One of the suspects arrested for the murder of former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, rtd, Shuaibu Rabi, on Wednesday said they had only wanted to rob him.
He made the revelation while being interrogated by policemen in Hausa language.
According to a report by Punch, Rabi, 25, said he and his friends received information that Badeh was in possession of a huge sum of money which he wanted to use in purchasing a parcel of land in Nasarawa State.
The report quoted Rabi as saying: “What happened was that, on a certain day, my elder brother went to a market, where he met with one Churuma. Churuma told him that he got information that an old soldier (Badeh) wanted to buy a parcel of land but would be buying the land in cash.
“He said we would trail the soldier on that day and we would block him and collect the money. So, on that day, when we saw him coming, Churuma signalled to us that it was him. Some of us stayed behind his vehicle in case he would want to reverse while Churuma stayed in front.
“But when he (Badeh) saw Churuma with a gun, he did not do like he wanted to reverse, he attempted to hit Churuma with his car but Churuma dodged to the side and then opened fire on him.
“After that, we opened the car and found a bag of money and went with it. When they opened the bag, the money was beyond what I had ever seen before.”
When asked if the money was in naira or foreign currency, the suspect said it was in naira. He also disclosed that they were abducted Badeh’s friend who was in the car.
Recall that the former CDS was killed on December 18, 2018 while returning from his farm between Koso and Kugwaru communities. He was with a friend and his driver,
While the driver was shot, the friend was abducted.
READ ALSO: BREAKING: Badeh’s alleged killers arrested-Police
The former CDS’ four military guards who provided security were said to have been a few kilometres away when the attack took place.
Police believe that Badeh’s decision to carry out transactions in cash was because all his accounts had been frozen by the EFCC. Before his death, Badeh was being prosecuted by the financial crimes body for alleged diversion of N3b from the account of the Air Force.
The Police had on Wednesday said it had nabbed some of the suspects in the killing of the former CDS and that it was intensifying efforts to track down other accomplices.
Police spokesman, Jimoh Moshood explained that the investigation into the killing was being carried out by the Joint Police Investigation Team set up by the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris.
He stated that the suspects were not paraded so as not to jeopardize the ongoing investigation, adding that the force would not relent until all the perpetrators were brought to justice.
PUNCH
