Justice
Okon Abang, of the federal high court, Abuja, has remanded Alex Badeh,
immediate past former chief of defence staff, in prison pending the
determination of his application for bail.
Abang
had dismissed a March 2 application for bail filed by his counsel Samuel
Zibiri, on the grounds of incompetence and asked the defense counsel to file a
fresh one. Zibiri had asked the court to remand Badeh in the custody of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and not in prison.
But
the court did not grant his request. Abang fixed March 10 for hearing of the
bail application, and March 14 for trial.
Three of
the charges reads: “That you Air Chief Marshal Alex S Badeh (whilst being the chief of air
staff, Nigerian air force) and Iyalikan Nigeria Limited, between January and
December, 2013, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did use the dollar
equivalent of the sum of N1, 100, 000, 000.00 (One billion, one hundred million
naira only), removed from the accounts of the Nigeria air force, to purchase
for yourselves a mansion situated at No 6 Ogun River street, off Danube street,
Maitama, Abuja, when you reasonably ought to have known that the said funds
formed part of proceed of unlawful activity (to wit: criminal breach of trust
and corruption) of Air Chief Marshal Alex S Badeh, and you thereby committed an
offence
The
EFCC on Monday arraigned Badeh before Abang. The former chief of defence staff
is facing an 11-count charge of criminal breach of trust
and corruption to the tune of N3.9bn. He arrived at the court a few minutes
before 9am in dark shades, and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
 |
| Alex Badeh's property in Wuse 11 Abuja. |
He
is alleged to have used funds of the Nigeria air force to purchase choice property
in Abuja. According to the EFCC, Badeh illegally used N60m to renovate his son’s
house, which he purchased for N260m in Abuja, between January and December
2013.
The
former defence chief is also alleged to have used N878m -being funds of the air
force- to build a shopping mall in Abuja.
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