By Akinwale Kasali
Danladi Umar, former Chairman, Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, has been remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja, by the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, sitting in Maitama, Abuja over alleged bribery scandal.
He is expected to remain in the Correctional Centre pending the hearing and determination of his bail application.
The former CCT boss was arraigned by the anti graft agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Thursday, on a four-count charge bordering on conferring undue advantage on himself while serving as the Chairman of the CCT, abuse of his office by allegedly using his wife’s bank account to receive illegal payments from contractors handling projects at the tribunal.
His prosecutors alleged that in 2021, Umar received N5.5 million through his wife’s account from a contractor who was awarded the contract to paint the headquarters of the Code of Conduct Tribunal in Abuja.
He was also accused of collecting another N6 million on January 25, 2024, through the same account from a contractor responsible for the digitization of the tribunal’s records.
In another count, the former tribunal chairman was accused of directing a contractor to pay N2.43 million as tuition fees for his Daughter at Baze University, Abuja.
The alleged offences are said to contravene Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, which prohibits public officers from using their positions to confer corrupt or unfair advantages on themselves or others.
Though Umar pleaded not guilty to the charges preffered against him by the anti-graft agency, the not-guilty plea prompted the prosecuting counsel, Christopher Mshelia, to pray that the Court should set a day for the commencement of trial and that the defendant be remanded at the Correctional Centre.
Counsel to the defendant, informed the Court of the bail application filed on behalf of his client and urged the court to take the application
The prosecuting Counsel told the Court that, they had just been served with the bail application and would need time to respond.
This led to him been remanded in prison pending the hearing of his bail application.
Recall that Umar was the one who, while in office, humiliated a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, when he insisted the CJ appeared before him over an alleged untidy declaration of assets. That case caused the forced resignation of Onnoghen from office. A superior Court has since cleared him of any offence and ordered compensation for him.
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