Million-dollar US Property Allegedly Acquired By Top Nigerian Army General, Akerejola Uncovered As Soldiers Lament Poor Welfare, Obsolete Equipment

A million-dollar property located in the United States of America and owned by Maj. Gen. Erema Akerejola, Chief of Logistics of the Nigerian Army has been uncovered.

Documents seen by SaharaReporters show that the building which is located at 11860 Old Station Pl, Alpharetta, Georgia, 30004 is currently worth $1,013,000.

The Department of Army Logistics (DOAL) is responsible for all logistics matters in the Nigerian Army.

The department currently headed by Akerejola controls the entire Nigerian Army budget.

It also supervises all quartering services of the army, the military websites says.

The 4092 square feet property acquired by the Major General was constructed in 2012 and it contains 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.

The walls are covered with bricks.

While SaharaReporters could not confirm when Akerejola bought the property, an army source confirmed that payment for the property was made from funds diverted from the military budget.

Another source familiar with the property said the Army General put his wife’s name, Moturayo as owner of the house to “cover his tracks”.

“He currently has seven mansions in America acquired with army logistics funds,” the source told SaharaReporters.

“This should explain to you that monies are being illegally taken by army generals from funds budgeted for the feeding, medical care and payment of allowances of soldiers fighting the war against Islamist insurgents in Nigeria’s northeast zone.

“In 2021, Akerejola was moved from Army Headquarters Department of Logistics to Nigerian Army School of Supply and Transport, Benin as Commandant but guess what, he made sure he was redeployed as Chief Logistics Officer.

“The houses in the U.S. were bought in his wife’s name. The name of his wife is Motunrayo Eunice Akerejola. She is not from a rich family; she is from Ogori. Tunrayo attended Community Comprehensive High School (CCHS), Ogori.

“This particular house alone is worth over $1 million. All properties he has in the USA are collectively worth over $10 million. This is apart from the houses he has in Abuja; a civil servant for that matter.”

Another source added, “Unfortunately, many of these senior officers steal money to keep their wives and children abroad. These monies are meant for buying of arms to protect Nigerians.”

In March 2021, the then-National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno revealed that funds running into billions of naira meant for the procurement of arms and ammunition under the past service chiefs were unaccounted for.

In the last four years, over 5,000 soldiers in Northeast Nigeria and other theatres of operation have resigned from the Nigerian Army.

Some of the affected soldiers who spoke to SaharaReporters cited loss of interest, intimidation by superiors, corruption in the army, and low morale as the reasons for their actions.

There have been allegations of corruption in the Nigerian Army which some of the soldiers have blamed for their loss of interest.

According to them, the army is the epitome of deep-seated corruption.

They noted that corruption is affecting the fight against the anti-terrorism war in the Northeast.

To stop such a move, army authorities in December 2022 said citing “loss of interest” and “low morale” as reasons for the disengagement by soldiers would no longer be accepted as the basis for approval of voluntary retirement.

The then-Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. General Faruk Yahaya in a signal said service personnel discharging at will did not augur well for the Nigerian Army.

The signal had read, “Military service in Nigeria is a voluntary service. Accordingly, able-bodied men and women apply to join to serve the colour after which, they apply for re-engagement or choose to voluntarily discharge. Others in the course of service decide to go on retirement or discharge before their Run Out Date (ROD).

“Admittedly, service in the NA is voluntary and since it’s not a conscript army any personnel could opt to leave at different times. Conversely, considering the resources and efforts that have been put into training most of the applicants which require that skills and expertise acquired is utilized for the benefits of the system opting out without serving the length prescribed in the colour is inimical to the system.

“Also, in order to ensure the expertise acquired is not easily let off by the service and to recoup the investment made to the benefits of the Nation, Service personnel discharging at will does not augur well for the NA. However, it was observed recently that most at times soldiers come out with various excuses to go on retirement and discharge which are not cogent enough or professional. In light of the forgoing, you are kindly requested to educate troops under command that henceforth, reasons such as loss of interest in military service will no longer be tolerated as basis for discharge.

“This reason is to say the least lame and therefore not accepted. Personnel are expected to explain the reason behind lack of interest e.g. I do not want to fight for the country again, I have not been promoted etc. to enable the service make necessary amendment for the betterment of the system. Accordingly, other cogent reasons could be made for discharge from service otherwise such request would not be granted.”

Recently, a former Group Managing Director and Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Army Properties Limited, Maj. Gen. Umar Muazu Mohammed was court-martialed for fraud and found guilty of stealing millions of dollars.

He was subsequently sentenced to seven years in prison.

The Special Court Martial set up by the Nigerian Army also ordered General Mohammed to pay back the sum of $2,178,900 and N1.65 billion to the Army properties and NAPL.

The Special Court-Martial found him guilty of 14 out of 18 counts brought against him, which are all contrary to service laws.

The charges included stealing, forgery, conspiracy, theft, and unauthorized diversion of Army property among others and they were all subject to service discipline.

Among the charges was the collection of a sum of $1,045,400 paid by shipping companies for the use of Nigerian Army Jetty located at No 6 Marina, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Mohammed was also found guilty of the theft of $430,800 being monies paid into the Nigerian Army Domiciliary account at Unity Bank, Abuja for the use of Nigerian Army Jetty, Marina, VI, Lagos

Furthermore, he was found guilty of withdrawing and confiscating the sum of N74 million out of N75 million paid for a property belonging to the Nigerian Army at Ikoyi, Lagos.

However, Maj. Gen. Akerejola did not answer calls nor reply to the SMS and WhatsApp messages sent to him to defend the allegations and explain the source of the funding for the property(ies).