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Alleged fraud: Court orders remand of ex-NHIS boss in Kuje prison
By Francesca Hangeior
A Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja, on Monday ordered the remand of a former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Usman Yusuf, at the Kuje Correctional Centre.
Justice Chinyere Nwecheonwu gave the order after Yusuf was arraigned and took his plea.
Yusuf is accused of abusing his office to confer undue advantages on himself between 2016 and 2017. He is also alleged to have awarded contracts without adhering to the due procurement process.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission arraigned Yusuf on five counts amended charge bordering on alleged fraud.
However, Yusuf pleaded not guilty to all five counts when the charges were read to him.
Yusuf’s counsel, O.I. Habeeb, afterwards, requested that his client be remanded in the EFCC’s custody pending the hearing of the bail application. The trial judge, however, declined the request.
Justice Nwecheonwu ruled that once a defendant is arraigned, custody is transferred from the EFCC to the Nigerian Correctional Service.
She, therefore, ordered Yusuf’s remand in Kuje Correctional Centre pending the hearing of his bail application.
She adjourned the case to February 12, 2025, for a hearing of the bail application.
Yusuf’s continued detention had sparked a condemnation from the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar.
In a tweet via his X handle on Friday, Atiku described Yusuf as a “fierce and unyielding social critic,” saying his detention is likely “politically motivated.”
In his tweet, the former Vice President, while acknowledging that the charges brought against Yusuf had been lingering since the past administration, criticised the President Bola Tinubu-led government for using the “machinery of the state to silence its critics.”
His tweet read, among others, “Two days ago, the nation was jolted by the arrest of Professor Usman Yusuf, a fierce and unyielding social critic. Though the charges against him have been festering since the previous administration, it is impossible to ignore the strong likelihood that his detention is politically motivated.
“The Tinubu government, despite being riddled with individuals who themselves are embroiled in scandals and investigations by both local and international authorities, continues to use the very machinery of the state to silence its critics. It weaponises these pending investigations to suppress all opposition.”
According to him, such financial mishandling not only disrupts critical public services and projects but also results in major losses to the nation’s purse—resources that could have been channelled into crucial services and developmental efforts, as laid out in Section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution.
Speaker Abbas, thereafter setup a Special Committee to be chaired by Rep. Chinedu Martins to immediately launch a probe into the “Utilisation of take-off grants, bailout funds, and interventions allocated to MDAs, government institutions, and GOEs from 2015 to present.”
The FCT Minister, Mr. Nyesom Wike, expressed satisfaction with the progress on the Abuja light rail project, reaffirming its May 29 delivery as sacrosanct.
He made these assurances after inspecting the ongoing construction of access roads to the train stations on Wednesday, from Metro Train Station in the Central Area to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Reassuring journalists accompanying him, the minister reiterated that President Bola Tinubu would commission the rail project on May 29 to mark his second year in office.
The visited stations were Wupa station near Idu and Bassanjiwa station near the airport.
“This is part of our routine inspection of ongoing projects to see the contractors’ progress,” Wike explained.
“We are working day and night to fulfill our promise to President Tinubu and FCT residents. By May, Mr. President will ride on the Metro line.”
Gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen are currently invading some communities in the Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State.
According to sources, the herdsmen armed with AK-47 rifles stormed the community around 04:15pm on Thursday.
“Our lives are in danger this evening, armed Fulani herdsmen, about 600 in numbers have taken over our communities this evening,” a resident told SaharaReporters.
“They’re currently moving around towns in Ukum Local Government Area of Benue state. No security personnel at all, Governor Alia didn’t send security, they said operation will start soon once they (herders) have observed the place.”
The insecurity situation in Benue has been alarming in recent weeks with attacks from gunmen suspected to be herdsmen.
The media had reported that suspected herdsmen again unleashed terror in Benue State, attacking three communities in Otukpo Local Government Area (LGA) on Wednesday, just a day after 11 people were killed in a deadly raid on Otobi community.
The latest victims of the escalating violence were Emichi, Odudaje, and Okpamaju, communities that had previously suffered an attack in February, which left five people dead.
However, the renewed attack has created fear and mass displacement among residents, with women and children fleeing to safety.
Local sources say the death toll from the fresh attack remains unclear, but several casualties are feared.
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