Lt. General Tukur Buratai (retired), a former chief of the army staff, has disputed a report that implicates him in approximately N1.85 billion in looted monies that were purportedly found by the Independent Practices and other related crimes Commission in a building in Abuja. Buratai, through his attorney Dr. Reuben Atabo (SAN), ordered that the online publication Saharareporters, which had published the stated story, withdraw it and issue an apology within seven days in a letter dated July 8, 2022.
The former chief of Army staff, who is currently Nigeria’s ambassador to the Republic of Benin, claimed that he had suffered significant embarrassment as a result of the highly serious charge in the report, which had the potential to incite public resentment and attacks against him. “By your publication, our client has been ridiculed as a man without honor, dignity, and incapable of representing Nigeria and portrayed as a fraudster/ dishonest person before Nigerians and the international community.” He however demanded the publication to withdraw the article and publicly apologize to our client within seven days of receiving the letter, along with a public apology to be printed in two national dailies in Nigeria.
He added that he won’t think twice about bringing legal action for defamation against the organization if they ignore, fail, or refuse to post the apology within seven days.
