By Nkechi Eze
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned a former National Coordinator of the Multi-Sectoral Crisis Recovery Project (MCRP) of the North East Development Commission (NEDC), Alhaji Danjuma Mohammed, alongside Prince Chibuike Echem and one Aminu Alhaji, who is currently at large, over an alleged N2.2 billion fraud.
The defendants were brought before Justice K. N. Ogbonnaya of the Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Zuba, Abuja, on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, on a 54-count amended charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining by false pretence and forgery.
In an official signed statement, the EFCC’s spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, disclosed that the prosecution, led by Adeola Olanrewaju, informed the court of an earlier charge filed on December 3, 2025 and sought its substitution with a 54-count amended charge dated January 22, 2026, a request which the court granted.
According to the Commission, the defendants allegedly conspired between May 2022 and February 2024 to fraudulently obtain the cumulative sum of N2.28 billion from one Kenneth Ejiofor Ifekudu, Managing Director of Diamond Leeds Limited, under the guise of awarding contracts from the Multi-Sectoral Crisis Recovery and Stability Programme (NERSP) of the NEDC.
One of the counts alleges that the defendants, while presenting themselves as officials with the capacity to influence contract awards, induced the complainant to part with huge sums of money, a representation the prosecution says they knew to be false.
Another count states that within 2023 alone, the defendants allegedly obtained an aggregate sum of N573.5 million from Ifekudu through a Wema Bank account belonging to Prince Echem, under the false pretense that contracts would be awarded to the complainant’s companies and duly executed.
All the defendants pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to them.
Following their plea, the prosecution asked the court for a trial date and requested that the defendants be remanded in a correctional facility pending the determination of the case.
Counsel to the defendants, Chukwuka Obidike, informed the court of a pending application for bail.
However, the prosecution opposed the immediate consideration of the bail application, noting that it was only served late the previous day and that the Commission intended to file a counter-affidavit in response.
In his ruling, Justice Ogbonnaya held that in the interest of justice, the prosecution should be given time to respond to the bail application and ordered that the defendants be remanded at the Suleja Correctional Centre pending trial.
The matter was subsequently adjourned to March 25, 2026, for commencement of trial.
