A witness for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Abdullahi Yushau on Wednesday told the Federal High court presided over by Justice Okon Abang that former Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh’s son rejected a house of N340m, adding that another property worth N330m was purchased for him in Abuja.
Yushau, former Director of Finance and Accounting in the Nigerian Airforce told the court that the properties were procured while Badeh was the Chief of Air Staff from funds meant for the salaries of Air force personnel.
Yushau in his testimony said, “Badeh told me he wanted his second son, Kam, to own a house and I started looking for one, which I eventually got and the name of the owner of house is Isiaka Rabiu.
“I made some enquiries and got to know the price of the house, which is about N340m, this I told Badeh and he directed me to go ahead and pay, which I did. I paid the dollar equivalent of the money to Rabiu.”
Yushau further explained that, “When Kam saw the house, he didn’t like it and he may have informed Badeh, who later instructed me to look for another property.”
“One evening, I was sitting in my house. One Honourable Bature called and requested me to see him. He was then living at Kumasi crescent at Wuse 2. When I saw him, he told me he wanted to sell his house. He was building another house somewhere.
“He requested me to find someone who can buy the house. I told my chief and he said he wouldn’t like Honourable Bature to know that he was the one buying.
“I told him we could use Barrister Useni Umar. I told Useni that my boss would like to buy a house, but he wouldn’t want the buyer to know he is the one buying. I took Useni to Honourable Bature as an agent. After two days, the barrister told me he had concluded negotiation with Bature and that he had agreed to sell the house for N330m.
“Badeh then directed that I should pay for the house. I took the equivalent of N330m in dollars, which was deducted from the money I normally take to him and effected the payment.
“I collected the title documents for the house and handed them over to the accused.”
Yushau also informed the court that Badeh procured another property worth N260m at Wuse 2 for his first son, Alex Badeh jnr and renovated it with N60m and furnished it with N90m.
Following a motion for adjournment by the defence counsel, Zibiri, Justice Abang adjourned the matter till March 23 for cross examination of the prosecution witness without fail.
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