|By Chinwendu Nwani
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday ordered the remand of Yakubu Adamu, the Bauchi State Commissioner for Finance, pending a ruling on his bail application.
Justice Emeka Nwite issued the order after Adamu and a firm, Ayab Agro Products and Freight Company Ltd, were arraigned on a six-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering amounting to N4.6 billion.
Adamu and the company were named as the first and second defendants in the charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/694/2025, filed on December 19 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The EFCC accused Adamu of conspiring with Ishaku Aliyu, Managing Director of Makayye Investment Resources Ltd, and Muntaka Mohammed Duguri, both currently at large, to launder funds between June and December 2023.
According to the prosecution, Adamu, while serving as Branch Manager of Polaris Bank in Bauchi, allegedly facilitated the conversion, transfer, concealment and use of N4.65 billion disbursed by the bank under the pretext of financing the supply of motorcycles to the Bauchi State Government through Emmanuel Asomugha General Enterprises.
The EFCC told the court that the motorcycles were never supplied, an act it said contravened Section 21(a) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
In another count, the commission alleged that Adamu and his co-defendants retained and transferred proceeds of the unlawful act through nominees and third-party accounts in 2023, including a transfer of N165.9 million to Ayab Agro Products and Freight Company Ltd.
The offences, the EFCC said, violate Sections 20 and 21 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
When the matter was called, EFCC counsel Samuel Chime informed the court that the defendants were ready for arraignment. After the charges were read, Adamu and the company pleaded not guilty to all six counts.
Chime applied for a trial date, but defence counsel Chief Gordy Uche, SAN, informed the court that a bail application had been filed on behalf of Adamu and urged the court to grant it on liberal terms.
The EFCC opposed the application, relying on a 15-paragraph counter affidavit and urging the court to refuse bail and order an accelerated hearing.
Justice Nwite said a short date would be fixed for the ruling and ordered that Adamu be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre pending the decision.
The court adjourned the matter to January 2, 2026, for ruling on the bail application.
Meanwhile, the EFCC disclosed that additional defendants had reported to its office and that a fresh charge, including Adamu, had been filed. However, the judge declined to take the new arraignment, noting that the charge was not yet before the court, and adjourned it until Wednesday.
At the EFCC’s request, the court later granted an order allowing Adamu to remain in the commission’s custody pending the next arraignment.
