NEDC Project Coordinator Sent To Suleja Prison Over N5bn Contract Scam

A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court on Tuesday remanded the Project Coordinator of the North East Development Commission (NEDC), Alhaji Danjuma Mohammed, and his associate, Prince Chibuike Echem, in custody over their alleged involvement in a N5bn contract fraud.

Justice Keziah Ogbonna ordered their remand at the Suleja Correctional Centre, Niger State.

The defendants were shortly after they were arraigned on a 55-count charge bordering on advance fee fraud, forgery and the award of fake contracts brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The EFCC alleged that Mohammed, Echem and another suspect, Aminu Alhaji, who is currently at large, conspired to defraud one Kenneth Ejiofor Ifekudu of about N2.2bn between May 2022 and February 2024 under the guise of securing contracts from the NEDC.

Ifekudu, the Managing Director of Diamond Leeds Ltd, was allegedly induced to part with the funds through what the EFCC described as a coordinated advance fee fraud scheme.

In one of the counts, the anti-graft agency alleged that between January and December 2023, the defendants fraudulently obtained N649.5m from the victim through a bank account belonging to Echem, claiming they had the capacity to award contracts under the Multi-Sectoral Crisis Recovery Project (MCRP) of the NEDC.

The EFCC further alleged that the duo obtained another N573m from the same victim through a Wema Bank account linked to Echem on similar grounds.

In addition, the prosecution accused the defendants of fraudulently obtaining sums of $480,000 and $200,000 between January and December 2022, also under the pretext of facilitating contract awards.

According to the EFCC, the defendants issued fake contract documents in the name of the North East Development Commission to deceive the victim into releasing various sums of money before they were eventually arrested.

Both defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges read to them by the court. Following their pleas, the EFCC counsel, Mr. Olarenwaju Adeola, requested a date for the commencement of trial, informing the court that the prosecution had lined up seven witnesses to prove its case.

Efforts by counsel to the defendants, Chukwuka Obidike, to move a bail application were, however, opposed by the EFCC.

Adeola told the court that the prosecution was served with the bail application late in the evening of January 26 and only became aware of it in court on January 27, insisting that the application was not ripe for hearing as the EFCC needed time to file a counter-affidavit.

In a brief ruling, Justice Ogbonna upheld the objection, holding that hearing the bail application at that stage would amount to a denial of fair hearing to the prosecution.

The judge consequently adjourned the matter to March 25 for the commencement of trial and ordered that the defendants be remanded in custody pending further proceedings.