I Didn’t Say General Buratai Was Attacked, Senator Ndume Clarifies

Former Senate leader and senator representing Borno South, Ali Ndume, has denied media reports attributed to him that the former chief of army staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, narrowly escaped death as his convoy was attacked last Friday in Borno State by Boko Haram insurgents.

He was reported to have made the alleged revelation while speaking on Sunday on Channels TV’s monitored programme, Politics Today.

Ndume, however, dismissed the media reports in a statement on Tuesday as misleading and misrepresenting his statements.

In the statement he signed, the former senate chief whip clarified that “it was Buratai town in Borno State that was attacked, not the person of the erstwhile chief of army staff.”

Checks revealed that the former army chief is incidentally from Buratai town in the Biu local government area of Borno State.

The federal lawmaker further noted that what he said on Channels Television while speaking on security was that ” Even two days ago, Buratai (town) was attacked in front of the operations base in Borno. But the soldiers stood up to them, but they (the attackers) burnt down some of our assets. Usually, they burn assets like Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAPs), tanks, and heavy-duty machine guns that we have, and sometimes they steal some of this equipment and go with it.

“The situation is getting terrible in Borno, the situation is bad in all six geo-political zones, except in South South. Even in the South, we are grappling with economic sabotage like oil theft. South West is the only region that is relatively safe.”

The former senate leader appealed to journalists to avoid misrepresentation in news reporting and to avoid the embarrassing effect on politically exposed individuals and the integrity of such media organisations.

“I am surprised that the town of Buratai could be misconstrued as the person of General Buratai, who incidentally hails from the town.”