New information is emerging in the $1.5 million Dubai properties scandal involving Nigeria’s army chief, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai.
Following a freedom of information request from an Abuja law firm to Nigeria’s Code of Conduct Bureau, the agency responded revealing that General Buratai did not include the controversial $1.5 million Dubai real estates in his personal asset declaration form. Rather, he included it as his wife’s property.
Ugochukwu Osuagwu, a lawyer with St. Francis Xavier Solicitors and Advocates had written to the Code of Conduct Bureau on June 29, 2016 seeking clarification on whether General Buratai had declared the ownership of the $1.5 million Dubai mansions in his asset declaration form.
The lawyer’s move was exercising the Freedom of Information Act signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011.
“We request that the CCB, pursuant to the FOI Act 2011, avail us the following concerning the declarations of General Tukur Yusuf Buratai,” the lawyer wrote.
“On July 13, 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed General Buratai as chief of army staff. The newspapers are awash that General Buratai and his two wives in 2013 paid 1,498,534.00 AED (N120 million/ $419,000) for a Dubai property, Project TFG Marina Hotel, Unit 2711.
“Sale documents indicated that the property was handed over to the Buratais on January 13, 2013, prior to his appointment as the chief of army staff.
“For the purpose of clarity, sir, we request you as follows: (1) Confirm if General Tukur Yusuf Buratai declared his asset with you upon his appointment on July 13, 2015, as chief of army staff; (2) Whether the above property he bought with his wife was also declared with the Code of Conduct Bureau.
“Kindly avail us a reply within the time allowed under the Freedom of Information Act 2011 as much as you can, sir,” the request ended.
In response to Osuagwu’s request, the Code of Conduct Bureau confirmed that General Buratai, upon his appointment had declared his assets with the bureau and that the controversial Dubai properties were declared in his wife’s name.
“We refer to your mail dated Jun 29, 2016. We wish to state here that Gen. Tukar Yusuf Buratai, after his appointment as the Chief of Army Staff, declared his assets as required by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the letter, dated July 11, 2016 and signed by Ijeanuli Ofor, said.
“He was served the Form CCB-I on July 21, 2015, and returned same on August 21, 2015.
“We also wish to confirm that his property at Dubai was declared in the wife’s name. Please, accept the warmest regards of the chairman,” the letter ended.
Buratai Dubai Estate: The Cover Up
On the wake of the revelation late June, 2016 that General Buratai owned choice properties in Dubai, one of the world’s biggest tourist cities in the United Arab Emirates, the Nigerian Army issues a statement admitting that he owned the properties and that he acquired them from “his personal savings”.
The Nigerian Army insisted that Buratai had declared the properties in his asset declaration form and as such, he had not committed any offence. The defence was followed up by an attack on SaharaReporters, the online tabloid that first reported the story.
Nigeria’s defence minister, Muhammad Mansur Dan-Ali, also attacked the website for exposing Buratai and calling them “unpatriotic” and insisted that Buratai had declared the Dubai investment in his asset declaration forms.
The Buhari presidency also sponsored a story that said that Buratai had been “investigated and cleared of any wrongdoing. Again, the government said that the army boss had declared the Dubai properties in his asset declaration form.
Buratai, himself, told members of the press that the reports on the Dubai properties were put out by members of the terrorist group, Boko Haram who had switched to “cyber warfare” because he was leading the army that has defeated the terrorists in the battlefield. He claimed that since “both the Nigerian Army and the federal government had exonerated him, he didn’t have a case to answer.
This fresh revelation contradicts the claims of Buratai, the defence minister, and the federal government’s sponsored report.
