a major financier of the Buhari’s presidential election
campaigns.
Another former governor in one of
the States in the Southwest was a staff of a multi-national company before he
joined politics and later became a governor in 1999. Today, he is widely
believed to be two times richer than his former employer-company and is linked
with tens of billions of naira choice properties and companies in Lagos, Abuja,
etc, including billions of naira investments in paper, television and radio
media. A former governor in old Anambra State was recently accused by the EFCC
of an N500Million public corruption, leading to his hurried decampment to the
ruling APC and death of the fraud accusation till date. A former governor of
Bayelsa State and a late former governor of Kogi State also have their pending
cases before the EFCC dropped till date on the instructions of the Presidency.
The two are members of the APC ruling Federal Government. Instances are too
numerous to be mentioned. Till date, none of the above mentioned persons; whose
antecedents are well known to the Buhari administration, have been questioned
over their obvious stinking loots and questionable richness.
While the loyalists and
proponents of the Buhari administration strongly accused of corruption, are
shielded from arrest, competent investigation and diligent prosecution; those
considered by the administration as its opponents and enemies are arrested and
extra judicially and unconstitutionally detained before being arraigned for
trial over corruption allegations. There are cases whereby the Buhari
administration cooks up spurious allegations of corruption and misconduct for
the purpose of ousting some public officials from their legitimate positions
and consolidating its ethno-religious divisive policies. The recent mass and unceremonious
retirement of innocent senior military officers dominated by officers of the
Southeast and the South-south regions, is a clear case in point. Till date, no
clearly defined crimes punishable under the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria 1999 and its auxiliaries have been established against them
within the confines of the rule of law and due process.
We are therefore, not surprised a
bit over the strong accusation levelled against the COAS, Lt Gen Turkur
Buratai, who has also been baptised by our lead-partner (Intersociety) as “Buratai
The Butcher”; following his murderous roles and involvement in the
December 2015 massacre of over 700 Shiite Muslim faithful in Zaria and similar
massacre of over 200 nonviolent and unarmed pro-Biafra agitators in Onitsha,
Aba and Asaba on 2nd and 17th
of December 2015; 18th and 29th
of January 2016; 9th of February 2016 and 30th of May
2016. Our concerns, therefore, are not
about the criminal Dubai properties in his name; which existence and ownership
the Nigerian Army has also confirmed; but deepening plots by the challenged and
violent Government of Gen Muhammadu Buhari to sweep it under the carpet as it
has been doing.
As expected, the Government of Muhammadu
Buhari has already mobilized its proxy media and CSOs in Southwest to sway and
scare the public and their attentions away from the issue with intent to cover
it up and sweep it under the carpet. The
thunderous publicity given to the watery reaction and defense of the Nigerian
Army over the issue as against the original story; is a clear case in point.
The conspiracy of silence maintained by turncoat Southwest CSOs or defensive
statements by same over the same issue; is a further attestation of the Buhari
administration’s reckless and restless efforts at covering up the issue. Till
date, Nigerians are yet to see and read usual alarmist petitions from the “CSOs
Coalition Against Corruption” to EFCC for the purpose of investigating and
prosecuting Gen Turkur Buratai over the confirmed and brazen criminality. But
if it is to be a perceived opponent of the Buhari administration, heaven would
have been let loose.
It is recalled further that our
lead-partner, International Society for
Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety) had in its public
statement of 21st of March 2016 informed the world that Lt Gen Turkur Buratai (COAS) ought to have
been retired since 3rd of January 2016 after attaining mandatory
service age of 35 years, having been born on 24th of November 1960 at Buratai
town in Biu Local Government Area of Borno State and enlisted into the Nigerian
Army via the Nigerian Defense Academy on 3rd of January 1981 as a member of 29
Regular Combatant Course 29 (29 RC) where he obtained a National Certificate in
Education (NCE) and became a Second Lieutenant on 17th of December 1983. By
Nigeria’s Public Service Rule (2008:28-29) presently applicable in Lt Gen Buratai’s
case, the compulsory retirement age for all grades in Nigeria’s public service
is 60 years or 35 years of pensionable service, whichever is earlier.
Intersociety further informs that Lt Gen Turkur Buratai and
his likes in Regular Course 29 of NDA (recipients of old or abolished
National Certificate in Education) are expressly exempted from benefiting from
the
Harmonized Terms and Condition of Services Officers (HTACOS), 2012 (Revised);
designed to make retirement age in the military (army, navy and air force)
different from other personnel or public servants of the Federal Government.
The HTACOS was also meant to scrap the years of service of 35 years of service
and fully embraced the age on rank bracket. This means that as long as officers
and men of the Nigerian military pass the necessary promotion board
examinations, they would not be retired just because they have served 35 years.
But that will now depend on their Run- Out -Date (ROD). HTACOS was also
specifically designed to start from the 36th Course (C36) of NDA and their
equivalents. The 36th Course members were the first military officers to start
full degree programs at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) and recipients of upgraded
university degrees. Army officers under Courses 1 to 35 (including Lt Gen
Buratai’s Course 29) studied and graduated with the National Certificate in
Education (NCE) from the NDA.
As expected, President Muhammadu Buhari has adamantly retained Lt Gen
Turkur Buratai against the above clear provisions, for the purpose of
sustaining his butchery and ethno-religious cleansing policies particularly
against the Peoples of the Southeast and the South-south regions of Nigeria.
The provisions of the said HTACOS, too, are observed in gross breach by the
Buhari administration. The recent mass retirements cited above are a clear case
in point.
