Witness narrates how Badeh bought Fayose’s land for N650m

A Federal High Court in Abuja has been told how the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh, acquired a land belonging to one Ayodele Fayose for the construction of a shopping mall in Wuse 11, Abuja.

This was disclosed by a contractor, Mr. Mustapha Yerima, on Monday, at the continuation of Badeh’s trial over allegation of diversion of over N3.9 billion from the accounts of the Nigerian Air Force, while he served as Chief of Air Staff.

Yerima, the managing director of Rytebuilders Technologies Limited, said Badeh paid his company N1.2billion to construct a multipurpose shopping mall for him in Abuja, while

The witness, called as the fourth prosecution witness by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, said Badeh paid N650million to acquire the land where the mall was constructed.

Read Also : EFCC obtains order to detain Fani-Kayode for another 21 days
According to him, the land situate at plot 1386, Oda Crescent, Cadastral Zone, A07, close to Aminu Kano Crescent in Wuse II, Abuja, was originally registered in the name of one Ayodele Fayose.

Yerima however did not clarify if the Fayose he made reference to is the current Governor of Ekiti State.

He however told the court that at the point negotiation was to commence on land, it was discovered that the ownership had been transferred to one Mr. Tony who he said was the owner of Hytechs Furniture.

Continuing, Yerima said it was a former Director of Finance and Account at the NAF, Air Commodore Abdullahi Yushau, retd, that helped Badeh to facilitate the purchase of the land. Yushua had earlier been called by the EFCC as the first prosecution witness.

The witness said when it was discovered that Fayose had transferred ownership to ‘Mr. Tony’ whose surname he could not remember, he said they immediately sought for his contact, adding that when they got him,it was again discovered that the land had been sold to a third party, one Casagro Investment Limited.

“We got back to Yushua to inform him. Because there were other agents involved, we got to find out where Casagro Investment is based. Yushua then directed us to go and negotiate with Casagro Investment Ltd. When we got to the firm, it named the price as N650m.

“After then we got back to Yushua and told him the price and he said he would get back to us. He later called us and gave us N650m in dollar equivalent because Casagro insisted on cash payment.

“We took the money to his office; he confirmed and gave us all the original documents of the land. Again we called Yushau and asked him on whose name should the documents be registered, namely the Deed of Assignment and the Power of Attorney.

“Yushua told me that we should prepare the documents in our company’s name, which he said we would later transfer to another company after we might have discussed with his boss in person of Air Marshal Badeh.

“We did exactly as he said because at that time our interest was to construct the mall. We handed over the original documents to Yushua.

 

 

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now