The $1billion set aside by President Muhammadu Buhari from the Excess Crude Account to buy military ammunition was released to the military and shared among the air force, the army, and the navy under the immediate past service chiefs.
It was learnt that the $1billion release, which was greeted with widespread criticisms when President Buhari announced so in April 2018, was approved by the National Assembly and shared with the military arms in 2019 without public knowledge to avoid more criticisms.
The administrations of the immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai (retd.), his contemporary in the air force, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar (retd.), and navy, Vice Admiral Ibok Ete-Ibas (retd.), received the funds but they deliberately chose not to make public knowledge of it.
In December 2018, Buratai, while addressing newsmen in Maiduguri, Borno State, had hinted that the money had been released but had not yet got to the army’s coffers.
“You know the process of funding is another major issue. The bureaucracy and so on is (are) another issue. Approvals are given but before you really get the money out is another challenge.
“So, the people are talking or the media have been talking of $1 billion that has been approved but I tell you up till today, the fund that is supposed to come from that amount to the army, in particular, is still in the Central Bank of Nigeria,” he had said.
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