EFCC to quiz Former chief of defence staff Alex Badeh, others in batches.

the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has raised  a team to interrogate a former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, and 17 others, including 11 senior military officers.

The officers, who have been mentioned in connection with the alleged $2.1 billion arms deals,  will be quizzed in batches, it was learnt at the weekend.

Some of the officers have, however, alleged that they were not allowed to appear before the Special Investigative Committee (sic) before being referred to the EFCC.

A former National  Chairman of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, has said he has not received any invitation from the anti-graft agency, contrary to reports.

The list of military officers to be grilled includes two former Chiefs of Air Staff, Air Marshals M.D. Umar and A.N. Amosu(rtd).

Others to be probed are 22 companies traced to associates and relatives of some of the suspects.

Also to be probed are: AVM A. M. Mamu (the Chief of Administration); AVM O.T.Oguntoyinbo (former Director of Production, Defence Headquarters);  AVM R.A. Ojuawo (Air Officer Tactical Air Command, Makurdi;  AVM J.B. Adigun(former Chief of Accounts and Budgeting in NAF); and AVM JA Kayode-Beckley (Director, Armament Research in Air Force Research and Development Centre); AVM T Omenyi (MD, NAF Holdings) four top officers at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ), Air Cdre A.O. Ogunjobi; Air Cdre G.M.D Gwani; Air Cdre S.O. Makinde; Air Cdre A.Y. Lassa and Col. N. Ashinze , who was the Special Military Assistant to the ex-National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).

Col. Ashinze is in the EFCC’s custody.

The anti-graft agency has quizzed  Alex Badeh Jr., son of the former Chief of Defence Staff, in connection with the arms scandal.

A source said: “We are going ahead with the interrogation of some former and serving military officers as recommended. There is no going back on this.

“We have a team ready to interact with these officers and about 22 companies. But we will conduct the interrogation in batches.

“Very soon, we will invite these officers. We have a schedule of how we will conduct our findings.”

Some serving and former military chiefs have raised issues on why they were referred to the EFCC because the sic had not invited them.

A source said: “We were surprised that the EFCC has been mandated to interact with some of us when we  were never invited by the sic which made the recommendation to the Presidency.

“This is an area we want the President and Commander-In-Chief, HE Muhammadu Buhari, to look at. The sic did some preliminary work for EFCC to act upon. But we were not asked to appear.

“We are not afraid of accounting for our tenure but due process must be followed.”

Mu’azu said he had not received any invitation from the EFCC or any anti-graft agency.

An aide to Muazu, who spoke on behalf of his boss, said: “Contrary to what is being reported, 

Mu’azu is yet to receive any invitation from the EFCC or any agency.

“The ex-PDP National Chairman is also not aware of any allegation against him. Yet we read of N500million and some ambiguous figures on a daily basis. Some even alleged that the former governor is on the run, which is not true.  Mu’azu was a party leader and he did not go beyond his bound while leading the PDP.