The trial of former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammed Dikko Umar, resumed on Monday, before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, with the prosecution counsel, Sylvanus Tahir cross-examining the defendant.
Under cross-examination, Dikko told the court that he served for 36 years with the Nigerian Air Force, and also owns three farms in Kaduna and Abuja.
According to him, the Abuja farm is 17 hectares of land and the other two in Kaduna are four hectares and 200 hectares respectively.
He said he took over as chief of air staff on September 8, 2010, and retired on October 1, 2012.
Justice Dimgba thereafter adjourned the matter till Thursday, September 30, 2021, for the continuation of trial after the conclusion of the cross-examination by the prosecution.
Dikko was first arraigned on January 25, 2017, on a seven-count charge of money laundering and procurement fraud to the tune of N9.7 billion.
But on February 23, 2021, Justice Dimgba, ruling on a no-case submission filed by the defendant, discharged and acquitted the former chief of air staff on six out of the seven-count money laundering charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice Dimgba said it found merit in the no-case submission filed by Dikko in relation to counts one to six of the charge and refused and dismissed the no-case submission in relation to count seven.
“I hereby direct the defendant to open his defence in relation to this count,” Justice Dimgba held in the ruling.
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