Court orders ex-NHIS boss Yusuf’s remand in EFCC custody, reschedules arraignment

The Federal Capital Territory High Court in Kuje, Abuja, on Thursday, rescheduled to 3 February (Monday), the arraignment of a former Executive Secretary of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Usman Yusuf, for alleged procurement fraud he allegedly committed in office.

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The trial judge Chinyere Nwecheonwu postponed the arraignment based on the request by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to amend the charges.

The EFCC arrested Mr Yusuf in Abuja on Wednesday and detained him ahead of Thursday’s proceedings.

At Thursday’s hearing, defence lawyer, Isah Haruna, applied orally to the court for Mr Yusuf’s bail.

However, the judge turned down the request, given that the defendant’s arraignment has been rescheduled for Monday.

He ordered the remand of the defendant in EFCC till Monday’s hearing.

Charges

Mr Yusuf, professor of haematology-oncology and bone marrow transplantation, faces five counts of procurement fraud involving awards of contracts worth N77.6 million to companies in which he and family members had interests.

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In the case filed on 29 November 2024, EFCC alleged that he committed the offences between 2016 and 2017, coinciding with the period he was enmeshed in various controversies of alleged irregularities and corruption.

The EFCC indictment includes an allegation of conferring undue advantage on himself by approving the purchase of a vehicle at the cost of N49.197 million (N49,197,750) against the budgeted sum of N30 million.

The commission also charged him with knowingly holding a private interest in a company, GK Kanki Foundation, and awarding a contract worth N10.1 million in favour of the entity without due process. The charge added that the contract was a “purported training of 90 persons,” when the “actual number of the participants were 45 persons.”

In another count, the EFCC accused the defendant of knowingly holding a private interest in a company, Zaramat Globai Services Limited despite being a public officer. The charge added that, without due procurement processes, Mr Yusuf awarded a contract worth N771.4 million (N771,428.58), in favour of the company for a training programme on risk management

He was also accused of using his position to confer undue advantage on himself by “knowingly awarding” a contract for media and special public relations consultancy worth N17.5 million to an entity, Lubekh Nigeria Limited belonging to his nephew, Khalifa Hassan Yusuf. The count alleged that Mr Yusuf, as a public officer, also knowingly acquired a private interest in the entity.

Lastly, another count which centred around the N17.5 million contract, alleged that Mr Yusuf, in “carrying out” the contract committed another offence.

The value of the contracts he allegedly awarded and carried out illegally summed up to about N77.6 million.

According to EFCC, the various offences violate and are punishable under section 22 the Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Act, 2000, section 45 and 45(2) Public Procurement Act, 2007.

Section 22 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Act, 2000, states that a public officer who uses their position to gain a corrupt or unfair advantage for themselves or an associate is guilty of an offence, punishable by imprisonment for five years without the option of a fine.

Section 45(1) to (3) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 outlines how a procuring entity should request proposals to provide services for unascertained needs. But the subsections 45(2) and (3) do not prescribe punishment for breaches as suggested in the EFCC’s charge.

Mr Yusuf and controversies

Mr Yusuf’s tenure as the NHIS head during the presidency of Muhammadu Buhari was marked by controversies.

He faced various allegations, including misappropriation of funds, nepotism, misconduct, blatant disregard for higher authority, and the use of inappropriate language toward a senior officer.

He was also accused of violating regulations by granting financial assistance to an individual who was not enrolled in the NHIS while denying the same support to a staff member of the scheme, who later passed away.

He was suspended by the Minister of Health in 2017 and by the Board of NHIS in October 2018 before he was sent on an administrative leave in 2019, marking the end of his tenure in office.

Mr Yusuf, a member of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), is a critic of President Bola Tinubu’s government.

He recently declared that no reasonable northerner would ever subscribe to the Muslim-Muslim presidency in the country again considering the present experience in the region under Mr Tinubu’s leadership. He also blamed Mr Buhari for the neglect of some deteriorating roads in the North.

“No northerner should blame anyone for our current situation. We brought it upon ourselves. In 2015 we voted out the administration under the pretence of Boko Haram, today, where are we? We had Muhammadu Buhari as President for eight years, yet, the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road is not completed.

READ ALSO: EFCC arrests former NHIS boss Usman Yusuf for alleged N4 billion fraud

“Today, billions of Naira have been earmarked for the Lagos – Calabar coastal highway. Who are we to blame for this? Ourselves of course. Our children cannot go to school, the farmers cannot go to the farms because of insecurity, banditry. Who are the bandits, who are the Boko Haram? Now, we have another Lakurawa, who are these people? Our people of course,” he said.

Mr Yusuf criticised the President’s economic management team, calling them “tax collectors” rather than “economists.”

According to him, Mr Tinubu’s economic team “looks more like tax collectors than economists. Taxation does not grow the economy; only production does,” he said.