On Sunday, Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and human rights lawyer, demanded that if the Chief Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, failed to resign from his position he should be sacked from his position by President Muhammadu Buhari. This follows the revelation that he bought two houses in Dubai, worth $1.5 million. The selectivity of the president’s “anti-graft war” has been the subject of many debates in the country and the current administration’s hesitation in thoroughly investigating the accusations brought forward against the COAS only adds fuel to the claims of prejudice.
Chief Mike Ozekhome, also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, joined the call for the Army Chief’s resignation or sacking, specifically demanding that Buratai be tried before being allowed to resign. General Tukur Buratai and his two wives were revealed to have acquired two properties in Dubai worth $1.5 million in one transaction. The money for said properties was alleged to have come from the diversion of vehicle contract funds executed while Buratai was in charge of Procurement at the Army Headquarters. “How an Army General managed to save $1.5m has not been disclosed to Nigerians. Since the General was in charge of procurement for the Nigerian Army at the material time, the cock and bull story of the military high command has been called names,” said Femi Falana. He added: “If the Chief of Army Staff does not deem it fit to resign forthwith, President Buhari should not hesitate to remove him in the interest of national morality.”
Given that some of Buratai’s predecessors from other parts of the country are currently facing trial over their roles in diverting funds meant for the procurement of arms, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, a Second Republic lawmaker argued that it defied logic that Buratai, who was in charge of procurement when these men held sway, had not been asked to give an account of his stewardship. As the Federal Government cleared the Army General of the charges within days of the allegations and the case is yet to be investigated by financial crime agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the aforementioned demands are likely to fall on deaf ears. The dismissive response of all allegations by the government has heightened scepticism of the integrity in the administration’s anti-corruption efforts. “I believe it has exposed the hypocrisy of the Buhari administration as not fighting the war against corruption on a clean slate. They should have allowed the agencies of government such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to properly investigate (the matter). The Minister of Defence and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation have no statutory authority to undertake criminal investigations,” said Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, an activist and lawyer.
President Buhari pledged to embark on an anti-corruption war and a mission to recover Nigeria’s stolen loot when he assumed office in May, last year. Since then, he has made significant strides recovering over £1 billion pounds of stolen funds within that period and presiding over the arrests of several allegedly corrupt officials in the previous administration. Most notable are the charges brought against the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, for the theft of $2bn of funds earmarked for national security costs. The integrity of his anti-graft campaign is called into question, however, his administration fails to investigate its own members for the very crimes it fights against, despite the allegations and compelling evidence that have surfaced in the last month.
This comes on the back of criticisms that the anti-corruption war is seemingly lopsided and is being used as a device to harass and muzzle the opposition party. By predominantly targeting outspoken members of the party, while failing to investigate some prominent members of the ruling party who are suspected to have misused public funds, the current administration fuels these criticisms.
The president has had several opportunities to display his impartiality in the anti-graft war but has failed to seize them. Earlier in the year, the former Military General declared that he was going to release a list of recovered funds along with the names of the looters but, backtracked at the last minute in lieu of the potential legal implications that may arise. This was a chance for the administration not only to strengthen the citizens’ trust in its campaign, but to reveal its neutrality in the anti-corruption effort by publishing the list, which most likely cuts across all facets of the government and between political lines. The allegations against Tukur Buratai provided another such opportunity for the president but, the expedited exoneration of the Army General undermines the anti-corruption integrity of President Buhari’s administration and gives validity to the claims of selectivity. In order for the campaign to retain credibility moving forward, all looters ought to be brought to justice irrespective of personal affiliations with the government.
