According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ahmed Idris, the federation’s suspended accountant-general, accepted a N15 billion bribe to expedite 13 percent derivation funds to nine oil-producing states.
According to Section 162, sub-section 2 of the Nigerian constitution, the 13 percent derivation fund is derived from federation revenue and distributed to oil-producing communities through state governments.
The fund is a benefit-sharing system that assists affected communities in obtaining funds to restore aspects of their society that have been harmed by oil production.
Delta, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Rivers, Edo, Ondo, Imo, Lagos, and Abia received a total of N450.60 billion from the fund in 2021.
Idris was arrested in Kano in May after failing to respond to the commission’s invitations to answer questions about the alleged N80 billion fraud.
Zainab Ahmed, the minister of finance, budget, and national planning, suspended him indefinitely “without pay” two days later.
Idris was later charged alongside Godfrey Olusegun Akindele, Mohammed Kudu Usman, and a company called Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Limited.
On Friday, EFCC brought him to court to stand trial on the fraud allegations.
According to one of the charges, the EFCC alleged that Idris received gratification from one Olusegun Akindele, worth N15.1 billion, in exchange for “accelerating the payment of 13% derivation to the nine oil-producing states in the federation”.
“That you, Ahmed Idris between February and December 2021 at Abuja in the Abuja Judicial Division of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, being a public servant by virtue of your position as the Accountant General of the Federation, accepted from Olusegun Akindele, a gratification in the aggregate sum of N15,136,221,921.46 (Fifteen Billion, One Hundred and Thirty-Six Million, Two Hundred and Twenty-One Thousand, Nine Hundred and Twenty-One Naira and Forty-Six Kobo), which sum was converted to the United States Dollars by the said Olusegun Akindele and which sum did not form part of your lawful remuneration but as a motive for accelerating the payment of 13% derivation to the nine (9) oil-producing states in the Federation, through the office of the Accountant General of the Federation, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 155 of the Penal Code Act Cap 532 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990 and punishable under the same section,” the charge sheet reads.
Rotimi Jacobs, counsel for the EFCC, asked the court on Friday to grant the prosecution leave to file a criminal charge against the defendants under Section 109 of the ACJA.
The judge, Adeyemi Ajayi, granted the application as requested.
As a result, the defendants were served with a 14-count charge.
Chris Uche, Idris’s counsel, asked the court to grant bail to his client pending the filing of a written bail application.
However, the judge denied the request and remanded Idris and the other defendants in Kuje prison.
The case was then rescheduled for July 27 for the continuation of the trial.
