Alex Badeh escorted to court by EFCC operatives
Mustapha Yerima, a prosecution witness in the trial of former Chief
of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, has narrated how he was instructed to lie
to authorities and pretend to be the owner of Badeh’s N1.8 billion
shopping mall.
The fourth witness who began testifying on Monday, said he was
instructed by Badeh’s protégé, Salisu Yushau, to tell the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), that the shopping mall constructed
on a land said to have belonged to the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele
Fayose, belonged to his company, Right Builders Nigeria Limited.
"We continued our work after payments were made until one
fateful morning, one of the site supervisors called me that the EFCC
operatives are looking for me. Immediately I drove down to the site,
they asked if the property belongs to Dasuki, I told them I have never
seen or met Dasuki,” the witness said.
“I was asked to report to their office by 3:00pm. Before I got
to their office, I called Air Commodore Yushau (former director of
finance at the Nigerian Air force), to tell him what happened. Yushau
told me that since we are into property development as a company, I
should claim the property because he was scared,” Yerima stated.
He also said the property in question was at the time, under the
supervision of Badeh’s son, Alex Junior, adding that Yushau’s initial
response was for him (Yerima) to contact Alex Junior.
“He panicked, that since he has handed over the project to the
original owner, and it was Alex Badeh Junior that was coordinating, I
should call him, which I did, but he told me that his father was not
around and that I should call Yushau back.
“After I spoke with Badeh Junior, he said he had discussed with
Yushau and he will give me directives on what to tell the EFCC
operatives,” Yerima stated, adding that it was during his second
call to Yushau that he (Yushau) instructed him to claim ownership of the
said property.
While explaining how he complied with the directive, and what
eventually led to his confession, Yerima said he was called during the
purchase of the land by a man identified as Timothy Muje who was Badeh’s
lawyer and they scheduled a meeting with Muje at Wuse 2, Abuja.
"We met and he handed over some of the property documents to
me, including the original certificate of occupancy, deed and power of
attorney between Ayodele Fayose and one Tony.
“He also handed over the power of attorney and deed between Tony and Kasamgo Investment, which was signed,” Yerima said.
He however added that a deliberate attempt was made by his
instructors to prevent him from having the power of attorney and deed of
assignment between Right Builders and Kasamgo.
"But when I got to EFCC, it was a different ball game because I
was confronted with some chilling evidences. I was confronted with so
many documents such as copies of drawing, bill of quantity, statement of
accounts and so many other documents including email correspondences,
at that point I had no option but to tell EFCC exactly the way things
were," Yerima said.
Yerima said in court on Monday that the approximate cost of the
shopping mall, after construction was about N1.8 billion, and that the
land where the said shopping mall was constructed had belonged to the
Ekity State governor, Ayodele Fayose, adding that the cost of the land
was N650 million.
No comments:
Post a Comment