The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has detained the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (retd.), in connection with his alleged role in the $2.1bn arms purchase scam.
Badeh, who was clad in a brown kaftan and a black cap, arrived at the EFCC office around 10am on Monday.
The former defence chief had visited the commission on Thursday last week but was asked to report to the agency’s office on Monday.
Badeh, who was accompanied by three unidentified men, was escorted into the Idiagbon House headquarters of the EFCC by armed operatives.
He was subsequently interrogated by detectives for several hours.
As of 10pm, Badeh was still in the custody of the anti-graft agency.
An EFCC operative, who confided in Punch, said, “Badeh arrived at our office at 10am and as of 10pm, he is still with us.”
It was gathered that the commission had assembled two teams of EFCC operatives, who began the interrogation of the former chief of defence staff at about 10.30am on Monday.
It was learnt that he was asked to account for contracts awarded by the Nigeria Air Force when he was the chief of defence staff.
According to reports, contracts totalling $930,500,690.00 were by the military awarded under the leadership of Badeh.
The money is said to be part of the $2.1bn, which was under the control of the Office of the National Security Adviser, then under the headship of Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd).
Badeh is also said to be answering questions on the non-specification of procurement costs, absence of contract agreements, award of contracts beyond authorised thresholds, transfer of public funds for unidentified purposes and general non-adherence with provisions of the Public Procurement Act.
Meanwhile, the EFCC has obtained repeated holding charge to keep a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu (retd.), and some senior officers of the NAF.
A top operative of the EFCC said on Monday that the legal department of the commission had approached the court to obtain an extension of the holding charge for Amosu and other military officers in its custody.
It was learnt that the commission took the action to avoid being accused of violating the law that stipulates that suspects should not be detained for more than 48 hours.
According to the report, Amosu is being interrogated in connection with 10 contracts awarded by the Nigeria Air Force.
The EFCC has been holding the former chief of air staff for two weeks after he was arrested in relation to the ongoing probe into arms procured under the Jonathan administration.
Amosu and some of the top personnel of the Air Force were picked up on January 28, 2016, by the EFCC to answer questions in connection with the arms probe.
It was further gathered that the commission released some of the officers, who were grilled in connection with the ongoing probe, on Friday.
It was learnt that the commission was still holding the former Air Chief because the investigation had not been concluded.
-Punch
Filed under: News Tagged: EFCC detains Badeh, gets order to hold Amosu
