FORMER Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, appeared before an Abuja High Court in Gwarinpa on Friday, December 12, following charges filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accusing him of involvement in a N2.2bn contract fraud.
The presiding judge, Maryam Hassan, directed that Ngige be kept at the Kuje Correctional Centre until his bail application is determined on Monday, December 14.
The former Anambra State governor entered a plea of not guilty to the eight-count charge, which centres on alleged abuse of office and receiving gifts from contractors working with the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund during his tenure from September 2015 to May 2023.
After the plea was taken, EFCC counsel, Sylvanus Tahir, a senior advocate, urged the court to fix a date for trial and to commit the former minister to custody pending the commencement of proceedings.
However, the application was objected by the lead defence counsel, Patrick Ikwueto, also a senior advocate. He argued that his client deserved bail, particularly due to health concerns.
He explained that Ngige had already spent three days in EFCC detention before being brought to court.
“I urge your lordship to grant the defendant bail, and we are ready to grant any requirement your lordship will put to grant him bail. Even this morning, he mentioned how he needs to go to the hospital. The prosecution is asking for his remand, knowing fully well they don’t have the facility to cater to his health issues at Kuje,” Punch newspaper quoted Ikwueto to have said.
Although the defence counsel argued that the allegations against Ngige were not comparable to capital offences that warrant denial of bail, the judge ordered Ngige remand till the next trial.
“It’s not like he ate the ministry’s money or that of NSTIF. The trial will start, and we will see how those contracts were awarded. It’s not a terrorism charge or treason offence,” Ikwueto stated.”
He also faulted the EFCC for allegedly denying the defence time to file a counter-affidavit.
The ICIR had on Wednesday, reported that Ngige’s media aide, Fred Chukwuelobe, dismissed claims that the former minister had been abducted, clarifying on Facebook that he was with the EFCC.
Ngige’s invitation by the EFCC made him the second minister in the late President Muhammadu Buhari administration to face interrogation by the anti-graft agency in recent weeks.
Last month, former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, was questioned for days by the EFCC over alleged irregularities in the recovery of the $310 million looted by former Head of State, Sani Abacha, which accrued to about $322.5 million with interest.
The commission reportedly seized Malami’s passport and placed him under a one-month reporting restriction. Malami, however, dismissed the allegations, describing them as “baseless, illogical and lacking in substance.”
He insisted, through a statement by his media aide, Mohammed Doka, that no funds had been recovered before he assumed office in 2015, arguing further that the EFCC’s claims “collapse when subjected to facts and elementary logic.”
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M