Court Sentences UDUTH Accountant to Jail for N60m Fraud
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has successfully secured the conviction of Lukumanu Sani Waziri, an accountant at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH) in Sokoto, for corruption and abuse of office.
Waziri was found guilty of diverting over N60 million in public funds through unauthorized access to the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS). The court ruling came after a protracted trial, during which ICPC presented compelling evidence against the defendant.
In 2021, the ICPC charged Waziri and two others before Justice M. Abdulgafar of the Federal High Court, Sokoto Division, on a nine-count fraud and corruption indictment. The charge was filed under case number: FHC/ICPC/122021.
In his judgment, Justice Abdulgafar found Waziri guilty of seven out of the nine charges leveled against him and sentenced him accordingly.
ICPC’s prosecutor, Dr. Osuobeni Ekoi Akponimisingha, presented evidence that Waziri, who was a designated user of GIFMIS at UDUTH, had altered financial records to facilitate the transfer of millions of naira into private accounts, including his own and that of one Monday Michael Adejo. Waziri was also found to have unlawfully changed bank account details meant for state taxes of Kogi, Edo, Bauchi, and Zamfara states, diverting the funds to Adejo’s account.
One of the counts against Waziri read: “That you, Lukumanu Sani Waziri and Monday Michael Adejo, sometime in April 2020, conspired to unlawfully transfer sums of N6,127,465.75, N8,552,824.60, and N5,939,666.49—totaling N20,619,956.8—into the First Bank account of Monday Michael Adejo, knowing that the funds were proceeds of an unlawful act, namely corruption and fraud. You thereby committed an offence under the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 (as amended).”
The conviction serves as a reminder of the commitment of the ICPC to hold public officers accountable and deter corruption in Nigeria’s public service.
