Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

News

Alleged N500m Diezani Bribe: Court Denies Mukhtar Shagari, 4 Others Bail

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday arraigned ex‎-minister and immediate past deputy governor of Sokoto State, Mukhtar Shagari, alongside four others before the Federal High Court in Sokoto, on alleged five counts bordering on money laundering.

Others arraigned alongside Shagari are former Commissioner of Information, Ibrahim Gidado; younger brother to former Governor Attahiru Bafarawa, Nasiru Bafarawa; Sokoto State PDP chairman, Ibrahim Milgoma and the PDP candidate in the 2015‎ gubernatorial election, Senator Abdallah Wali.

Their application for bail was, however, objected to by EFCC lead counsel, Barrister Johnson Ojogbane.

Subsequently, Justice Saleh Kogo Idrissa ordered the defendants to be remanded at the Police headquarters until May 24, 2018, when the bail application will be heard.

The defendants who were brought to the court in a bus with armed EFCC‎ personnel, allegedly received the sum of N500m from a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison Madueke, to allegedly manipulate and influence 2015 general election.

Three of the five counts read by the court clerk were ‎against Ibrahim Gidado and Mukhtar Shagari, the first and second defendants respectively.

Third and fifth defendants, Nasiru‎ Bafarawa and Senator Abdallah Wali, were arraigned on two counts, while Ibrahim Milgoma was arraigned on one count.

Count one of the charges reads, “You, Ibrahim ‎Gidado, Mukhtar Shagari and Ibrahim Milgoma, sometime in March 2015, within the jurisdiction of this honorable court, did conspire among yourselves to receive cash payment of the sum of N500m (five hundred million naira) from one Abdulrahman Ibrahim, without transacting through a financial institution and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011 as amended and punishable under Section 16(2) of the same Act.”

The money was part of the $115m (one hundred and fifteen million dollars) allegedly disbursed by Diezani Alison‎ Madueke to influence the 2015 elections.

 

 

___

Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng

Copyright 2018 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement

Related

News

Former Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State was, on Wednesday, arraigned before a Federal High Court in Abuja, on nine-count charge of money laundering...

News

There is anxiety in some quarters in Rivers State as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is set to reopen the books to...

News

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has vowed to revisit the probe of the Minister of State for Defence,...

News

The Chairman House of Representatives North West Caucus Hon. Sada Soli (APC, Katsina) has condemned the recent invasion of the operatives of the Economic...

Copyright ©