The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned a former senior official of the North-East Development Commission (NEDC), Danjuma Mohammed, alongside the Chief Executive Officer of Bondpay, Prince Chibuike Echem, over alleged contract fraud amounting to N2.28 billion.
Mohammed, who served as the National Coordinator of the Multi-Sectoral Crisis Recovery Project at the NEDC, and Echem were arraigned on Tuesday before Justice Keziah Ogbonnaya of the Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Zuba, Abuja. A third suspect, Aminu Alhaji, is currently at large.
The defendants are facing a 54-count amended charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretence, advance fee fraud, and forgery, allegedly committed between 2022 and 2024.
According to the EFCC, the accused allegedly defrauded Diamond Leeds Limited, an indigenous construction and equipment supply firm, by presenting themselves as contract facilitators with strong links to government agencies.
Court documents reveal that Mohammed and Echem, listed as the first and second defendants respectively, allegedly conspired to obtain N2.28 billion from the Managing Director of Diamond Leeds Limited, Kenneth Ejiofor Ifekudu, under the pretext of securing contracts under the NEDC’s Multi-Sectoral Crisis Recovery and Stability Programme.
One of the charges stated that between January and December 2023, the defendants allegedly obtained N573.5 million from the complainant through a Wema Bank account belonging to Echem, falsely claiming they had the authority to award and execute NEDC contracts an assertion the EFCC said was knowingly false.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to all charges when they were read in court.
Following their plea, EFCC counsel Olarenwaju Adeola requested that the defendants be remanded in a correctional facility pending the determination of the case. Defence counsel Chukwuka Obidike informed the court that bail applications had already been filed.
However, the prosecution opposed an immediate hearing on the bail application, stating it had only been served a day earlier and required time to respond. Justice Ogbonnaya granted the request and ordered that the defendants be remanded at the Suleja Correctional Centre, citing its proximity to the court.
The judge subsequently adjourned the matter to March 25 for hearing of the bail applications.
Investigations revealed that although Diamond Leeds Limited was reportedly issued contract award letters, the company was never permitted to mobilise personnel or equipment to project sites in the North-East. Mohammed allegedly cited insecurity as the reason.
Further findings by the EFCC indicated that several documents presented to Diamond Leeds were forged. The anti-graft agency also uncovered that the syndicate opened a Guaranty Trust Bank account bearing the acronym “NEDC,” through which some funds were returned under the guise of payments for equipment.
The EFCC disclosed that additional fraudulent activities linked to Danjuma Mohammed were uncovered during investigations, leading to his eventual removal from the NEDC.
