A Federal High Court in Abuja, has ordered the remand of Gidado Ibrahim over an alleged N600 million job scam linked to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
Justice H. Muazu, ordered that he should be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Facility pending the hearing of the bail application which was fixed for February 17, this year.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday arraigned Gidado Ibrahim and one Halimat Adenike Tejusho, currently at large, on an amended six-count charge bordering on fraud, obtaining under false pretence and forgery, involving a total sum of N603,400,000.
At the proceedings, prosecuting counsel, Y. Tarfa, informed the court of the amended charges and urged the court to allow the defendant to take his plea.
According to the EFCC, the first count alleged that Gidado Ibrahim and Halimat Adenike Tejusho, between August and October 2024, obtained N603,400,000 from one Oluseye Yomi-Sholoye under the false pretence that they would facilitate her appointment as Group Managing Director (GMD) of the NNPC. The offence is said to be contrary to Section 1(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.
The second count further alleged that Gidado Ibrahim, sometime in August 2024 in Abuja, knowingly used a forged document titled “Presidential Villa State House, Office of the National Security Adviser”, an offence contrary to Section 366 of the Penal Code Law and punishable under Section 364 of the same Law.
Ibrahim pleaded not guilty to all six counts.The prosecution applied for a trial date and asked the court to remand the defendant in a correctional centre.
However, defence counsel, B.B. Alhaji, informed the court that a bail application had been filed, though not yet ripe for hearing, and requested that the defendant be remanded in EFCC custody due to his health condition pending the bail hearing.