The immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (retd.), is being detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over his alleged role in the $2.1bn arms procurement fraud.

Badeh, who had initially visited the EFCC office last week Thursday, was asked to return to the commission on Monday, February 8.

Punch Newspapers reports that he arrived the the Idiagbon House headquarters of the EFCC alongside three unidentified men.

Badeh was said to have been interrogated by detectives for several hours, and is believed to still be in the custody of the anti-graft agency.

An EFCC operative, was quoted to have said: “Badeh arrived at our office at 10am and as of 10pm, he is still with us.”

During questioning, Badeh was reportedly asked to account for contracts awarded by the Nigeria Air Force when he served as chief of defence staff.

Contracts totalling $930,500,690.00 were said to have been awarded by the military under the leadership of Badeh. The funds released for these contracts are believed to have come from the $2.1bn, which was disbursed by the Office of the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd).

Badeh was also quizzed on the non-specification of procurement costs, absence of contract agreements, award of contracts beyond authorised thresholds, transfer of public funds for unidentified purposes and general non-adherence with provisions of the Public Procurement Act.

In a related case, the EFCC has obtained a holding charge to keep in its custody, former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu (retd.), and some senior officers of the NAF.

Amosu, who is being investigated over his role in 10 contracts awarded by the Nigeria Air Force, was reported to have refused to sign an undertaking that he would return some money or contract sums traced to him.

Subsequently, the legal department of the EFCC had on Monday, approached the court to obtain an extension of the holding charge for Amosu and other military officers in its custody.

The source was quoted to have said: “The commission has been making efforts to keep the former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu, and some of the senior officers being interrogated in connection with the arms issue.

“The legal department has been going to court to seek the extension of the holding charge against Amosu and others, who have been in detention since January 28, 2016. In fact, the department has obtained a holding charge against the former chief of air staff.

“You know that there is this provision in law that citizens should not be detained for longer than 48 hours without a holding charge. The commission does not want to run foul of that.

“However, some of the officers were released on Friday. The ones that are being detained have made statements linking them to Badeh’s interrogation. They are asked to wait because they have made statements that may need clarification when Badeh’s interrogation takes off.”