Contractor: I paid Tribunal Chairman’s wife bribe, children’s varsity fees

A prosecution witness has told an Abuja High Court how former Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Danladi Yakubu Umar, allegedly directed him to pay N6m into his wife’s bank account after his company received a contract payment.

The witness, Oluwatayo Solomon Fashogbon, also testified that he paid about N4m in university fees for Umar’s two children, bringing the alleged payments to the chairman’s family to N10m.

Fashogbon, the Chief Executive Officer of Portal Realities Limited and JTF Global Links Limited, gave the testimony on Thursday before Justice U.P. Kekemeke of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, Abuja.

Umar is facing a four-count charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged nepotism and conferring corrupt advantage on himself involving N15.59m.

Led in evidence by EFCC counsel, Christopher Mshelia, the witness said the N6m transfer was made on January 25, 2024, two days after his company received the fourth instalment of payments under a contract awarded by the tribunal.

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Fashogbon told the court that Umar had asked him in September 2021 to submit his company’s documents to the CCT procurement department.

He said the then Deputy Director of Procurement, Akinola Akanji, later informed him on September 22, 2021, that JTF Global Links Limited had been awarded a contract to digitise the tribunal’s personnel records, stores, accounts and online filing systems.

“We were given an award letter for the digitalisation of the Code of Conduct Tribunal’s personnel records, stores, accounts, and online filing systems. On the same day, we submitted an acceptance letter,” he said.

According to the witness, the contract was valued at approximately N140m for 12 months, and his company received four payments under the agreement.

He said the first payment of about N9m was made in September 2021, followed by N17m on December 18, 2021, and N16m in July 2022.

The fourth payment, he added, was approximately N17m and was received on January 23, 2024.

Fashogbon alleged that Umar called him two days later and instructed him to transfer N6m to a Zenith Bank account belonging to his wife, Zulaihatu Danladi Umar.

“After the fourth payment, on 25th January 2024, Umar Danladi called me and said that I should make a payment of N6,000,000.00 to the account of his wife,” the witness told the court.

He said the payment was made from the Wema Bank account of Portal Realities Limited.

The witness further testified that in October 2024, Akanji contacted him and said Umar had asked him to facilitate payment of university fees for the former tribunal chairman’s two children.

Fashogbon said he paid about N2m for Umar’s son, Yakubu Danladi Umar, into Baze University’s account using funds from Portal Realities Limited’s Jaiz Bank account.

He said he made a similar payment of about N2m for Umar’s daughter, Faiza Umar Danladi.

During the proceedings, the prosecution tendered a contract award letter, which the witness identified through the logos, signature and dates on the document. The court admitted it as Exhibit A.

Under cross-examination by defence counsel, S. Edward, Fashogbon said he was qualified to execute public contracts and had previously worked with the CCT and other government institutions.

He maintained that his contracts were awarded based on his qualifications and the documents he submitted.

The case was adjourned until January 20, 2027, for continuation of hearing.