General Buratai: Model In Probity And Diligence

<p><em>General Buratai&comma; immediate past Chief of Army Staff&comma; is indisputably a role model in probity and diligence as presented in this piece made available to <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife  Nigeria<&sol;a> <&sol;strong>by Dr&period; Abubakar<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;I am compelled to write this short piece because of the lies some few miscreants are peddling around to tarnish the hard-earned name and reputation of General TY Buratai&comma; the former Chief of Army Staff&period; Of particular interest to this liars and hate mongers is the modest modern industrial farm he had set up along Keffi road&comma; near a locality known as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Zimbabwe&period;” This group of people say that General Buratai set up a lucrative farm with stolen money from the government&period; This is far from the truth&semi; it is a total fallacy&period; I worry that as usual&comma; some gullible Nigerians might end up believing this misinformation that is calculated to smear the name of General Buratai&lpar; rtd&rpar; as the gospel truth&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;As I set the record straight&comma; I want to make it categorically clear that the former COAS is a man of integrity&comma; probity and accountability&period; His passion for fiscal discipline&comma; as well as due diligence in the release and management of resources&comma; is second to none in the history of the Nigerian Army&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Under his watch as COAS&comma; every kobo was accounted for because all transactions were made through electronic payments&period; After that&comma; it goes through checks and approvals from the appropriate unit heads&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Now&comma; to this issue of the private farm owned by General Buratai which some people with sinister motives want to use to stain the character of the former COAS&period; It is important to understand that for the fact that the farm was set up in Nigeria alone is a good thing because it has brought development and create jobs&period; Visit the farm and you will see for yourself&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The farm is officially known as Tukur and Tukur Farms and it is a limited liability company&period; The first name of General Buratai is Tukur&semi; a name given to him in honour of the district head of Gunda&period; I was reliably informed that General Buratai bought the farmland as far back as 1996&period; This was when he served as Administrative Officer in the Villa during the reign of the late General Sani Abacha&period; He is a natural-born farmer who loves planting of crops and rearing of animals&period; General Tukur bought the large expanse of farmland at a very cheap price because as of then the place was a complete bush&period; There were no people or development near it&period; But anyone who has a longterm plan for investment will not hesitate to buy it because its value will appreciate and development will eventually come closer&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The above informs the reason why General Buratai built his residence in Mararaba which is a township located in Nassarawa State&period; The late Sarkin Hausawa &lpar; Alhaji Mohammed Jajere&rpar; of Mararaba is known to me and this information is known in his palace&period; General Buratai committed almost all his earnings into his private residence&comma; mosque and farm&period; He wants his life to revolve around these three places&period; I can vividly remember that there is also a free water distribution channel at the Mararaba residence for the people of the neighbourhood&period; He rose to the rank of major general and Commander MNJTF while still occupying the Mararaba residence and tending to his farm&period; The whole growth about the farm has been a gradual process that has taken nearly two decades to bring it to its present stage&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;It was a good plan and people like Chief Olusegun Obasanjo did the same&period; Take a loan from the bank and plow it into their farms where they rear animals and plant crops&period; It’s not just a lucrative business but also a better way to enjoy one’s retirement&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Tukur and Tukur Farms is today a highly efficient company that produces thousands of crates of eggs daily&comma; good cows that produce milk for yoghurt&comma; economic snakes and the rest&period; For those who don’t know&comma; snake venom is the best botox for plastic surgery nowadays&period; Quick&comma; almost painless&comma; and increasingly affordable&comma; it’s now the go-to procedure for fighting the signs of ageing&period; While effective&comma; it’s certainly not something everyone is on board with&period; By implication&comma; it means it is a highly profitable business&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;General Buratai &lpar;rtd&rpar; said it that he would have been retired by Chief Obasanjo in 1999 but God ruled otherwise and used the then COAS&comma; late General Victor Malu to prevent it&period; Although President Muhammadu Buhari was at PTF when Buratai served as Admin Officer at the Villa&comma; their paths never crossed&period; In any case&comma; Buratai and President Buhari first encountered each other in 1975&period; At that time President Buhari was the Military Governor of Borno State while Buratai was a JSS 1 student at Teacher’s College Maiduguri&period; President Buhari was fond of visiting the school in the evening to watch the boys participating in their various sports activities&period; It was there that they met each other&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;On another note&comma; Buratai didn’t lobby to be made COAS by this government&period; He was in faraway Ndjamena as Commander MNJTF when President Buhari appointed him as the 20th COAS&period; He served this country&comma; gallantly and diligently for 66 months as COAS and then turned in his resignation letter to the President&period; Many eminent Nigerians including the new COAS testified that Buratai served this country meritoriously as COAS&period; He is now a retired military officer but as God will have it&comma; he is now an Ambassador-Designate&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;This is a man raised by <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">God&period;<&sol;a> No human is qualified to pull him down or tarnish his image and reputation&period; His secret is his life principles which comprise diligence&comma; integrity&comma; loyalty&comma; courage&comma; empathy and faith in the will and plan of God&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;