Some retired military top officials maybe placed under surveillance by security operatives over the exposure of the suspicious wealth of army boss, Tukur Yusuf Buratai.
According to the Independent, some retired army officials have been fingered in the exposure of the suspected inordinate wealth of Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. General Tukur Buratai.
Earlier reports have it that the army boss possesses two Dubai-based properties valued at N4.3 billion ($1.5 million) which has attracted media attention with reference to the size of his legal earnings from the Nigerian government.
Reliable sources stated that the Department of State Security (DSS) may have placed some recently retired army officers on surveillance on the belief that they may be the principal sponsors of the disclosure, which is seen as a smear campaign on military top brass.
The army, last month, sacked about 50 officers over charges bordering on corruption. It gathered that the revelation on Buratai’s Dubai interest might be the handiwork of some of the retired officers itching to get back at the COAS for booting them out of office.
But while the DSS may have their hands full in this matter, the military high command, on another front, is on high alert over intelligence detailing disaffection in the defence over what insiders call attempt at ‘profiling’ army personnel to be sent to hot spots or to be placed in strategic offices as it braces up for a major campaign in the Niger Delta.
Profiling, especially in intelligence circle involves isolating an individual or group of persons on the basis of their race, ethnicity, religious beliefs or some other sentiments considered to be primordial. The army, however, has denied this.
The two incidents, despite spirited efforts by authorities at putting a lid on their attendant media ruckus, are believed to have many in the Defence Headquarters concerned.
Buratai came under storm after a petition by a group identifying self as Concerned Soldiers and Officers from the North East, who accused the COAS of owning the property from proceeds of executing contract as a former procurement officer for the army.
Supporters from Buratai's camp claim the ostentatious properties attracting suspicions of corruption were publicly declared by the Chief of Army Staff before the Code of Conduct Bureau.
No comments:
Post a Comment