Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Abuja, on Thursday, April 16, 2026, issued a warrant of arrest against a former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, and a Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Bashir Nura Alkali.
Farouq and Alkali were scheduled to be arraigned before the court but failed to appear, leaving only the third defendant, Sani Nafiu Mohammed, present in court.
The trio are to be arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 21-count charge bordering on breach of trust, abuse of office, fraudulent award of contracts and alleged diversion of public funds totalling $1,300,000 and N746,574,303.
Count one of the charge reads:
“That you Sadiya Umar Farouq, while being Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, and Bashir Nura Alkali while being the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, between 8 May 2021 and 22 September 2022, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, and in such capacity entrusted with certain property to wit, an aggregate sum of $1,300,000.00, committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the said property when you fraudulently converted the said sum to your personal benefit and which sum was meant to be refunded to the Ministry by Visual ICT Limited, being excess funds paid by the Ministry under National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office (NASSCO) for the validation of Rapid Response Register beneficiaries and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 315 of the Penal Code and punishable under the same section.”
Prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, told the court that the charge had been filed since December 15, 2025, but the first and second defendants could not be served.
“We could not arraign them on 15 December, because we could not produce them but their lawyers in court promised that they would produce the defendants but we didn’t see them until your lordship made an order for substituted service. The defendants have now been served, my lord, only the third defendant has reported to the Commission when his surety was contacted. The third defendant’s surety is also in court,” he said.
Jacobs further told the court that the first defendant had earlier written to the Commission that she was travelling to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment in 2024 and was granted the release of her passport.
“My lord, since that passport was released to her, she has not returned the passport to the Commission. We do not have the medical report in Saudi Arabia till date. Only this morning, my friend served me with an affidavit of facts, wherein the deponent claimed that the first defendant took ill.
My lord, all the medical reports which my friend attached to the affidavit of facts were issued after the charge had been filed. No medical report was issued or shown to us for the approved journey and the release of her passport,” he said.
Counsel to the first defendant, Abdul Ibrahim, SAN, told the court that her absence was due to ill health and urged the court to accept an affidavit of facts he sought to tender, but the court rejected the application.
