In a charge sheet dated September 27 and obtained by our correspondent, Ishaku and the former Permanent Secretary of the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Bello Yero, are named as defendants in a case filed before a Federal Capital Territory High Court. The suit, marked CR/792/24, alleges that between August 25, 2015, and March 21, 2016, the defendants diverted N1,010,000,000 for personal use. This sum is said to be part of the 2.5 percent contingency funds belonging to the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
The EFCC further alleges that Ishaku and Yero misappropriated a total of N1,138,082,097.71 from the same contingency fund between July 2015 and May 2019. Another charge accuses the pair of diverting N761,301,000 between September 2015 and January 2018 to repay a N1 billion loan obtained by Worthy Construction Limited from Zenith Bank Plc.
Additional charges detail that Ishaku and Yero, between July 2019 and February 2021, dishonestly diverted N3,348,942,411.15, which belonged to the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in Taraba State. The EFCC claims this diversion represents a criminal breach of trust.
Several other sums allegedly diverted by the defendants include N650,686,369.99, N193,030,000, and N170,549,842.00, all of which were part of the Bureau’s contingency funds between 2019 and 2021.
The EFCC has charged the defendants under Section 315 of the Penal Code A, Cap 532, Laws of the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria 2007, a law under which the alleged offences are punishable.
