{"id":24605,"date":"2020-02-17T22:12:30","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T21:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=24605"},"modified":"2020-02-17T22:12:30","modified_gmt":"2020-02-17T21:12:30","slug":"court-orders-arrest-of-ex-customs-boss-dikko-over-alleged-n1-1b-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=24605","title":{"rendered":"Court Orders Arrest of Ex-Customs Boss, Dikko Over Alleged N1.1B Fraud."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Yemi Oyeyem<\/strong>i, Abuja
\nThe Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday issued a bench warrant for the arrest of a former Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko, over his continued failure to appear in court in an alleged corruption and bribery trial.
\nDikko was put on trial by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) over his involvement in corruption and bribery allegations to the tune of N1.1 billion.
\nAt the resumed trial on Monday, Dikko was not in court and his lawyer, Mr Solomon Akuma SAN, explained that his client was not in court because he is currently on admission in a London hospital.
\nHowever reacting to the claim, the trial judge, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, recalled that Akuma had on the last adjourned date, promised to ensure that his client would be in court Monday, but instead of producing him in court, the lawyer is presenting a medical report, claiming Dikko was critically ill and on admission in London.
\nJustice Ojukwu stated that Dikko\u2019s address, as shown on the medical report \u2013 No: N6 Ahmed Musa Crescent Jabi, Abuja, did not support his lawyer\u2019s claim that Dikko was on admission in a London hospital.
\nThe judge however noted that should the prosecution, in executing the bench warrant discovers that Dikko is actually on admission in a London hospital, the execution shall be suspended.
\nThe judge added that otherwise, the prosecution should arrest Dikko and produce him in court on March 16, 2020, which is the next adjourned date for arraignment.
\nThe warrant read; \u201dIn the charge marked: FHC\/ABJ\/CR\/21\/2019, Dikko is named with two others \u2013 a former Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs in charge of Finance, Administration and Technical Services, Garba Makarfi and Umar Hussaini, a lawyer, and owner of Capital Law firm \u2013 as defendants.
\n“Dikko, Makarfi, and Hussaini are, among others, accused of inducing the Managing Director of Cambial Limited, Yemi Obadeyi, to pay N1.1 billion (N1,100, 952,380.96) into the account of Capital Law Office as a refundable \u201ccompletion security deposit\u201d for the purchase of 120 units of duplexes as residential accommodation for officers of the Nigeria Customs Service\u201d.
\nHussaini was said to have distributed the money into various other bank accounts, and for his part in the deal, he was rewarded with the sum of $3million.
\nAccording to the affidavit deposed to by Ephraim Otti, ICPC\u2019s legal officer, the illegal activities of Dikko and his co-accused were contrary to the provisions of the law establishing the ICPC; Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006, and Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended).
\nRecall that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had recovered several luxury vehicles from a warehouse which the commission said was owned by Dikko. In another operation by the EFCC on another of Dikko\u2019s properties, several units of tricycles, motorcycles, buses, and rug carpets were also recovered.
\nIn June 2016, Dikko was arrested and queried by the EFCC. He surrendered himself to the anti-graft agency after months of being outside the country.
\nDikko was said to have acquired a N2billion mansion in the Jabi District of Abuja.
\nAnother N2.6billion was also said to have been withdrawn from the account of the Nigeria Customs and paid into several bank accounts belonging to companies allegedly floated by a former Assistant Comptroller General who served under Dikko.
\nLater, in November 2016, the EFCC through its then spokesperson told the media that Dikko had returned N1billion to the federal government coffers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Yemi Oyeyemi, Abuja The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday issued a bench warrant for the arrest of a former Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko, over his continued failure to appear in court in an alleged corruption and bribery trial. Dikko was put on trial by the Independent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":18246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[864,88,1031],"class_list":["post-24605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-corruption","tag-customs","tag-dikki"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24605\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}