Three former appointees of the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, will be arraigned on Friday, January 17, by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), over alleged money laundering involving ₦64 million.
The accused are Lawal Adebisi, former Senior Special Adviser/Counsellor to the governor; Umar Waziri, former Accountant General of Kaduna State; and Yusuf Inuwa, former Finance Commissioner. A company, Solar Life Nigeria Limited, is also listed as a defendant in the case.
ICPC spokesman, Demola Bakare, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, revealing that the arraignment will take place at the Federal High Court in Kaduna.
According to Bakare, the accused are alleged to have conspired to divert public funds into the account of Solar Life Nigeria Limited, where Adebisi is believed to be the sole signatory.
“In the suit filed at the Federal High Court, Kaduna Judicial Division, the ICPC is accusing Mr. Lawal of conniving with the two other accused persons to divert the total sum ₦64,800,562 in three tranches of ₦10,000,000.00, ₦47,840,000.00, and ₦7,320,562.00 to the bank account of Solar Life Nigeria Limited,” Bakare said.
He added that the accused are expected to appear in court on January 17, 2025, to take their plea.
This development follows last week’s charges filed by the ICPC against El-Rufai’s former Chief of Staff and Commissioner of Finance, Alhaji Muhammad Bashir Sa’idu, over alleged money laundering involving ₦155 million.
Sa’idu was accused of illegally paying the funds to Ibrahim Muktar, a public officer in the Ministry of Finance.
The Kaduna State House of Assembly had previously indicted the El-Rufai administration over the alleged theft of ₦423 billion, a claim the former governor has consistently denied.