The Code of Conduct for Public Office Holders under the Buhari administration
administered by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB); is popularly believed to be
grossly riddled with corruption and brazen criminality. There are strong
allegations that a racket or criminal clique now exists in the CCB whereby old
forms filled and submitted by public office holders before assumption of their
offices or appointments are recklessly and criminally withdrawn for criminal
updating and upgrading. Under this reported crooked and criminal arrangement, a
person that previously declared on assumption of office, say N60million assets
and cash; can now update and upgrade his or her new loots, by criminally withdrawing
his or her old form and filling new one with backdated pieces of information.
An instance of this was reported to have taken place recently in one of the
States in the Southeast when the CCB reportedly held an executive seminar for
selected government appointees. A request for the “upgrade” was made to a CCB top
official and it was penciled down for “negotiation” and approval.
Admission by the Nigerian Army authorities to the effect that “the Dubai
Properties of Lt Gen Turkur Buratai were contained in his recent Assets
Declaration Form”, is a serious indictment on the authorities of the Code of
Conduct Bureau, to the extent that public officials can now smuggle in their
brazen loots in the Code of Conduct Forms and they are expressly accepted without
any concrete verification to ascertain their conformity with the laws of the
law or otherwise.
It is also further unheard of that a serving military officer in this
modern military age also engages in estate merchandise, to the extent of
acquiring and owning private properties in millions of dollars with reckless
abandon in overseas while still serving. Any serving military officer that
acquires and owns private properties overseas is an international organized criminal,
akin to Pablo Escobar of
infamous Columbian Medlin Cocaine Cartel. This is because, by modern
military doctrine and convention, no serving military officer is permitted to
own such. Such properties may only be tolerated if acquired and owned during
military service retirement particularly through military consultancy and
writing activities, engaged in by outstanding retired senior military officers.
This feat is obviously thousands of miles away from the reach of the likes of
Lt Gen Turkur Buratai. It is clear and obvious that a consultancy office or a
bookshop in Lt Gen Turkur Buratai’s name and location can only be entertained
and patronized an army of Maiduguri flies!
For the purpose of putting the records straight to de-contaminate the
polluted mindsets of riotous Judases and Thomases, under the
payroll of the Buhari administration, Lt Gen Turkur Buratai has no iota of
excuse or defense under the law to have acquired and owned the said properties
in Dubai, which may most likely be a tip of iceberg from totality of other
possible illicit properties in his name and ownership locally and
internationally. We are in total
agreement with Uche-Wisdom, Durueke, Esq. (President of CLO). The renowned
activist and lawyer had this to say and following probing questions to ask: “To many Nigerians, it is interesting
that a serving Nigerian Army officer could own properties Dubai - whether alone
or with his wives.
In the circumstances, I have been asking myself (and
Nigerians) the following questions:
1.
Assuming that he; Tukur Buratai, has not been spending, even a kobo, from his
monthly salary and allowances since he joined the army (in 1981), how much has
he saved? 2. What sum was in his account the total when the properties were
bought?
3. Has he any other business or job from which he earned additional income? If yes, what is it? Who and who do business with him? (Does the law and military tradition allow that?)
4. Were the sums for the installmental payments by the General remitted from his accounts in Nigeria? Or, has he foreign account?
5. If he has a foreign account, is he remitting money to it from Nigeria?
6. Which bank was involved in the transfer of the sums to Dubai?
7. Did he ever disclose that he was buying properties in Dubai for the purposes of foreign exchange transaction?
8. How were the sums used for payment of the two properties transferred on each occasion from Nigeria to . . . for the purpose of buying the two properties?
8. Has any other property or other properties in Ghana, (Nigeria or any other location)?”
3. Has he any other business or job from which he earned additional income? If yes, what is it? Who and who do business with him? (Does the law and military tradition allow that?)
4. Were the sums for the installmental payments by the General remitted from his accounts in Nigeria? Or, has he foreign account?
5. If he has a foreign account, is he remitting money to it from Nigeria?
6. Which bank was involved in the transfer of the sums to Dubai?
7. Did he ever disclose that he was buying properties in Dubai for the purposes of foreign exchange transaction?
8. How were the sums used for payment of the two properties transferred on each occasion from Nigeria to . . . for the purpose of buying the two properties?
8. Has any other property or other properties in Ghana, (Nigeria or any other location)?”
In addition to the above erudite
questions, we circumstantially submit that the issue above is a clear case of
economic and financial crimes including money laundering, criminal transfer,
criminal operation of foreign accounts and foreign currency transaction while
in office as well as embezzlement and criminal breach of trust and abuse of
office, all triable and punishable in Nigeria.
The Buhari administration, which
claims to be “fighting corruption”, is therefore called upon to rise up to the occasion
by relieving Lt Gen Turkur Buratai of his COAShip and subjecting him to thorough
investigations for the purpose of discovering more illicit properties that may
most likely have been acquired in his name and ownership with illicit public
funds. Our call for his immediate removal as COAS stems from his express
admission of acquiring and owning choice properties in Dubai while still
serving as COAS and a soldier.
It must be clearly noted that public
allowances and salaries all over the world including Nigeria are not paid to
the public office holders for property acquisition and ownership or estate merchandise
locally and overseas but strictly for the purposes of performance of official
duties and personal basic upkeep.
Signed:
For: Southeast Based Coalition of Human Rights Organizations
(SBCHROs)
Emeka Umeagbalasi, Leader SBCHROs & Board Chair,
Intersociety
Mobile Line: +2348174090052
Comrade Aloysius Attah, Chair, Anambra CLO & Head,
Publicity, SBCHROs
Mobile Line: +2348035090548
Jerry Chukwuokoro, PhD, Head, Research & Strategy, SBCHROs
Mobile Line: +2348035372962
0 comments so far,add yours