Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, has fixed March 1, 2022, for adoption of final addresses in the trial of a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Umar Dikko.
The ex-air chief was first arraigned on January 25, 2017 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on a seven-count charge of money laundering and procurement fraud to the tune of N9.7bn but six of the counts were dismissed following a no-case submission.
The trial resumed with the continuation of his cross-examination by the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Sylvanus Tahir, where Dikko told the court how he bought properties worth N4.7bn through estacodes.
According to the ex Air Force Boss, he earned the estacodes from training and flying many African Presidents.
“For 36 years of my service, my lord, I served in the Presidential Fleet for 17 years. Most of the flights I took were external trips outside Nigeria, and I went for many training trips outside the country,” he said.
Read Also: CJN Task Judicial Officers To Desist From Corrupt Practices
Dikko further disclosed that he flew all African Presidents during his years in service, except 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 further claimed.
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 extrajudicial statement to the EFCC.
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.
