There
is tension within the Nigerian Navy as the EFCC commenced fresh investigations
into the three arms of the Armed Forces.
The
Federal Ministry of Finance had on Thursday directed the anti-graft agency to
investigate the payroll of the military.
The
ministry said the investigation followed revelations in the course of the trial
of a former Chief of Defence Staff, retired Air Marshal Alex Badeh, at the
Federal High Court, Abuja, that N558.2m was diverted monthly from the NAF
accounts into private pockets.
The
EFCC had since January been investigating only the air force and the Nigerian
Army.
However,
with the new directive, it means that the Nigerian Navy would be included in
the EFCC probe.
A
source at the EFCC said, “We were investigating only the army and the air force
because they were the ones given funds to fight Boko Haram. Since the battle
has only been in the North-East where there is no piracy, the navy was not
really involved in the arms deal and we therefore did not focus on them during
investigations.
“However,
with this new directive, we will go after the navy. We are aware that part of
the NIMASA fraud also involved some navy personnel. We will now do a full-scale
investigation.”
Tags
Politics