A former Chief of Air Staff, Mohammed Dikko Umar, a retired air chief marshall, at the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, denied purchasing properties he acquired while in service with funds belonging to the Nigerian Air Force (NAF).
Mr Dikko faces one charge of money laundering, as six of the seven counts originally instituted against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) were earlier dismissed by the court in a ruling in February.
The EFCC had originally filed seven counts of money laundering against Mr Dikko, who was Nigeria’s Chief of Air Staff between September 2010 and October 2012. It accused him in the seven charges of diverting N4.8 billion from NAF’s accounts and using the fund to buy personal properties in choice areas of Abuja and other places.
The trial judge, Nnamdi Dimgba, dismissed six of the counts in February, on the grounds that the evidence given by the EFCC could not sustain the charges.
The remaining charge now has to do with alleged diversion of N66million from the NAF’s bank account.
But fielding questions under cross-examination by EFCC’s lawyer, Sylvanus Tahir, Mr Dikko said on Wednesday, that he acquired the properties with estacodes he earned from trainings and flying African Presidents while in service.
“For thirty six years of my service my lord, I served in the Presidential Fleet for seventeen years. Most of the flights I took were external trips outside Nigeria, and I went for many training trips outside the country,” he told the trial judge, Nnamdi Dimgba, while fielding cross-examination questions from the prosecutor on Wednesday.
A statement by the spokesperson for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, said Mr Dikko further disclosed that “he flew virtually all African Presidents during his years in service.”
Mr Dikko, who was being cross-examined by EFCC prosecutor, Sylvanus Tahir, said the only African leaders he did not fly while in service were the Presidents of Cote D’Ivoire and Togo.
“I have earned a lot of estacodes, lots of foreign trips and two farms in Abuja with about 17 hectares of land and the other two in Kaduna are four hectares and 200 hectares respectively. I have been a farmer throughout my life,” he added.
Asked why he did not provide the court with documents to back up his claims about the estacodes, he said nobody asked him to do so. He, however, added that he mentioned it in his statement to the EFCC.
Mr Dikko told the court that the Nigerian Air Force “has its own way of operation,” adding that the Service had no e-payment system during his time.