If anyone had told the former Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Danladi Umar, that he would pay for his sins a few years after removing the then Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, he would not have believed it.
Penultimate week, Justice Peter Kekemeke of an Abuja High Court sitting in Maitama, ordered his remand in Kuje Correctional Centre after the federal government formally docked him over allegations that he abused his office by receiving illicit payments from contractors while serving as head of the tribunal.
According to the prosecution, investigations revealed that Umar used his wife’s bank account to receive N5.5 million from a contractor that was awarded the contract to paint the headquarters of the CCT in Abuja in 2021.
The federal government further alleged that on January 25, 2024, the former tribunal chairman again used his wife’s account to collect N6 million from another contractor handling the digitisation of the CCT’s records.
In another count, the prosecution accused Umar of directing a contractor to pay N2.43 million for his daughter’s tuition at Baze University, Abuja.
