By Ken Chiwendu
The Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Monday, August 18, 2025, arraigned one Umar Abdullahi before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Maitama, Abuja for fraud.
Abdullahi, an Information and Communication Technology, ICT, consultant is being prosecuted on four-court charges, bordering on obtaining money by false pretence, advance fee fraud and money laundering to the tune of N131.8 million and $200,000 (Two Hundred Thousand United States Dollars).
One of the charges 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 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.”
He pleaded “not guilty” to all charges, following which prosecution counsel, Cosmas Ugwu, urged the court to remand him in a correctional facility pending trial, noting that he had earlier jumped an administrative bail granted him by the EFCC, while the defence counsel, A.O. Agbonlahor, pleaded with the court for the defendant to be remanded in EFCC’s custody.
Justice Nwite after listening to both counsel, ordered that Abdullahi be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja and adjourned the case till September 8, 2025 for commencement of trial.
Abdullahi’s prosecution followed a petition by Alhaji Shehu Badamosi to the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the EFCC, in which he alleged that the defendant approached him, claiming to have secured a contract with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and needed financing to the tune of N131.8m and $200,000 for its execution. The petitioner further claimed that the defendant after receiving the money from him became incommunicado, while all his efforts to recover his money from him, proved abortive.
