Alleged Fraud: Bauchi Finance Commissioner Granted N500 Million Bail
The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court on Friday granted Bauchi State Finance Commissioner, Yakubu Adamu, bail of N500 million with two sureties in the same sum.
Justice Emeka Nwite ordered that the sureties must be landowners in Maitama, Asokoro, or Gwarimpa districts of Abuja, adding that their property documents must be verified by the court registry.
He directed that the sureties depose to an affidavit of means.
The judge also stated that the defendant and his sureties must deposit their international passports with the court registrar and are prohibited from travelling abroad without the court’s permission.
He added that they must also provide two passport photographs to the court registrar.
Nwite ordered that Adamu be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre pending the perfection of his bail conditions, and adjourned the matter until January 20 for the commencement of trial.
“The court is minded to exercise its discretionary power in favour of Adamu, since the prosecution has no strong reason that the defendant would jump bail or interfere with the trial,” Justice Nwite said.
He added, “The power to grant bail must be exercised judicially and judiciously, hence the need for the defendant to be admitted to bail.”
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had, in a six-count charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/694/2025, named Adamu and Ayab Agro Products and Freight Company Ltd as the first and second defendants in a money laundering case involving about N4.6 billion.
Filed on December 19 by EFCC lawyer Samuel Chime of the Legal and Prosecution Department, the charge alleges that the defendants “facilitated and agreed to the conversion, transfer, conceal, and use of the funds in the sum of about N4,650,000,000.00 (four billion, six hundred and fifty million naira) availed by Polaris Bank under the guise of financing the supply of motorcycles to the Bauchi State government through Emmanuel Asomugha General Enterprises.
The motorcycles were not supplied, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 21(a) and punishable under Section 21 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
Count six of the charge further accuses Adamu, Aliyu, and Duguri of “retaining and causing the transfer of proceeds of an unlawful act to nominees and third parties, by causing parts of the funds connected with the Polaris Bank facility to be paid and circulated through third-party accounts sometime in 2023.”
It added that the transfers included one through I.S. Makayye Investment Resources Ltd and the transfer of #165,900,000.00 to Ayab Agro Products and Freight Company Ltd, “which formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful act,” contrary to Section 20(a) and punishable under Section 20 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
The defendants pleaded not guilty when arraigned on December 30, 2025.
Adamu was remanded pending the ruling on his bail application, which was argued the same day.
Adamu and three other Bauchi State workers are also facing a separate criminal charge for alleged terrorism financing to the tune of $9.7 million before Justice Nwite.
Titilope Adako is a talented and intrepid journalist, dedicated to shedding light on the untold stories of Osun State and Nigeria. Through incisive reporting, she tackles a broad spectrum of topics, from politics and social justice to culture and entertainment, with a commitment to accuracy, empathy, and inspiring positive change.
