The Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned one Umar Abdullahi, an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) consultant, for alleged offences bordering on obtaining money by false pretence and money laundering to the tune of N131.8 million and $200,000.
Abdullahi, 48, was docked on a four-count charge of money laundering and obtaining by false pretence before a vacation judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, of Court 8, Federal High Court, Central Area, Abuja.
Abdullahi’s prosecution followed a petition by Alhaji Shehu Badamosi to the Ilorin Zonal Office of the Commission, accusing Abdullahi of breach of trust and fraud.
According to the petitioner, the defendant claimed to have secured a contractual agreement with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and solicited funds amounting to N131.8m and $200,000 for its execution. However, after receiving the money, Abdullahi allegedly failed to provide updates on the project, and all efforts to recover the funds proved abortive.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Umar Abdullahi, sometime between July 2024 and August 2024, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did accept and transact cash payment of $200,000 (Two Hundred Thousand Dollars) for allotment of shares in Multi Access Controls Limited, in excess of the Ten Million Naira threshold, without transacting through a financial institution, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 2 (1) (a) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and punishable under Section 19 (2) (b) of the same Act.”
Another count reads: “That you, Umar Abdullahi, sometime in June 2024, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, did obtain the sum of N104,980,000.00 (One Hundred and Four Million, Nine Hundred and Eighty Thousand Naira) into Account Number: 2266267081, domiciled with Zenith Bank Plc, from Aura Integrated Energy Resources Limited under the false pretence that the money was for procurement of telecommunication equipment and logistics for Nigerian Communications Commission staff, a pretence you knew to be false, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 1 (1) (b) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.”
The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Following his plea, prosecution counsel, Cosmas Ugwu, urged the court to remand the defendant in a correctional facility pending trial, noting that he had earlier jumped the administrative bail granted him by the Commission. Defence counsel, A.O. Agbonlahor, however, pleaded that the defendant be remanded in EFCC custody instead, pending the commencement of trial.
In a bench ruling, Justice Nwite ordered that Abdullahi be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Service and adjourned the case to September 8, 2025, for trial.
