Justice Peter Kekemeke of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Maitama, has remanded the former Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Danladi Umar, in Kuje prison.
The judge gave the remand order on Thursday following Umar’s arraignment by the Federal Government on a four-count corruption charge.
He was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The FG said investigations showed that the former CCT boss abused his official position by conferring an undue advantage on himself while he served as head of the tribunal.
It recalled that in 2021, Umar allegedly used his wife’s bank account to collect N5.5 million from a contractor to paint the headquarters of the CCT in Abuja.
It said on January 25, 2024, the defendant used his wife’s account to collect N6 million from a contractor who handled the digitisation of the CCT’s records.
Also, the FG said the defendant allegedly ordered another contractor to pay N2.43 million for the tuition fee of his daughter at Baze University, Abuja.
The FG said the offences were punishable under section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
Meanwhile, after his plea of not guilty to the allegations, the prosecution counsel, Mr. Christopher Mshelia, applied for his remand in a correctional facility, even as he urged the court to set a date for the commencement of trial.
However, the defendant, through his legal team, applied for bail pending the determination of the case.
The anti-graft agency drew the court’s attention to the fact that it had just been served with the bail application, saying it needed time to respond to it.
In view of this development, Justice Kekemeke adjourned the case until July 15 to hear the defendant’s application for bail.
It will be recalled that the defendant, while in office as CCT Chairman, on January 23, 2019, issued a controversial ex parte order that led to the removal of a serving Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen.
Following the ex parte order, the late President Muhammadu Buhari, on January 25, swore in the next most senior jurist of the Supreme Court, Justice Tanko Muhammad, to take over the leadership of the judiciary as Acting CJN.
Even though Onnoghen later voluntarily resigned his position as CJN on April 4, Umar went ahead and convicted him on April 18, 2019, on the federal government’s allegation that he had failed to properly declare his assets as required by law.
He gave the Federal Government the go-ahead to confiscate all monies in five accounts belonging to the former CJN, and also removed him as Chairman of both the NJC and the Federal Judiciary Service Commission (FJSC).
21st CENTURY CHRONICLE also recalls that Umar had led a three-member judicial panel to probe President Bola Tinubu in a high-stakes 2011 trial for asset declaration fraud.
But he acquitted Tinubu of any wrongdoing, admitting he had been pressured by the higher-ups to convict him.
