The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has re-arraigned Abdulfatah Ahmed, a former governor of Kwara state, over allegations of fraud.

Ahmed was re-arraigned alongside Demola Banu, a former commissioner for finance, on Monday before Mahmood Abdulgafar, the presiding judge of a Kwara state high court, on a 14-count charge bordering on alleged stealing and mismanagement of public funds to the tune of N5.78 billion.

Their re-arraignment was due to the transfer of the former trial judge Evelyn Anyadike of the federal high court.

The defendants were first arraigned on a 12-count charge of mismanagement of public funds before Anyadike, to which they pleaded not guilty.

However, the judge was transferred in the course of trial. Hence, the case had to start de-novo.

While Ahmed featured in all 14 counts, Banu’s name did not appear in count seven, where only the former governor was accused of failure to fill out the asset declaration form offered him by officers of the anti-graft agency upon arrest, contrary to section 27(3)(c) of the EFCC Act No. 1 of 2004.

The former governor allegedly spent N1,610,730,500 meant for the security and administration of the state to charter private jets through Travel Messengers Limited, contrary to section 22(5) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, and punishable under the same section.

Ahmed and his finance commissioner were accused of conspiring to steal money meant to pay salaries of teachers working with the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board and also to provide security and other infrastructural facilities for the people of the state, among others.

The duo pleaded not guilty to their respective charges when they were read to them.

Ruling on the bail applications, the presiding judge admitted the defendants to bail in the sum of N100 million with two sureties each.

One of the sureties must be a permanent secretary serving or retired.

The judge adjourned the case till December 4–5 for commencement of trial.

The Kano state Hisbah board has declared Auwal Sankara, the suspended commissioner for special duties in Jigawa, wanted.

Aminu Daurawa, Hisbah commander-general, announced the development on Monday.

Last week, the Hisbah said Sankara was arrested at an uncompleted building over an alleged illicit affair with a married woman in Kano.

Hisbah arrested Sankara after Nasiru Bulama, the woman’s husband, reported that the commissioner was engaging in an illicit affair with his wife, Tasleem Baba Nabegu, the mother of his two children.

Amid the controversy, Umar Namadi, governor of Jigawa, suspended Sankara over the alleged affair.

Namadi said the suspension was a precautionary measure intended to facilitate a fair investigation.

Speaking with journalists in Kano, the Hisbah commander-general noted that Sankara was granted bail after his arrest on the condition that he would appear before the command whenever requested.

Daurawa said Sankara refused to honour an invitation on Monday, leading the Hisbah to declare him wanted.

“The reason we invited him today was for reconciliation,” he said.

“The complainant agreed to reconcile with Sankara due to his two children. We agreed to this and invited him to come for the reconciliation.

“Had he appeared today, we would not have taken him to court tomorrow.

“As Hisbah members, Islam is our guidance, and it encourages reconciliation. However, by all indications, he does not want reconciliation, so we will proceed with legal action.”

The commissioner has since dismissed the allegations as “false, malicious, and baseless.”

Sankara vowed to take legal action against those behind the allegations, adding that their aim was to damage his reputation.

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) says its operatives have found a lifeless body of a man on the Ikeja railway track, in Agege area of the state.

Nosa Okunbor, head of LASEMA’s public affairs unit, said investigations showed that the man was hit by a moving train in the early hours of Monday.

He said the body has been deposited at the morgue.

“On arrival of the Eagle response team at the incident scene by 0902hrs, LRT discovered the body of an adult male laying dead on the railway track,” he said.

“Further investigations by the Eagle Response Team revealed that the adult male was reportedly hit by a moving train in the early hours of the day.

“Unfortunately, an unidentified adult male lost his life to the incident. The Agency’s response team recovered the body from the railway tracks.

“The response team bagged the commodity and handed it over to the State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit, SEHMU. SEHMU has transferred the commodity to the morgue for further processing.”

The agencies that responded to the incident include LASEMA Response Team, Nigeria Railway Corporation, (NRC), and Lagos Neighborhood Safety Corps (LNSC).