A mild drama occurred on
Thursday morning at the Federal High Court in Abuja as armed policemen stormed
the courtroom when the trial of a former Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh was
about to commence.
The presence of the armed
policemen was informed by security threats against the judge.
The reason for the presence of heavily armed
police men is as a result of security threats against the trial judge.
Justice Okon Abang, while
responding to an enquiry by Badeh’s counsel, Akin Olujimi ordered the policemen
to stay outside the courtroom saying, “their presence is a court issue.”
Badeh is facing an 11-count
charge of
criminal breach of trust and corruption to the tune of N3.9bn leveled against
him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The EFCC had alleged that the
former defence chief used funds of the Nigeria Air Force to purchase choice
property in Abuja.
According to the anti-graft
agency, Badeh illegally used N60m to renovate his son’s house, which he
purchased for N260m in Abuja between January and December 2013.
The ex-defence chief is also
alleged to have used N878m – being funds of the air force – to build a shopping
mall in Abuja.