The Vindication of Ambassador Tukur Buratai by Best Agbese
Editor's note: Best Agbese, a politician, public affairs commentator and scholar based in Scotland, United Kingdom, writes on the allegations against a former Chief of Army Staff and current Nigerian Ambassador to Benin Republic, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai.
Just when one thinks that Sahara Reporters is in the process of finding its way to the path of redemption, it comes out to reassert itself as a hate-spewing platform that is committed to reporting Nigeria into destruction by targeting public office holders and attempting to tarnish their image. This is why it is no surprise that Sahara Reporters’ obsession with retired Ambassador Tukur Buratai, Nigeria’s Envoy to the Republic of Benin, is one that defies solutions.
The online publication’s latest installment in its bash-Buratai obsession was sensationally captioned “EXCLUSIVE: Anti-graft Agency, ICPC Uncovers Billions In Cash Meant For Arms, Ammunition To Fight Boko Haram In Abuja Home Of Ex-Chief Of Army Staff, Buratai.”
Source: Twitter
For a start, the chances are slim to nonexistent that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) would investigate and find alleged whooping N1.85 billion from any public office holder and not rush to the press to announce its breakthrough. Its sister organization, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) recently made headlines with arrests relating to thefts of twelve digits sums by public office holders. The natural inter-agencies rivalry would have made the ICPC make a show of its success and it would not defer this responsibility to nameless “multiple sources” for a breakthrough of such magnitude if it were true.
Also, what are the chances that a former Chief of Army Staff would leave such a huge amount of hard cash in a residence and office without posting military guards, which he is entitled to, at the residence or office? Such military guards would have ended up having some sort of confrontation with any invading team, which would have created drama and resulted in sensational and viral multimedia content that would have been more credible.
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Those behind this story are shallow minded and confused to the point of forgetting that even N30 million in cash is already a violation of the Money Laundry Act and as such, admitting to a lesser amount does not in any way mitigate that a crime has been committed. The man they are trying to nail is not known to be irresponsible and could not have willfully violated extant legislation.
Even more nauseating than the attempt to lie about the phantom N1.85 billion is the fraudulent attempt to resurrect malicious lies that had previously been laid to rest. The story revived spurious claims about Buratai and his family owning property in Dubai. These were manipulated contents that failed in the past simply because Buratai was open about these assets even before detractors tried using them against him. He was also open about the sources of the funds he used to acquire the Dubai property and others. As expected, maybe owing to the mental limitations of those running it, find it difficult to believe that there is money to be made from owning and running a snake farm like Buratai does. But to jump-start their brain, they should refer to an article in ThisDay Newspaper two years ago, “Harnessing Snake Farming as an Antidote.”
That article reported that “Countries like China, Thailand and the US have the largest number of snake farms in the world and snake farm owners can earn as much as $12m (N4,560,000,000) per year.”
For now, the point is that there was no N1.85 billion found anywhere or linked to Ambassador TY Buratai. If such exists then those who served us with malicious lies should pressure the ICPC to formally publish the findings, which would never happen because the entire thing is a hoax in the fashion of the destructive publication..
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