There are indications that the Federal Government has converted the 1.1bn mansion seized from the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (retd) to office.
The property, which is located on Plot 6 Ogun River Crescent, Maitama, a highbrow area in Abuja, is currently being used by the Presidential Committee on the North-East Intervention, headed by Lt.-Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, a former Minister of Defence.
The warning inscription, ‘EFCC, Keep Off!’ which was written in red ink on the fence, had been deleted, Punch reports.
However, a second building (although uncompleted) seized from Badeh, which is located directly opposite the one converted by the Federal Government, still has the EFCC inscription on its fence.
A source in the area said, “The property was given to us by the government to work. I know that the EFCC seized the property some months ago but it was given to us to work.”
The EFCC is prosecuting Badeh, alongside a firm, IyalikamNigeria Limited, on 10 counts of money laundering bordering on alleged fraudulent removal of about N3.97bn from the Nigerian Air Force account.
A former Director of Finance and Account of the Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Aliyu Yishau (retd.), who is a prosecution witness against Badeh, had informed the court that while Badeh was the Chief of Air Staff, he routinely helped Badeh to divert the sum of N558.2m by converting it to its dollar equivalent.
He said he personally helped Badeh to buy the N1.1bn property which has now been converted to Federal Government’s use.
He had said, “Sometime in January 2013, when I was taking the normal amount to him (Badeh) in dollars, he directed that we should pay for the house. So, he brought out the balance in dollars and made up the equivalent of N1.1bn.”
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