…Sadiya Umar Farouq Wanted Over Alleged $1.3m, N746.6m Fraud
By Yinka Giwa
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Thursday declared political and ideological continuity with the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, even as a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja issued a warrant of arrest against a key former minister who served under the Buhari administration over alleged fraud.
Speaking at State House, Abuja, when he received his Renewed Hope Ambassadors, Tinubu underscored his alignment with his predecessor, saying: “I took over leadership from myself; late Buhari is me, he was my partner.”
The President also took a swipe at critics of his administration, saying: “If they don’t want to see the hope in the roads we have built, in the children we have raised, or in the economy we are growing, we will give them eyeglasses.”
Tinubu’s remarks came on the same day Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the FCT High Court issued a bench warrant for the arrest of former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, and a Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Bashir Nura Alkali.
The two officials, who served during the Buhari administration, failed to appear in court for their scheduled arraignment on Thursday. Only the third defendant, Sani Nafiu Mohammed, was present.
They are to be arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 21-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust, abuse of office, fraudulent award of contracts, and conversion of public funds amounting to $1,300,000 and N746,574,303.
Part of the charge reads: “That you Sadiya Umar Farouq… and Bashir Nura Alkali… between 8 May 2021 and 22 September 2022, in Abuja… entrusted with certain property to wit, an aggregate sum of $1,300,000.00… committed criminal breach of trust… when you fraudulently converted the said sum to your personal benefit… being excess funds paid by the Ministry under the National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office (NASSCO)… and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 315 of the Penal Code and punishable under the same section.”
Prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, told the court that the defendants had failed to honour multiple opportunities to appear despite being served.
“We could not arraign them on 15 December, because we could not produce them, but their lawyers in court promised that they would produce the defendants, but we didn’t see them until your lordship made an order for substituted service,” he said.
Jacobs further disclosed that Farouq had earlier written to the EFCC indicating she was travelling to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment and was granted the release of her passport.
“My lord, since that passport was released to her, she has not returned the passport to the Commission. We do not have the medical report in Saudi Arabia till date,” he said.
He added that documents recently submitted by her legal team were dated after the charges had already been filed.
In response, counsel to the first defendant, Abdul Ibrahim, SAN, attributed her absence to ill health and sought to tender an affidavit of facts, which the court rejected.
Jacobs subsequently urged the court to issue a bench warrant, stating: “It is imperative, therefore, for this honourable court to permit the Commission to arrest the first and second defendants so that they can be compelled to appear before the court.”
The defence, however, appealed for six weeks to produce the first defendant in court.
Delivering his ruling, Justice Onwuegbuzie granted the prosecution’s request, issuing a warrant of arrest against the two defendants and adjourning the matter to May 18, 2026, for arraignment and trial.