Ex-Customs Boss, Abdullahi Dikko, Returns N1billion To FG

Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko, a former Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service(NCS), is said to have returned N1,040,000, 000 to the Federal Government. Dikko served as the head of customs between August 2009 and August 2015. He has been on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) radar since the anti-graft agency established that about N40billion was diverted from the coffers of the NCS under his watch. The funds were allegedly drawn from proceeds of the seven per cent cost of collection and one per cent comprehensive import supervision scheme. He was then arrested by the EFCC in June 2016 and later released due to his poor health. The EFCC later seized a mansion{valued at N2billion} belonging to him located at 1 Audu Ogbeh Street, Jabi, Abuja. He is also believed to own properties in Dubai and in Katsina, his home state.
A source within the EFCC has however told PUNCH that Dikko has been returning money to the federal government.According to the source, “So far, Dikko has returned over N1bn. He returned N1bn and then N4m. He is still expected to return more money. The EFCC Act Section 71 (b) gives us the power to commence investigations into the property of any person if it appears to the EFCC that the person’s lifestyle and extent of properties are not justified by law. Section 28 says concerning those arrested under the Act, the commission will immediately trace and attach all the assets and seizures of such a person which have been acquired. Section 29 permits the assets of a person arrested under Section 28 to be seized by the state. Dikko was a customs officer and served for about 30 years. He has to explain where he got the money to buy a mansion of N2bn.”