A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court sitting in Maitama on Thursday ordered the former Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Danladi Umar, remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre after he was arraigned by the Federal Government on a four-count corruption charge.
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Justice Peter Kekemeke issued the remand order shortly after Umar’s arraignment, in which prosecutors accused him of abusing his office to secure undue financial advantages while heading the tribunal.
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According to the charges, Umar allegedly used his wife’s bank account in 2021 to receive N5.5 million from a contractor hired to repaint the CCT’s Abuja headquarters. He is also accused of channelling N6 million through the same account on January 25, 2024, from a contractor engaged to digitise the tribunal’s records.
A further allegation states that Umar directed a separate contractor to pay N2.43 million toward his daughter’s tuition at Baze University, Abuja.
Prosecutors say the alleged offences contravene Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
Umar pleaded not guilty to all four counts. Prosecuting counsel Christopher Mshelia asked the court to remand him pending trial and requested a date be fixed for proceedings to begin. Umar’s defence team countered with an application for bail, but the anti-graft agency objected, telling the court it had only just been served the bail application and needed time to file a response.
Justice Kekemeke subsequently adjourned the matter to July 15, when the bail application will be heard.
Umar’s tenure at the CCT was previously marked by controversy. On January 23, 2019, he issued an ex parte order that precipitated the removal of then-Chief Justice of Nigeria Walter Onnoghen. Two days later, the late President Muhammadu Buhari swore in Justice Tanko Muhammad as Acting CJN.
Although Onnoghen resigned voluntarily on April 4, 2019, Umar proceeded to convict him on April 18 that year over allegations that he had failed to properly declare his assets. The judgment authorised the Federal Government to confiscate funds held in five accounts linked to the former CJN and stripped him of his positions as chairman of both the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC).
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