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.
