The Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has said that anyone who claims that the President received pensions from the army should face “criminal investigation.”Garba said this on Wednesday, claiming that the President did not receive pension or cars from the army, as did former commanders-in-chief.
“After his overthrow, they didn’t remember him, even in the annual distribution of diaries or calendars. Since his overthrow as military ruler, the army did not institute a pension for him,” Garba said.
He added that the President stopped collecting “allowances that are usually paid to former heads of state” the moment he took office as elected President last year.
“This is verifiable from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation,” he said; adding that, “If anyone is laying his/her hand on any such payment, they should face criminal investigation.”
He said though the army was known to supply cars to former heads of the army, Buhari did not get any.
“On the other hand, there is a directorate in the SGF’s office paying allowances to all ex-heads of state. This is not pension. And President Buhari stopped collecting this from last year.
“The cars he got came from the former President through the ONSA. This was after the bomb attack on his convoy in Kaduna.
“Before this time, the Presidency did not supply cars to him as they did to the former heads of state,” Garba said.