A witness in the ongoing trial of former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (rtd) has told an Abuja Federal High Court how he bought a land belonging to Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, for N650 million.
The witness, Mustapha Yerima, who is the managing director of a contracting firm, Right Builders Limited told the court that he got to know about the land during a negotiation with a company, Kasamgo Investment, for the purchase of a land, on which his company would construct a mall for Mr. Badeh.
According to the witness, it all started in 2013 when he found out about the plan of the Nigerian Air Force to engage the services of contractors for the construction of a mall for Badeh who was then the Chief of Air Staff.
He said he bided for the contract, alongside a friend of his, and they won.
“The director of finance, Air Commodore Yushau approached me and said his boss is very pleased with our job and that he will want to give us a job. Then we scheduled a meeting.
“When we met, he told me the nature of the job, and that it deals with the construction of malls.”
He said Mr. Yushau informed him about a commercial property, which would be used, after buying, for the construction of the said mall, adding that the property belonged to Mr. Fayose.
He noted that as part of the contract, they were to engage in the process of purchase for their partners, Badeh and Yushau.
Yerima said at the time of the negotiation however, the said land had been sold off by Fayose and that the buyer had also sold it to a third party.
“Yushau called again that they have found the person who bought the land from Ayodele Fayose.
“We contacted the person, a certain Mr. Tony, I can’t recall the last name.
He is the owner of Hitex furniture”.
“We got to him and realised that he sold to a third party. (Kasamgo Investment Ltd.),” Yerima said.
The witness stated that they bided for the land with its last owner and decided to buy at the cost of N650 million.
“Because there were some other agents, we also got to find out where Kasamgo Investment is.
“We got to Kasamgo and he named his price: N650 million. Then we went back to Yushau and told him the price,” he stated.
Yerima said Yushau gave them N650 million in dollar equivalent, because the owners of Kasamgo Investment insisted on cash payment.
After the purchase, Yerima said he asked about the name to be used for the documentation of the land, and was told to use the name of his company.
He added that after the purchase, they were given the Certificate of Occupancy, and that it was at that point he discovered that the land at a point belonged to Fayose.
