By Maiwada Danmallam
A recent story published by Sahara Reporters which “authoritatively” broke the news that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. T. Y. Buratai, owns what the “revelation” wants to have general public believe is an expensive property in Dubai, UAE is one that would generate incredulous debate, especially in Nigeria’s “e-rats” infested cyber jungle. No doubt, the story would be a convenient tool to hit back at Buratai for his clear ambition to sanitise and reform the army and restore professionalism into it.
If there was any gain in the story, it couldn’t be more than highlighting the serious issue of dying culture of professionalism in journalism these days.
Assuming that truly Buratai owns a supposed “choice” property in Dubai, does owning property in Dubai make somebody corrupt that the cyber highways would be agog, with “emergency judges” putting the army chief on trial for what’s clearly a non-existent offence?
By alleging that Buratai owns a property in Dubai, Sahara Reporters only wanted to sensationalise a simple issue because of the person involved.
There was no effort by the online publication to explain the basics of real estate investment in UAE much less, the “crime” of the COAS for investing in it. This is a simple concept that could be understood by just about anybody. In UAE, real estate investment is tailored to operate on the same principles capital market operates. One could buy shares of a given property and become a shareholder of the property in equal proportion with his investment. This is exactly the case with the much talked about Buratai’s Dubai property.
The morality issue attached to the story would make people like know his source for the original investment. Buratai is a large scale farmer and he has been into it for the past 20 years.
Farming is one of the businesses that any public official is allowed to engage in regardless of profession or status and. A farming history spanning a period of 20 years would generate an excellent return for one to comfortably afford to invest anywhere in the world.
Beside this, Buratai along with his two wives have, for many years, been operating a quasi-micro finance social intervention scheme called ‘SANA’ARMU’ (i.e. our collective enterprise). Though largely a social intervention scheme, the family had equally earned some serious money to afford the kind of modest lifestyle they live and invest into the investments they have. I challenge SR (or anybody at that) to disrepute this.
But for the desire to confuse the gullible readers, the writers of that so-called story should have used its investigative skills and determine the cost of the Dubai property in which the COAS invested and his stake in it to, in turn, determine if his legitimate earnings from the mentioned sources above could justify his holdings. You don’t just go to town writing baseless stories that could not stand public scrutiny especially in this era when information is just a click away. I expect a reputable media outfit like SR to be more professional and factual especially on issues that could potentially cause irreversible damages to innocent people by rubbishing their hard earned reputations.
The good thing about unjustifiable attacks on reputations is the “boomerang effect”. One stands the risk of losing his/her reputation when in blind pursuit to destroy another’s. It’s no nuclear science to understand that if there was any ambiguity about Buratai’s investment in Dubai there’s no way he could pass the integrity test of President Muhammadu Buhari. If declarations made by him concerning his financial status did not conform with reality, he wouldn’t have been appointed by the President to carry out the onerous job of cleaning the mess left behind by the immediate past leadership of the Nigerian Army.
Having said that, it’s pertinent to ask SR to substantiate its allegations against the COAS. Please note that the army spokesperson, col. Sani Kukasheka Usman, has already punctured the key allegations contained in SR’s report so much so that one needs not use Newton’s reading glasses to read between the mischievously scripted lines. The army spokesperson has declared that Buratai has no account with Skye Bank to conduct the alleged transactions. SR is yet to do its part of either proving the allegation by posting the account’s details or retract the story. Secondly, it was proven beyond reasonable doubt that not only was Lt. Gen. Buratai never the army’s Director of Procurement but it was him as COAS that established the Directorate for ease of procurement and probity.
Ordinarily, these inaccuracies were enough to bury the story in the trash bin but for the serious war launched by some aggrieved forces bent on taking their pound of flesh from Buratai for upsetting their source of income and exposing them to the harsh reality of living under a social system with serious concern about sharing public funds equitably and without allowing some people to use their positions to take undue advantage of the system. One would only be naive to expect anything but the ongoing continuous resistance to the new order in any way imaginable by the cabal that were used to a free ride on public resources. Nigeria is still rebooting for the new “system upgrade” installed by President Buhari to take effect.
Of course, Buratai had stepped on many powerful toes for one to expect he would have a smooth sail building a professional Nigeria Army which, before his appointment, was synonymous with corruption. He inherited an army that was bullied by Boko Haram on one end of the country while being harassed by MEND on the other end all because some people were insensitive to line their pockets with funds appropriated by the government to equip the military to match the ill-equipped street urchins that took full control of the country from two ends.
Danmallam wrote from Abuja
