Nigeria's former Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice
Marshal Adesola Amosu, has been arrested and
detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) over allegations of massive
fraud that characterized arms procurement
during his tenure.
An EFCC source told SaharaReporters that the
retired air marshal is being investigated amongst
other acts for reportedly authorizing the
purchase of two helicopters without functional
rotors. He added that the former top military
officer later compelled two air force officers to
fly in one of the helicopters after the craft was
equipped with a rotor that was taken from an
unserviceable Russian-made helicopter gunship.
The air force officers died in a crash near Yola,
the capital of Adamawa State, because the
rotors fitted on their chopper was too heavy.
The source claimed that EFCC investigators had
so far traced nine luxury homes to Mr. Amosu.
The retired officer’s suspected homes include an
imposing property in the Government Reservation
Area (GRA) of Ikeja in Lagos State. Our source
stated that the Ikeja property is estimated at
more than N350 million.
President Muhammadu Buhari recently asked the
EFCC to launch a broad investigation of serving
and retired military officers suspected of looting
funds budgeted for the procurement of weapons
and other tools for the Nigerian military to
support the war against Islamist insurgents in
the country’s northeast.
One EFCC source revealed that agents of the
anti-corruption agency were working diligently on
numerous investigations involving other top
officers who may have milked the defense
budget.
Sahara reporters.
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