The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, arraigned a former National Coordinator of the Multi-Sectoral Crisis Recovery Project (MCRP), North East Development Commission (NEDC), Alhaji Danjuma Mohammed, alongside Prince Chibuike Echem and Aminu Alhaji (currently at large), before Justice K. N. Ogbonnaya of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Zuba, Abuja, over an alleged ₦2.28 billion fraud.
The defendants were arraigned on a 54-count amended charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining by false pretence, and forgery, involving a total sum of ₦2,280,000,000 (Two Billion, Two Hundred and Eighty Million Naira).
At the proceedings, prosecution counsel Adeola Olanrewaju informed the court of an earlier charge filed on December 3, 2025, and sought leave to substitute it with the amended 54-count charge dated January 22, 2026, relying on the proof of evidence attached. The court granted the application.
Count One of the charge reads in part:
That you, Alhaji Danjuma Mohammed, being the National Coordinator of the Multi-Sectoral Crisis Recovery Project (MCRP), North East Development Commission, Prince Chibuike Echem, and Aminu Alhaji (still at large), between May 2022 and February 2024 in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, conspired to commit an illegal act, to wit: obtaining by false pretence the cumulative sum of ₦2,280,000,000 from one Kenneth Ejiofor Ifekudu, Managing Director of Diamond Leeds Limited, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.
Count Three further alleges that:
The defendants, sometime between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023, in Abuja, with intent to defraud, obtained the aggregate sum of ₦573,500,000 (Five Hundred and Seventy-Three Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira) from Kenneth Ejiofor Ifekudu of Diamond Leeds Limited through a Wema Bank account belonging to Prince Chibuike Echem, under the false pretence that they had the capacity to award and execute contracts under the North East Recovery and Stabilisation Programme (NERSP) of the NEDC—a pretence they knew to be false. This offence is contrary to Section 1(1)(a) and punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006.
All defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to them.
Following the plea, the prosecution requested a trial date and asked that the defendants be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre pending the determination of the case.
However, defence counsel Chukwuka Obidike informed the court that a motion for bail had already been filed.
In response, the prosecution stated its intention to file a counter-affidavit opposing the bail application, noting that the motion was only served at about 4:30 p.m. the previous day.
Ruling on the matter, Justice Ogbonnaya held that, in the interest of justice, the prosecution should be allowed time to respond. He therefore ordered that the defendants be remanded at the Suleja Correctional Centre pending trial.
The case was adjourned to March 25, 2026, for commencement of trial.
