{"id":171566,"date":"2025-07-28T23:23:48","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T22:23:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/icpc-trials-ex-el-rufai-aide-jimi-lawal-for-fraud"},"modified":"2025-07-29T00:26:52","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T23:26:52","slug":"icpc-trials-ex-el-rufai-aide-jimi-lawal-for-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/icpc-trials-ex-el-rufai-aide-jimi-lawal-for-fraud","title":{"rendered":"ICPC Trials Ex-El-Rufai Aide Jimi Lawal for Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) have started the prosecution of Mr. Olajimi Shakiru Adebisi Lawal, a former aide to ex-Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufa\u2019i.<\/p>\n<p>He is being tried alongside three others over alleged fraudulent estacode payments and abuse of public office.<\/p>\n<p>The case, which commenced on Monday, is being heard by Honourable Justice R.M. Aikawa at the Federal High Court sitting in Kaduna.<\/p>\n<p>The ICPC, in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Demola Bakare, said the case forms part of its broader commitment to promote accountability and integrity in the use of public resources.<\/p>\n<p>According to the ICPC, the charges relate to financial misconduct during the defendants\u2019 tenure in public service.<\/p>\n<p>The Commission presented three witnesses: Mrs. Aisha Dikko Kalil, Mrs. Bariyatu Yusuf, and Mr. Samuel Aruwan\u2014all of whom previously held top positions in the Kaduna State Government.<\/p>\n<p>While testifying, Mrs. Kalil, who served as the state\u2019s Attorney-General from 2019 to 2023, explained that her tuition fees for foreign training were paid directly by the government to the academic institutions involved.<\/p>\n<p>However, she stated, \u201cEstacode allowances were paid into my personal Guaranty Trust Bank account.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She admitted to receiving over \u20a65m in estacode payments and emphasized, \u201cI never received any such payment from the 1st Defendant, Mr. Jimi Lawal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She also disclosed that the total tuition fee covered by the government amounted to $9,100.<\/p>\n<p>Her testimony was backed by documents including account statements, course approvals, and training certificates, which were all admitted as evidence.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, Mrs. Bariyatu Yusuf, a former Head of Service in Kaduna, corroborated the testimony.<\/p>\n<p>She said the state\u2019s Ministry of Finance paid her course fees and flight tickets, while estacode allowances were deposited directly into her personal account.<\/p>\n<p>She confirmed receiving nearly \u20a615m in estacodes and said, \u201cI never received any funds from Mr. Lawal,\u201d although she admitted to knowing him professionally.<\/p>\n<p>Her certificates and financial records were also tendered in court.<\/p>\n<p>The third witness, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, who was Kaduna\u2019s Commissioner for Security and Home Affairs, testified that his foreign training was sponsored by the United States Government and the Office of the National Security Adviser.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI neither received estacode allowances from Mr. Lawal nor from the Kaduna State Government,\u201d Aruwan said.<\/p>\n<p>He also clarified that while he had a working relationship with Lawal, there were no financial transactions between them.<\/p>\n<p>During proceedings, ICPC\u2019s lead counsel, Dr. Osuobeni Ekoi Akpos, attempted to submit Mr. Aruwan\u2019s written statement to the Commission as evidence.<\/p>\n<p>However, the defense team raised an objection, arguing that the statement was obtained after the trial had already commenced, thus raising procedural concerns.<\/p>\n<p>The court adjourned the matter to September 24,2025, for ruling on the admissibility of the statement and continuation of the trial.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) have started the prosecution of Mr. Olajimi Shakiru Adebisi Lawal, a former aide to ex-Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufa\u2019i. He is being tried alongside three others over alleged fraudulent estacode payments and abuse of public office. The case, which commenced on Monday, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":171565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[18195,832,8924,254],"class_list":["post-171566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-ex-el-rufai-aide","tag-icpc","tag-jimi-lawal","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>ICPC Trials Ex-El-Rufai Aide Jimi Lawal for Fraud - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) have started the prosecution of Mr. Olaji ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/icpc-trials-ex-el-rufai-aide-jimi-lawal-for-fraud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ICPC Trials Ex-El-Rufai Aide Jimi Lawal for Fraud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) have started the prosecution of Mr. Olaji ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/icpc-trials-ex-el-rufai-aide-jimi-lawal-for-fraud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-28T22:23:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-28T23:26:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/sm_1753732748.52604.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"728\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/icpc-trials-ex-el-rufai-aide-jimi-lawal-for-fraud#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/icpc-trials-ex-el-rufai-aide-jimi-lawal-for-fraud\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"ICPC Trials Ex-El-Rufai Aide Jimi Lawal for Fraud\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-28T22:23:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-28T23:26:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/icpc-trials-ex-el-rufai-aide-jimi-lawal-for-fraud\"},\"wordCount\":480,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/icpc-trials-ex-el-rufai-aide-jimi-lawal-for-fraud#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/sm_1753732748.52604.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Ex El-Rufai aide\",\"ICPC\",\"Jimi Lawal\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/icpc-trials-ex-el-rufai-aide-jimi-lawal-for-fraud#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/icpc-trials-ex-el-rufai-aide-jimi-lawal-for-fraud\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/icpc-trials-ex-el-rufai-aide-jimi-lawal-for-fraud\",\"name\":\"ICPC Trials Ex-El-Rufai Aide Jimi Lawal for Fraud - 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