The former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Usman Yusuf, has been remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre by the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja.
Justice Chinyere Nwecheonwu gave the order after Yusuf was arraigned on Monday, February 3, and took his plea.
Yusuf is accused of abusing his office to confer undue advantages on himself between 2016 and 2017. He is also alleged to have awarded contracts without adhering to the due procurement process.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission arraigned Yusuf on five counts amended charge bordering on alleged fraud.
However, Yusuf pleaded not guilty to all five counts when the charges were read to him.
Yusuf’s counsel, O.I. Habeeb, afterwards, requested that his client be remanded in the EFCC’s custody pending the hearing of the bail application. The trial judge, however, declined the request.
Justice Nwecheonwu ruled that once a defendant is arraigned, custody is transferred from the EFCC to the Nigerian Correctional Service.
She, therefore, ordered Yusuf’s remand in Kuje Correctional Centre pending the hearing of his bail application.
She adjourned the case to February 12, 2025, for a hearing of the bail application.
