‘Chief of Army Staff should be included in arms deal probe,’ Group says

A group, the Save The Nation Movement (STNM), has called for the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant GeneralTukur Buratai to be included in the ongoing investigation into the $2.1 billion arms deal fraud.

STNM made the call via a statement saying that Buratai should be probed in his former position as the Director of Public Procurement at the Defence Headquarters from 2012-2015.

The statement, which was released on Sunday, January 24, 2016, by the group’s National Secretary, Steven Chilaka, reads:

“Major General Tukur Buratai was appointed Director of Procurement DHQ in 2012, a position he held until May 2015 that he was appointed Force Commander of the Multinational Joint Task Force, an appointment he held till he became Chief of Army Staff.”

“As Director of Public Procurement at the DHQ, all procurements by the military between 2012 and May 2015 passed through his office. Our question is; how can you probe procurement of arms within this period without the involvement of Major General Buratai, the man who was the Director of Procurement?”

“Curiously too, only retired and serving officers of the Nigerian Air Force were said to have been indicted.

“Was the army being excluded from this probe to save Major General Buratai? Or Could procurements have been made without his involvement during the period that he was Director of Procurement?

"Definitely, it won’t be funny if President Muhammadu Buhari’s fight against corruption is also selective against the military as it already appears to be against the political class and the President must look into this obvious case of selective probe as a matter of urgency.”

The arms deal fraud is believed to have been supervised by former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki.