Court grants Bauchi finance commissioner, others ₦100m bail in terrorism case
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Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja has granted the Bauchi State Commissioner for Finance, Yakubu Adamu, and his co-defendants bail in the sum of ₦100 million each over alleged $9.7 million terrorism financing offences.
In his ruling, Justice Umar held that Adamu and the other defendants placed sufficient materials before the court to warrant the exercise of judicial discretion in their favour.
The judge ordered each of the defendants to produce two sureties, who must be a permanent secretary and a director within the civil service. He further directed that all the defendants deposit their international passports with the court registry.
Justice Umar also ordered Adamu and the three co-defendants to report to the Bauchi State office of the Department of State Services every Monday until the determination of the case.
The court subsequently adjourned the matter to February 26 for the commencement of trial.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had filed a 10-count charge bordering on terrorism financing and money laundering against Adamu and three others. The co-defendants are Balarabe Ilelah, Aminu Bose and Kabiru Mohammed, who are described as top Bauchi State civil servants.
The defendants were initially denied bail by Justice Emeka Nwite, who sat as a vacation judge in December. They were later re-arraigned before Justice Umar on January 16 after the case was reassigned, and their bail application was argued thereafter.
Justice Umar had adjourned the case to January 21 for ruling on the bail application following the defendants’ plea of not guilty.
In their renewed bail application, counsel to the defendants, Chris Uche (SAN), told the court that although a sister court earlier refused bail, fresh and additional facts justified the new application. He argued that the earlier court would have granted bail if the new facts had been placed before it.
Uche submitted that Bello Bodejo, the president of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, was never convicted of any terrorism offence by any competent court. He noted that although Bodejo was charged by the Federal Government for terrorism-related offences, the charge was withdrawn and dismissed by the court on May 29, 2024.
He further argued that there was no proscription order in the Federal Government’s Official Gazette designating either Bodejo or his organisation as a terrorist entity, relying on Section 48(1) of the Terrorism Prevention Act, 2022.
According to the defence, the failure of the prosecution to establish that Bodejo is a terrorist removes the basis for the continued detention of the defendants, thereby justifying the grant of bail. Uche also cited relevant provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, to support the court’s power to grant bail.
Adamu, a former branch manager of a commercial bank in Bauchi State, and the other defendants were first arraigned on December 31, 2025, before Justice Nwite, where they pleaded not guilty.
Justice Nwite had, on January 5, refused their bail application on the grounds that the offences posed a threat to national security and public safety, ordering their remand at the Kuje Correctional Centre.
The trial scheduled for January 13 did not proceed, as Justice Nwite returned the case file to the Chief Judge for reassignment following the end of the court vacation.