…As Buratai shrugs off insinuation of graft
The National Security Adviser (NSA), on Friday, denied that he said funds for arms procurement went missing under the former Service Chiefs.
The BBC’s Hausa Service had earlier reported that the NSA, Major-General Babagana Monguno, hinted at the missing funds during an interview.
“No one knows what happened to the money, but by God’s grace, the president will investigate to find out where it went or where the goods went,” the General reportedly said in Hausa.
But the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) said Friday in a statement that Monguno’s comments had been quoted out of context “as he did not categorically say that funds meant for arms procurement were missing under the former Service Chiefs as reported or transcribed by some media outlets from the BBC interview.”
The statement stressed that the NSA had “clearly informed the BBC reporter that Mr President has provided enormous resources for arms procurement, but the orders were either inadequate or yet to be delivered and that did not imply that the funds were misappropriated under the former Service Chiefs.
“The NSA also informed the reporter that Mr President is following up on the procurement process as is usual with contracts relating to military equipments, in most cases the process involves manufacturing, due diligence and tedious negotiations that may change delivery dates.”
Nigeria has been ravaged with a number of security problems, including insurgency in the North-East, banditry across the North-West and ethnic tensions in the South.
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the nation’s newly appointed security chiefs to effect radical changes within six weeks.
Meanwhile, the former Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai (rtd), has said he never frittered away money meant for arms to fight insurgency.
Buratai, in a statement issued by Osuagwu Ugochukwu , Attorney to the former Chief of Army Staff, said his attention has been drawn to an interview granted BBC by Gen Monguno, wherein he was alleged to have accused former Service Chiefs of filtering arms fund away.
“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,” he said.
He added that anyone interested in knowing how arms were procured by the former Service Chiefs, 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,” he said.