23 hours ago
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Ex-Chief of Staff to former Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, Alhaji Bashir Sa'idu
Ex-Chief of Staff to former Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, Alhaji Bashir Sa’idu, has been sent back to a custodial centre as the Kaduna State High Court adjourned the hearing of his bail application till Thursday.
Sa’idu, who also served as Commissioner for Finance in the El-Rufai administration, is facing a 10-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering, embezzlement, and stealing.
On Tuesday when the case came up for mention before Justice Isa Aliyu, the 10 charges were read to the defendant, to which he pleaded not guilty.
The charges, filed by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, alleged that Sa’idu sold $45million in hard currency belonging to the Kaduna State Government—equivalent of ₦18,450,000,000—at the significantly undervalued rate of ₦410 per dollar, instead of the parallel market rate of ₦498 per dollar, with criminal intent, resulting in a ₦3,960,000,000 loss to the government.
The prosecution further alleged that the ₦3.96 billion discrepancy was laundered by Sa’idu, in violation of Section 18 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Counsel for the defendant, M.I. Abubakar, notified the court of a pending bail application and urged the court to grant his client bail, as he had already spent 21 days in custody since his arrest on January 2, 2025.
However, the prosecution counsel, Prof. Nasiru Aliyu, objected to the bail application, arguing that the law provides seven days for the prosecution to file its response.
After a 40-minute recess, Justice Aliyu ruled that the prosecution be given adequate time to file its response to the bail application and adjourned the case till January 23, 2025, for a hearing of the bail application.
