AN FCT High Court sitting in Abuja has remanded a senior official of the North East Development Commission (NEDC), Alhaji Danjuma Mohammed, alongside his associate, Prince Chibuike Echem, in connection with an alleged multi-billion naira contract fraud.
News Point Nigeria reports that the defendants were ordered into custody by Justice Keziah Ogbonna on Tuesday after they were arraigned on a 55-count criminal charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), bordering on advance fee fraud, forgery, conspiracy and the award of fictitious contracts.
Mohammed, who serves as a project coordinator at the NEDC, and Echem were subsequently remanded at the Suleja Correctional Centre in Niger State, following the court’s refusal to grant them bail at the arraignment stage.
According to the EFCC, the defendants, alongside one Aminu Alhaji who is currently at large, allegedly defrauded a contractor, Mr Kenneth Ejiofor Ifekudu, of over N2.2 billion between May 2022 and February 2024.
The anti-graft agency alleged that the money was obtained under false pretences, with the defendants reportedly claiming they would secure lucrative contracts from the North East Development Commission for the victim.
The EFCC further accused the defendants of receiving an additional N573 million from the same complainant through a Wema Bank account belonging to Echem, also under the guise of facilitating contract awards from the commission.
Beyond the naira transactions, the commission told the court that Mohammed and Echem allegedly obtained foreign currency payments amounting to $480,000 and $200,000 between January and December 2022, claiming the funds were required to process and secure contracts that were later discovered to be fictitious.
Investigators alleged that the defendants issued forged and fake contract documents to convince the victim that the purported projects were genuine and officially approved.
When the charges were read to them in open court, both Mohammed and Echem pleaded not guilty to all the counts.
Following their pleas, EFCC counsel, Olarenwaju Adeola, requested that the court fix a date for the commencement of trial, stressing the commission’s readiness to prosecute the matter expeditiously.
However, defence counsel, Chukwuka Obidike, applied for bail on behalf of the defendants, arguing that they were entitled to bail pending trial.
The EFCC opposed the bail application, with Adeola informing the court that the prosecution was only served with the bail application late on January 26 and that he became aware of it fully in court on January 27.
He argued that the application was not ripe for hearing, noting that the EFCC had not been afforded sufficient time to respond by filing a counter-affidavit.
In a brief ruling, Justice Ogbonna agreed with the prosecution, holding that hearing the bail application at that stage would amount to a denial of fair hearing for the EFCC.
“The application is not ripe for hearing. The prosecution must be given the opportunity to respond appropriately,” the judge ruled.
Consequently, Justice Ogbonna ordered that the defendants be remanded in custody and fixed March 25 to April 7 for the accelerated trial of the case.