Court Sends Former CCT Chairman Danladi Umar to Kuje Prison
A Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja, on Thursday ordered the remand of a former Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Danladi Yakubu Umar, at the Kuje Correctional Centre, marking a striking reversal of fortune for the man who once presided over some of the most consequential asset declaration trials in Nigeria’s recent history.
Umar was brought before Justice Peter Kekemeke after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission arraigned him on a four-count charge bordering on nepotism, abuse of office and the conferment of a corrupt advantage on himself. According to the anti-graft agency, the alleged infractions run to N15,587,833.76, committed during his long tenure as head of the tribunal, where he also served as chairman of its Tenders Board.
He pleaded not guilty to all four counts. His counsel, Sunday Edward, told the court that a bail application had already been filed on his client’s behalf and urged that it be heard. The prosecuting counsel, Christopher Mshelia, however, informed the court that the commission had only just been served with the motion and required time to study and respond to it, while asking that the defendant be remanded pending trial. Justice Kekemeke consequently adjourned the matter to July 15, 2026, for the hearing and determination of the bail application, and directed that Umar be held at Kuje in the interim.
The particulars filed by the EFCC paint a picture of payments routed through family accounts. In the first count, the commission alleged that around October 5, 2021, Umar caused N5.5 million to be paid to his wife, Zulaihatu Danladi Umar, by Kurchmives International Limited, a subcontractor engaged in the internal and external painting of the tribunal’s headquarters. A second count alleges that on or about January 25, 2024, a further N6 million was paid into another of Mrs Umar’s accounts by Portal Realities Limited, described as a sister company to JTF Global Links Limited, which had been awarded the contract for digitising the tribunal’s management records. The commission maintains that the conduct contravened Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
The arraignment closes a remarkable arc for a jurist who spent well over a decade at the centre of Nigeria’s accountability architecture. Appointed acting chairman of the CCT at 36 and confirmed substantively in July 2011, Umar became the youngest person to hold the office. From that seat he presided over the asset declaration trial of former Senate President Bukola Saraki, who was eventually discharged and acquitted, and in 2019 he handled the controversial trial of former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, who was convicted on charges of false asset declaration. Onnoghen had at the time asked Umar to step aside, describing him as a “tainted arbiter,” a reference to bribery allegations that had trailed the tribunal boss for years.
His later years in office were dogged by controversy, including a widely circulated 2021 incident in which he was filmed in an altercation with a security guard at a plaza in Abuja. The accumulation of petitions ultimately caught up with him. In November 2024, the Senate invoked Section 157(1) of the 1999 Constitution to recommend his removal, with 74 senators voting in favour and 10 against, after the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, argued that his conduct had fallen short of the standards expected of a public officer. President Bola Tinubu subsequently nominated Abdullahi Usman Bello as his successor.
Thursday’s proceedings now place the once formidable arbiter on the other side of the dock, with the question of his liberty resting on the ruling expected next week.