On Thursday, a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammed Dikko (retd. ), to refund N57m to the Federal Government within seven days.
In his decision, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba ruled that the money spent on the refurbishment of the former Air Chief’s personal property should be restored to the Nigerian Air Force’s budget.
He stated that the N57m was placed into Capital Law Office’s Stanbic IBTC Account No. 9202077424 and utilized for the renovation/improvement of Dikko’s property located at No. 1853 Deng Xiao Ping Street, Off Mahathir Mohammed Street, Asokoro Extension Abuja.
“The defendant shall file a report of compliance with the above order with the registry of this court and serve a copy of same on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission within 10 working days from today.
“In the event of failure by the defendant to comply with the above orders of the court, the defendant’s property known as House No. 1853 Deng Xiao Ping Street, Off Mahathir Mohammed Street, Asokoro Extension Abuja shall stand permanently forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria as a tainted asset,” Justice Dimgba held.
Dikko, who was the Chief of Air Force between September 2010 and October 2012, was arraigned before the court on January 25, 2017.
The EFCC had in the charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/92/2016, accused him of complicity in money laundering and procurement fraud, to the tune of about N9.7bn.
The anti-graft agency, among other things, alleged that the defendant, while in officewithdrew N700m from the NAF account, and used same to purchase a choice property at a highbrow area within the Maitama District of Abuja.
He was further alleged to have fraudulently withdrawn N500m from the said NAF account to buy a four-bedroom duplex at Road 3B, Street 2, in Mabushi Ministers Hill, Abuja.
Meanwhile, in his judgement on Thursday, Justice Dimgba noted that whereas the EFCC had in the sole count of the charge pending before the court, alleged that N66m was removed from NAF account to renovate Dikko’s Abuja property, he said available evidence showed that what was transferred out of the account was N57m.
The court held that the EFCC failed to establish that it was Dikko that gave the directive for the fund to be withdrawn for the renovation of the property.