Plateau lawmaker turns himself in after ICPC declares him wanted

A serving member of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Adamu Aliyu, is currently facing interrogation at the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) headquarters in Abuja.

Aliyu turned himself in on Monday, just days after Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court declared him wanted at the request of the Commission.

The court order followed claims by ICPC investigators that the lawmaker had repeatedly shunned invitations to respond to questions regarding alleged fraud.

Contract fraud allegation
According to court filings, the case began with a petition by Mohammed Jidda, a businessman who accused Mr Aliyu of swindling him under the guise of facilitating a Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) contract at the University of Jos worth N850 million.

Mr Aliyu, who represents Jos North-North constituency, allegedly entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mr Jidda, under which the businessman was to pay about N73.6 million should he be awarded the contract.

The payment included N52 million to be paid to a company, Imanal Concept Ltd, purportedly as a facilitation fee.

Investigators said Mr Aliyu later presented Mr Jidda with what turned out to be a forged contract award letter from the University of Jos for the construction of an indoor sports hall valued at N500 million.

On the strength of the letter, Mr Jidda transferred the agreed sum into two bank accounts provided by the lawmaker: the lawmaker’s personal account at Guaranty Trust Bank and another belonging to Imanal Concept Ltd at Zenith Bank.

But when Mr Jidda approached the University of Jos to begin contract documentation, the institution denied issuing such a contract.

The school later confirmed in writing to the ICPC that the award letter was a forgery.

Bank records obtained by the commission show that N47.8 million was paid into Mr Aliyu’s personal account, N22.4 million went into Imanal Concept Ltd’s Zenith Bank account, while an additional N3.2 million was transferred directly to the lawmaker.

Despite repeated invitations, including messages routed through the Clerk of the Plateau Assembly and even his WhatsApp line, Mr Aliyu allegedly failed to present himself to investigators until he was declared wanted.

The ICPC further told the court it had credible intelligence that he was planning to flee Nigeria to evade prosecution.

The lawmaker’s defence
When PREMIUM TIMES contacted the lawmaker last week, he denied the allegations. He said he was unaware of the ICPC summons until he was informed by the Clerk of the Assembly while he was on pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

He also insisted he did not defraud Mr Jidda, stating that he had refunded N45 million of the money he received to the businessman’s company, Mohiba Investment Ltd. Payment receipts seen by PREMIUM TIMES show four separate transfers of N5 million, N10 million, N10 million, and N20 million to Mohiba Investment’s Zenith Bank account.

Mr Aliyu further denied forging the contract letter, blaming it on his associate, who he said was the facilitator of the contract. He said his role was limited to passing the document along to Mr Jidda.

The lawmaker is still answering questions as of the time of this report.

(PremiumTimes)