Lawyer urges ‘Pointblank’ to retract publication against Buratai

A private counsel to former Chief of Army Staff, Ugochukwu Osuagwu, has urged the publisher of Pointblank News, Mr Jackson Ude, to retract a defamatory publication he made against Nigeria’s Ambassador to Benin Republic, Gen Tukur Buratai.

A statement by Barrister Osuagwu, Wednesday, said “Your publication entitled ‘How Buratai Began Stealing millions, Converting Properties 11 days after becoming Army Chief,’ dated 26.04.2022, is nothing but an attempt to smear the image of Rtd Lt. General T.Y Buratai, current Nigerian Ambassador to Benin.

“Your publication is nothing but a rehash of a rested subject matter: Dubai Properties. The subject matter which you hastily tried to re-post to the public has since over 4 years been put to rest by the federal authorities.

“The Code of Conduct Bureau having investigated the matter cleared LT Gen T.Y Buratai of any wrong doing and found him not guilty.

“So, for you to now recklessly bring forth the same matter to the public domain is an attempt to tarnish the image of the retired Army Chief and which you will have to made to account for your indiscretion within the ambit of the Law.

“Finally, your attempt to bring up the issue of the existence of Nigerian Army Properties Limited (NAPL) with the CAC registration of Rtd Lt. Gen T.Y Buratai as one of the directors and thus paint a picture of illegality is rather childish.

“For your information, the existence of Nigerian Army Properties Limited (NAPL) is lawful and having the name of the retired army chief on board is legal.

“For your information there are other similar CAC registered entities of the Nigeria Army with such private incorporated status.

“These are Nigerian Army Post Exchange (NAPEX), and Nigerian Army Small Scale Drug Manufacturing Unit (NASDMU). Others are Nigerian Army Welfare Insurance Scheme (NAWIS), Post Service Housing Development (PHD) and Post-Service Homes Savings and Loans (PHL).”