Army Chief Buratai Orders Officers to Declare Assets Just After Appearing in Court over the Army/Shiite clash

The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai has directed all officers of the Nigerian Army who have not declared their assets to do so immediately. He gave the directive yesterday during a conference with Principal Staff Officers and Directors serving at the Army Headquarters. He appeared in court the previous day over the Army/Shitte clash on December 12th. In court he said that they (the army) acted within the law.

“The circumstances leading to the incident of December 12 have been articulated by the officers involved. I was in the convoy. It was my convoy, the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff.
I left Dutse that morning, hoping to arrive Zaria in time, to attend the passing out parade of the 73 regular recruits. But the convoy was blocked when we entered Zaria. What transpired has been documented by the officers with me. They have also made their statements. They are here to give full account of what transpired. We are here because we respect human rights. We are here because we know the sanctity of human life, which we have sworn to protect. One of our constitutional roles is to defend the territorial integrity of Nigeria, which also includes the totality of the protection of human rights and indeed, the property of every Nigerian. We have laid down our lives as army officers and soldiers over the years in the course of performing our constitutional roles. There is no way we will pick our weapons and deliberatively violate the rights of the people, which we have been paid to defend and protect. This is quite fundamental. We have constitutional responsibility. Drawn from that constitutional responsibility, we also have our rules and regulations. And drawn from that we have a duty to perform in restoring peace and order where such peace and order are being disturbed. So, we followed our rules of engagement, which are derived from the laws. The Army is a very respectable organisation. We are alive to our responsibilities. In doing so, we will not tolerate a situation where, individuals, in the name of human rights, continue to violate the rights of others and then turn back and accuse highly responsible organisations, such as the Army of human rights abuse. I believe those organisations crying against what the military has been doing are not being sincere. They can be termed agents of anarchy. They don’t want law and order to prevail in the society.”

Over Asset declaration, he said:

It is to be noted that the Chief of Army Staff has done so soon on his appointment as Commander, Multinational Joint Task Force in May 2015 and also on his appointment as Chief of Army Staff in July 2015. Copies of both are with the Code of Conduct Bureau.

This directive is in order, considering the fact that all military officers are having Presidential Commission and are public servants, as well as subject to both civil and military laws.

In addition, given the current drive of the country for probity and accountability, the Nigerian Army should not only key in but should be one of the key drivers for such laudable project.

Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman - Acting Director Army Public Relations