Air Commodore Salisu Abdullahi Yusha’u (retd.), today (March 24th 2016) told the Federal High Court Abuja that earmarking N558 million for the office of the Chief of Air Staff, was a usual monthly practice in the Nigerian Air force.
He also told the court that the practice has been in existence even before Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh came into office.
Under cross examination by the defence counsel Akin Olujimi SAN, Air Commodore Salisu Abdullahi Yusha’u confirmed he used to set aside the same amount to Badeh’s predecessor Air Marshall Umar.
He said similar amounts of money was readily made available at the end of the month to Air Marshal MD Umar long before Air Chief Marshal A.S Badeh was appointed Chief of Air staff
The principal witness also confirmed that Air Marshal A.S Badeh was not a signatory to the air force account, neither can he produce any written authorization from the defendant requesting for money to be transferred or paid to anybody.
Air Commodore Salisu Abdullahi Yusha’u also confirmed he informed Air Marshall A.S Badeh of the usual practice.
In his words “I gave the Chief the Complete Brief of the financial position of the Nigerian Airforce which included the usual practice“.
According to the witness, a retired director of Finance of the Nigerian Air Force, the sum of N4 billion was released to the Force as statutory monthly allocation for personnel salaries and allowances between September 2012 and December 2013.
Yusha’u, however, disclosed that out of this amount, only N2.3 billion is actually used for the emoluments.
He said that of the N1.7 billion outstanding, N558 million was usually earmarked for the office of Air-staff for general administration while the rest was disbursed to the various commands and units for priority projects and training.
He confirmed under cross-examination that he was the person who informed Air Chief Mashal Badeh of the usual practice and recommended that the money be released.
Earlier, the presiding Judge berated the EFCC for not complying with the courts directives with regards to Alex Badeh’s bail condition. Counsel to Badeh Akin Olujimi SAN had brought to the judges attention of the fact that the defendant had earlier met the bail conditions (after initially asking for variation) but that the EFCC had failed to do its part with regards to independently ascertaining the value of such properties and getting back to the court within 24 hours as to whether they met the conditions.
The judge ruled that he was compelled to vary the part of the condition that required EFCC to ascertain the value of those properties and get back to the court within 24 hours
Justice Okon Abng ruled that the EFCC cannot continue to hold the court to ransom while the defendant’s bail application is left to surfer while waiting for the commission to carry out a duty required of it by the law.
He said if the documents submitted by the sureties to the court registrar are verified, that he has no other choice but to order the release of the defendant from prison custody.
