The Bola Tinubu administration has filed a fresh N15 million four-count corruption charge against the former chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Danladi Umar, a former justice who led a three-member judicial panel to probe Mr Tinubu in a high-stakes 2011 trial for asset declaration fraud. But he acquitted Mr Tinubu of any wrongdoing, admitting he had been pressured by the higher-ups to convict him.
Mr Umar is accused of cornering millions of dollars from CCT contractors for his family members, including his wife and children, during his tenure as the tribunal chair, court filings seen by Peoples Gazette showed.
At issue was that Mr Umar allegedly directed Kurchmives International Limited, which was subcontracted to paint the interior and exterior of the CCT headquarters, to pay N5.5 million to his wife, Zulaihatu Danladi Umar. The funds were allegedly deposited into Mrs Umar’s Keystone account ending in -7105 in October 2021.
In January 2025, another N6 million was allegedly paid into Mrs Umar’s Zenith Bank account by Portal Realities Ltd, a subsidiary of JTF Global Links, which was awarded the contract of digitising the CCT management records.
The government found that over N2 million was wired to Baze University as tuition fees for Mr Umar’s daughter, Faiza Danladi Umar, by the same Portal Realities Ltd in October 2024.
That Mr Umar “did confer upon yourself a corruption and unfair advantage by causing the sum of N2,043,916 (Two million, forty-three thousand, nine hundred and sixteen naira) to be paid to Baze University as tuition fee for your son Yakubu Danaladi Umar by Portal Realities, a sister company to JTF Global Company, which was awarded a contract for the digitilisation of the Code of Conduct Tribunal management records”.
The case was scheduled for a hearing on Monday (today) in Justice U.P. Kekemeke’s courtroom at the Maitama Division of the FCT High Court.
Mr Umar was pushed out of the CCT in November 2024 in a controversial dismissal spearheaded by Senate majority leader Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti) over a flurry of petitions that, he said, accused Mr Umar of misconduct and absenteeism from office. Mr Bamidele is an ally of the president.
Aggrieved by what was described as an unfair dismissal, some civil society groups challenged Mr Umar’s termination in court but subsequently withdrew the suit at the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court.