Court remands Badeh in prison

Okon Abang, justice of the federal high court, Abuja, has remanded Alex Badeh, former chief of defence staff, in prison pending the determination of his application for bail.

Abang had dismissed an earlier application for bail filed by Samuel Zibiri, counsel to Badeh, on the grounds that it was incompetent.

Zibiri had filed the application on March 2, before the arraignment of his client.

But the judge held that it was out of place to file an application for bail before the arraignment of an accused person.

He, thereafter, dismissed the application and asked the defence 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.

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.

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 sons 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.

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 contrary to section 15(2) (d) of the money laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under section 15(3) of the same Act‎.

“That you Air Chief Marshal Alex S Badeh (whilst being the Chief of Air Staff, Nigerian air force) and Iyalikam Nigeria Limited between January and December 2013, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did use dollar equivalent of the sum of N650,000,000 (Six hundred and fifty million naira only), removed from the accounts of the Nigeria Air Force, to purchase for yourselves a commercial plot of land, situate at Plot 1386 Oda Crescent, Cadastral Zone A07, Wuse II, Abuja, when you reasonably ought to have known that the said funds formed part of the proceeds of unlawful activity (to wit: criminal breach of trust and corruption) of Air Chief Marshal Alex S Badeh and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 15(2)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.

“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 an aggregate sum of N878,362,732.94 (eight hundred and seventy-eight million, three hundred and sixty-two thousand, seven hundred and thirty-two naira, ninety-four kobo), removed from the accounts of the Nigerian air force and paid into the account of Rytebuilders Technologies Limited with Zenith Bank Plc for the construction of a shopping mall, situate at Plot 1386 Oda Crescent, Cadastral Zone A07, Wuse II, Abuja, for yourselves, when you reasonably ought to have known that the said funds formed part of the proceeds of unlawful activity (to wit: criminal breach of trust and corruption) of Air Chief Marshal Alex S Badeh and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 15(2)(d)of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.”