#Dasukigate: Read What Indicted Military Officers Said About Their Ordeal

25.01.2016 11:37

Following the ongoing investigation into the $2.1 billion arms procurement fund, some of the Army officers indicted in the scam have cried foul.

Former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh and others indicted in the $2.1 billion arms scam will be interrogated in batches.

The officers alleged that they were not allowed to appear before the Special Investigative Committee (SIC) before being referred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Meanwhile, the EFCC has gathered a team to interrogate the indicted officers in the shady arms deal. Those to be interrogated are a former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, and 17 others, including 11 senior military officers.

The list of military officers to be quizzed also includes two former Chiefs of Air Staff, Air Marshals M.D. Umar and A.N. Amosu (rtd). Others to be grilled are 22 companies traced to associates and relatives of some of the suspects.

Also to be questioned are: AVM A. M. Mamu (the Chief of Administration); AVM O.T. Oguntoyinbo (former Director of Production, Defence Headquarters); AVM R.A. Ojuawo (Air Officer Tactical Air Command, Makurdi; AVM J.B. Adigun (former Chief of Accounts and Budgeting in NAF); and AVM JA Kayode-Beckley (Director, Armament Research in Air Force Research and Development Centre); AVM T Omenyi (MD, NAF Holdings) four top officers at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ), Air Cdre A.O. Ogunjobi; Air Cdre G.M.D Gwani; Air Cdre S.O. Makinde; Air Cdre A.Y. Lassa and Col. N. Ashinze , who was the Special Military Assistant to the ex-National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.). Col. Ashinze is in the EFCC’s custody.

The Nation reports that a source within the anti-graft agency disclosed that the officers would be quizzed in batches.

The anti-graft agency has quizzed Alex Badeh Jr., son of the former Chief of Defence Staff, in connection with the arms scandal.

“We are going ahead with the interrogation of some former and serving military officers as recommended. There is no going back on this. We have a team ready to interact with these officers and about 22 companies. But we will conduct the interrogation in batches.

“Very soon, we will invite these officers. We have a schedule of how we will conduct our findings,” the source said.

The source also confirmed that some serving and former military chiefs have raised issues on why they were referred to the EFCC because the sic had not invited them.

“We were surprised that the EFCC has been mandated to interact with some of us when we were never invited by the sic which made the recommendation to the Presidency.

“This is an area we want the President and Commander-In-Chief, HE Muhammadu Buhari, to look at. The sic did some preliminary work for EFCC to act upon. But we were not asked to appear. We are not afraid of accounting for our tenure but due process must be followed,” the source said.

However, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, who was the former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has denied ever receiving any invitation from the EFCC contrary to reports.

Muazu’s aide, who spoke on behalf of his boss, said: “Contrary to what is being reported, Mu’azu is yet to receive any invitation from the EFCC or any agency.

“The ex-PDP National Chairman is also not aware of any allegation against him. Yet we read of N500 million and some ambiguous figures on a daily basis. Some even alleged that the former governor is on the run, which is not true. Mu’azu was a party leader and he did not go beyond his bound while leading the PDP.”

In a related development, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, may risk arrest as the House of Representatives Ad-hoc committee, investigating sharp practices in the collection and management of non-oil revenue remittances by ministries, departments and agencies is irked over failure of honouring invitation.

Meanwhile, Dasuki has filed a suit against the federal government before the ECOWAS court in Abuja over his continued detention. In the suit filed by his lawyer, Robert Emukpoeruo, Dasuki wants the court to declare among other things that his continued detention after having been granted bail by three different courts and met the conditions for his release, was “unlawful, arbitrary and an egregious violation” of his human rights.

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