By Our Correspondent
\nA Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja has ordered the remand of former Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, in Kuje Correctional Centre pending the hearing of his bail application. <\/p>\n
The order followed his arraignment on Friday on an eight-count charge bordering on abuse of office, contract fraud and gratification.<\/p>\n
Ngige, who served as supervising minister of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) between 2015 and 2023, pleaded not guilty when the charges were read before Justice Maryam Hassan.<\/p>\n
According to a charge sheet filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the former minister allegedly abused his office by awarding multiple contracts to associates and companies connected to him. <\/p>\n
The anti-graft agency alleged that seven contracts worth N366.47 million were approved for Cezimo Nigeria Limited, a firm linked to Ezebinwa Amarachukwu Charles, described as an associate of Ngige.<\/p>\n
The commission also listed Zitacom Nigeria Limited,also associated with Ezebinwa, as a beneficiary of eight contracts valued at N583.68 million.<\/p>\n
Two firms reportedly linked to Uzoma Igbonwa, Olde English Consolidated Limited and Shale Atlantic Intercontinental Services Limited, were also said to have received contract approvals amounting to N668.14 million and N161.60 million, respectively.<\/p>\n
The EFCC further alleged that Ngige received financial benefits from contractors through organisations linked to him. <\/p>\n
The former Anambra governor was accused of accepting N38.65 million through the Chris Nwabueze Ngige Campaign Organisation from Cezimo Nigeria Limited, and an additional N55 million through the Senator (r) Chris Ngige Scholarship Scheme from Zitacom Nigeria Limited\u2014both contractors with the NSITF.<\/p>\n
During Friday\u2019s session, EFCC counsel, Sylvanus Tahir, urged the court to remand the defendant in prison and set a date for trial, insisting that Ngige posed a flight risk. <\/p>\n
He told the court that although the former minister had been granted administrative bail and allowed to travel abroad for medical treatment, he failed to return his international passport upon arriving in Nigeria on November 19, as required.<\/p>\n
But Ngige\u2019s lawyer, Patrick Ikwueto, disputed the claim, stating that his client had formally notified the EFCC that his passport and other valuables were stolen during a robbery incident in London. <\/p>\n
He said the former minister returned to Nigeria using a travel certificate issued in place of the stolen passport.<\/p>\n
Ikwueto acknowledged that his formal bail motion had not yet matured but urged the court to grant interim bail, stressing that Ngige had already spent three days in EFCC custody and was in need of urgent medical attention.<\/p>\n
In her ruling, Justice Hassan rejected the oral bail request and ordered that Ngige be remanded in Kuje prison. <\/p>\n
She adjourned the hearing of the bail application to Monday, November 15, and directed that the defendant be given access to medical care while in custody.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Our Correspondent A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja has ordered the remand of former Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, in Kuje Correctional Centre pending the hearing of his bail application. The order followed his arraignment on Friday on an eight-count charge bordering on abuse of office, contract fraud and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[893,5628,5627,765,1361,4162],"class_list":["post-9366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abuse","tag-bordering","tag-charge","tag-contract","tag-fraud","tag-gratification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9366"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9368,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9366\/revisions\/9368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}