A Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja, has on Monday ordered the remand of a former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Usman Yusuf, at the Kuje Correctional Centre.
The order was given by Justice Chinyere Nwecheonwu after Yusuf was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on five counts amended charge bordering on alleged fraud.
He however pleaded not guilty to all five counts when the charges were read to him.
The Former NHIS Boss 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.
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 presiding judge, however, declined the request.
Justice Nwecheonwu ruled that once a defendant is arraigned, custody is transferred from the EFCC to the Nigerian Correctional Service.
She, therefore, ordered Yusuf’s remand in Kuje Correctional Centre pending the hearing of his bail application.
The Judge adjourned the case to February 12, 2025, for a hearing of the bail application.
