The immediate past Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Danladi Umar, on Thursday pleaded not guilty to four counts of alleged corruption brought against him by the Federal Government before the FCT High Court in Abuja.Umar was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission before Justice Peter Kekemeke on charges bordering on allegedly conferring corrupt and unfair advantages on himself through payments made by contractors to his wife and children.The charges were filed on June 19, 2026.At the commencement of proceedings, prosecution counsel, Christopher Mshelia, informed the court that the matter was for arraignment.
After the charges were read to him, Umar pleaded not guilty to all four counts.Following the plea, the prosecution applied for a date for the commencement of trial and urged the court to remand the defendant at the Kuje Correctional Centre pending trial.Defence counsel, Sunday Edward, however, moved an application for bail on behalf of his client, assuring the court that Umar would always be available to stand trial.
The prosecution opposed the immediate hearing of the bail application, telling the court that it had only been served with the application at about 3 pm on Wednesday and needed time to file a response.
Justice Kekemeke subsequently adjourned the matter until July 15 for the hearing of the bail application.He also ordered that Umar be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre pending the determination of the application.According to the charge sheet seen by our correspondent, the Federal Government alleged that while serving as Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal and Chairman of the tribunal’s Tenders Board, Umar used his office to obtain benefits for himself through companies that executed contracts for the tribunal.Count One read, “That you, Danladi Yakubu Umar, while serving as the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal and Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal Tenders Board, on or about the 5th day of October, 2021… did confer upon yourself a corrupt and unfair advantage by causing the sum of N5,500,000.00 (Five Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira Only) to be paid to your wife, Zulaihatu Danladi Umar… by Kurchmives International Limited, a subcontractor under the contract awarded by the Code of Conduct Tribunal to Momanaf Global Ventures Limited for the internal and external painting of the headquarters of the Code of Conduct Tribunal.”Count Two read, “That you, Danladi Yakubu Umar, while serving as the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal and Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal Tenders Board, on or about the 25th day of January, 2024… did confer upon yourself a corrupt and unfair advantage by causing the sum of N6,000,000.00 (Six Million Naira Only) to be paid to your wife… by Portal Realities Limited, a sister company of JTF Global Links Limited, a company which was awarded the contract for the digitalisation of the Code of Conduct Tribunal management records by the Code of Conduct Tribunal.”In Counts Three and Four, the prosecution alleged that on October 9, 2024, Umar caused Portal Realities Limited to pay N2,043,916.88 each to Baze University as tuition fees for his daughter, Faiza Danladi Umar, and his son, Yakuba Danladi Umar.
The prosecution maintained that the alleged acts amounted to conferring corrupt and unfair advantages on himself, contrary to Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, and punishable under the same provision