- As FG converts Badeh’s N1.1bn mansion to Office over Arms scam
The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has expressed its disgust with the perceived overzealous and excessive interventions of the Police in purely Ports affairs, and subsequently called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to call them to order.
In a letter to the IGP, and made available to the Maritime First, the body was particularly aghast with the over bearing nature of some junior officers, thereby making nonsense of the exalted position of the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) already deployed to the maritime sector.
“However our experience with other units of the Nigerian Police with regard to port related matters has not been pleasant but regrettable, a blatant undermining of the essence or relevance of the above-named officers at our port”, declared the Secretary General, Arthur Igwilo, noting that aside from the fact that Customs related matters are highly technical, the appropriateness of AIG Maritime and his officers in line with trade facilitations and crime prevention cannot be overemphasized.
“And for the reasons under the general powers of a proper Police officer to attend to reasonable information and/or as the case may be for an aggrieved person, it is our view that such a case be referred to the appropriate unit of the Police for redress.
“In this wise, the office of the AIG or the Commissioner of Police Ports comes to mind. The essence of professionalism and division of labour cannot be overemphasized in this circumstance.
“It is a common knowledge that it is most convenient for the AIG to seek an expert opinion from the Customs Area Command if he must go further with the case as reported. Our IG Sir, it is on record that your predecessors may have earlier directed various zones within the jurisdiction of the seaports to always refer cases related to Customs formalities to the Customs and/or the Police officers deployed to the port functions.
“It is with deep sense of humility and regrets that some Units of the Police in the Western operations have constantly dabbled into port related matters aside from the fact that Nigerian Police is duly assigned to the ports under the supervision of an AIG of Police.
“May we therefore appeal to your esteemed office to give direction and general order in this regard because, Nigeria Police is one. The purpose of this letter is not to report any particular unit or Command of the Nigerian Police in the Western Zone but to create an atmosphere of
professionalism, best practices and friendship in our ports operations.
“In due course we may be very specific to mention the Police Units and formations which other than engage themselves in their assigned duty are usually dabbling into Customs related matters. We have the confidence and trust that the leadership of the Nigerian Police at ports can represent Nigerian Police in all matters related to ports operations and management.
Sir, we wish to add and emphasize that the ports are quite sensitive to the National economy and as such nothing should be done to undermine this.
“Our expectation under the current state and mood of the nation is that we should all join hand with Mr. President and his officers to write the wrongs of Nigeria. The greatest problem today in our country has to do with matters in relation to rule of law and enforcement. This is why we agree with Mr. President as to the need to sanitize the judiciary.
Special Fraud Unit of the Nigerian Police (SFU) as a specialized fraud unit can be understood when the need arises on maritime criminal matters”, Igwilo
In the meantime, a 1.1bn mansion seized from the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (retd.), has been converted to an office to be used by the Federal Government, The PUNCH has learnt.
Our correspondent, who visited the property located on Plot 6 Ogun River Crescent, Maitama, a highbrow area in Abuja, learnt that the property is being used by the Presidential Committee on the North-East Intervention headed by Lt.-Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, a former Minister of Defence.
Our correspondent observed that the warning, ‘EFCC, Keep Off!’ which was written in red ink on the fence, had been wiped off.
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.
Some gardeners and other domestic workers were seen clearing the grass and sweeping the compound when our correspondent visited the place.
Our reporter, who entered into the main building, noticed that the rooms had been converted into offices while desks had been set up at strategic positions.
When our correspondent approached one of the workers, he 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, Iyalikam Nigeria 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.”
The EFCC lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), had told the court that the EFCC searched the property and recovered $1m in cash.
Jacobs said although Badeh had denied ownership of the property, his belongings, including photographs, were found in it during a search by the operatives of the commission.
Our correspondent learnt that the decision to convert Badeh’s property may be connected to the Federal Government’s plan to convert seized properties to government use and save cost.
It will be recalled that the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, had disclosed at the opening of a meeting with the members of the National Steering Committee of the Efficiency Unit on June 10, 2016, that the Muhammadu Buhari-led government was planning to convert some of the seized properties to offices in a bid to save money spent on rent.
Additional report from Punch
