Mohammed Umar
President Muhammadu Buhari's close friend and ally, Mohammed Umar
has been arrested on the orders of the president. Umar who is a key
member of the panel investigating the mismanagement of public funds
meant for the war against Boko Haram was arrested after the president
received damning reports that he was involved in alleged money
laundering and illegal possession of firearms.
According to the report made by PREMIUM TIMES,
Buhari okayed the arrest of Mohammed Umar, after perusing reports
alleging that the retired Air Force officer ran a blackmailing and
extortion cartel, officials said.
Mr. Umar was arrested last week as operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) raided his Abuja home.
Those familiar with the matter said before moving against the
retired officer, the Director General of the SSS, Lawal Daura, met with
Mr. Buhari where he tabled reports suggesting that the panel member had
been busy using the name of the president and other top officials of the
administration to intimidate, extort and blackmail individuals and
businesses.
“The president became worried and jittery when he was confronted with the way a man he trusted had been behaving,” a presidency source said.
“So he ordered that he should be picked up while the allegations against him are thoroughly investigated.”
It was gathered that documents seized from Mr. Umar’s residence
during a raid on June 19 included classified documents from the
president’s office, details of government transactions from the Central
Bank of Nigeria, and details of bank transactions belonging to the
Office of the National Security Adviser.
A document containing details of disbursements made to the Nigerian
armed forces and security agencies was also recovered during the raid.
Mr. Umar retired as an air commodore in the Nigerian Air Force in
January 2014. While in service, he headed the Air Force’s Holding
Company as well as the Air Force Properties Limited. He retired into
enormous wealth, officials involved in the investigations said.
Currently, he has six companies, including a private jet company with a fleet size of 10 aircraft, officials said.
Security sources also said he is also one of Abuja’s biggest property owners.
“Many top government functionaries live in his houses in Abuja,” a security source said. “He also has properties in Dubai and London.”
According to court documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr. Umar carried out his recent deals in cash only.
Despite owning a private jet company and multiple real estates
across the world, the total amount traced to his bank accounts was only
N165 million.
The total value of currencies evacuated from his residence during the raid was at least N300 million.
Security officials believe he received the cash payments – in breach of the money laundering law.
Investigators are also trying to determine whether the cash were proceeds of illicit deals and influence peddling.
Those close to him told PREMIUM TIMES that part of the cash taken
from Mr. Umar’s home were payments for services rendered by his private
jet company, Easy Jet Integrated Services Limited – from two cargo
flights from Nairobi to Houston and Nairobi to Hong Kong.
Investigators said they are working to verify the claims.
Other properties seized from the retired officer’s home during the
raid include 13 luxury cars – One Range Rover, two Rolls Royce, two
Bentleys, one BMW 7-series, one Mercedes 5550, one Lexus Sports, one
Audi R8 and one Porsche Panamera GTs.
As of Monday, Mr. Umar was still held at the State Security Service
detention centre in Abuja as security officials continued with
investigations into the matter.
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