Nigeria’s ex-military chief to be retried for N9.7bn theft

thecornetadmin August 5, 2022

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Judge's court wig and hammer or gavel for illustration Photo credit:iStock

Mohammed Dikko Umar, a former chief of air staff, will face a re-trial on charges of misappropriating public funds.

This forms the ruling of a three-man appeal court’s panel on Thursday.

The judgment has nullified a high court ruling initially freeing the former military chief of the charges. The court merely asked Umar to pay N57million back to the government.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s statement on the appeal said, “In a unanimous judgment, a [three-member] panel of justices led by Justice Elfrieda Oluwayemisi Williams-Dawodu upturned the judgment of the lower court and ordered that the defendant to continue with his defence on counts 1,2,3,5 and 6,” EFCC said.

The anti-graft body is prosecuting Umar for laundering N9.7billion stolen through procurement fraud

The EFCC said Umar committed the offence while in office, between 2010 and 2012.