$2.1bn Arms Probe: Badeh Seeks Release From EFCC Custody

The Former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, through his team of lawyers, yesterday, begged the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to compel the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to release him from detention. Badeh, who has been in custody of the

anti-graft agency since February 8, following his alleged involvement in the $2.1billion arms procurement fraud, told the court that his health has deteriorated badly owing to his continued incarceration. He told the court that he is currently recovering from a recent surgery on his spinal
cord for Lumbo-sacral Spondylosis, saying he also has a history of Renal Lithiasis (kidney stones). In a fundamental right enforcement application that was moved in court yesterday by his legal team led by Chief J.K. Gadzama, SAN and Samuel Zibiri, SAN, the former military chief said “his blood pressure has risen to alarmingly high levels”, since his ordeal with the EFCC. He prayed Justice John Tsoho for an order “admitting the applicant to bail on self recognizance, or in such favourable and liberal terms as this court may deem fit to make in the circumstance of the case pending further investigation by the respondent and/or arraignment before this court”.