Nigeria: Former defence chief accused of using Boko Haram cash to buy mansion

Nigeria’s former chief of defence staff has appeared in court charged with siphoning off money meant for the fight against Boko Haram to buy a mansion and build a shopping mall. Retired air chief marshal Alex Badeh is accused by the elite anti-corruption agency, the economic and financial crimes commission, of fraud, criminal breach of trust and money laundering in relation to 3.97 billion naira (£14 million).

He is one of clutch of former military and security chiefs who served under former president Goodluck Jonathan to be prosecuted for corruption by the administration of his successor, Muhammadu Buhari.

Badeh, 59, is accused of stealing public money when he was chief of air staff in 2013. The following year, he was appointed chief of defence staff by Jonathan amid growing dissatisfaction at the military's handling of Boko Haram's insurgency. He made headlines by vowing, in January 2014, to “wrap up” the activities of the militant group by April.

 “Don’t worry, Nigerians should have faith in their military,” he told a press conference. “The nation will win this war.” In April however the military was in disarray, with soldiers mutinying over a lack of equipment, and more than 200 schoolgirls were abducted from the town of Chibok. The EFCC said Badeh and a company he is co-charged with withdrew 1.1 billion naira from the accounts of the Nigerian air force to buy a mansion in Abuja's upmarket Maitama district, a federal high court in Abuja heard on Monday.

It also alleged that Badeh and the same company used the dollar equivalent of 650 million naira from air force funds to buy "a commercial plot" of land, with a further 1.2 billion naira used "for the construction of a shopping mall". The former defence chief denies all the charges. He was remanded in custody until his bail application hearing, which will take place on Thursday. Sambo Dasuki, the former national security advisor to Jonathan, is currently facing a separate trial over his alleged diversion of billions of dollars for weapons procurement using bogus defence contracts