Court Sends Former NHIS Executive Secretary To Kuje Prison Over ‘Fraud’

Justice Chinyere Nwecheonwu of a Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the remand of a former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Usman Yusuf, at the Kuje Correctional Centre.

The judge gave the order on Monday after Yusuf was arraigned and took his plea.

Yusuf is accused of abusing his office to confer undue advantages on himself between 2016 and 2017. He is also alleged to have awarded contracts without adhering to the due procurement process.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission arraigned Yusuf on five counts amended charge bordering on alleged fraud.

However, Yusuf pleaded ‘not guilty’ to all five counts when the charges were read to him.

Yusuf’s counsel, O.I. Habeeb, afterwards, requested that his client be remanded in the EFCC’s custody pending the hearing of the bail application. The trial judge, however, declined the request.

Justice Chinyere Nwecheonwu pointed out that once a defendant was arraigned, he ceased to be in the custody of the EFCC, but the Nigerian Correctional Service.

She, therefore, ordered Yusuf’s remand in Kuje Correctional Centre pending the hearing of his bail application.

She adjourned the case to February 12, 2025, for a hearing of the bail application.

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