Former Secretary to the Bauchi State Government (SSG), Ibrahim Kashim, whose name has featured in a fraud charge brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has denied wrongdoing.
He said he was neither investigated nor indicted by any authority before he resigned from office in December 2024.
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In a statement shared with PREMIUM TIMES on Monday, Mr Kashim, a lawyer, described claims linking his exit from office to alleged financial impropriety as false and misleading.
He said there has been no public record showing that he was sacked or dismissed from the position.
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The Bauchi State Government has not publicly accused Mr Kashim of fraud, and Governor Bala Mohammed has not commented on the allegations.
But several serving and former officials of the governor’s administration have faced fraud charges instituted by the EFCC in the last few months.
The latest include finance commissioner, Yakubu Adamu, whom the EFCC arraigned along with others in two separate terrorism financing and money laundering cases last month.
Earlier on Monday, the trial judge, Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja, denied bail to Mr Adamu and his co-defendants, who are Bauchi State civil servants, in the terrorism financing charges.
In April 2025, the EFCC arraigned the Accountant General of Bauchi State, Sirajo Jaja, along with a bureau de change operator on charges of transferring and converting billions belonging to the Bauchi State Government.
The defendants allegedly committed the offences between 10 July 2024 and 25 November 2024.
The EFCC arraigned them for the offences before trial judge, Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Apart from Mr Jaja and his co-accused, the bureau de change operator, other suspects, including Mr Kashim, were named to be part of the alleged fraud but were said to be at large.
Mr Kashim resigned as the state’s SSG in December 2024, just about a month after the end part of the transactions complained of in the EFCC charges allegedly took place in November 2024.
The governor’s office subsequently accepted his resignation. The government did not disclose the reasons for his exit at the time.
The former SSG challenged the governor to take him to court if there was any credible evidence linking him to fraud.
“At no time during my tenure as Secretary to the State Government was I indicted, queried, investigated, or found culpable of any act of fraud or financial impropriety. No panel of inquiry, audit report, law enforcement agency, or anti-corruption body has ever established, alleged, or even insinuated that I engaged in fraudulent conduct while in office.
“Any suggestion to the contrary is a blatant distortion of facts and a regrettable attempt to deflect attention from more substantive issues,” he stated.
He also said he remained ready to render a full account of his stewardship to any competent authority or to the public.
Describing the allegations as an attempt to damage his reputation, Mr Kashim warned against what he called the projection of false narratives in public discourse.
He said he would soon address the media and the public to further clarify the matter.
In July 2025, months after resigning as the SSG, Mr Kashim resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), parting ways politically with Governor Mohammed, who is among the few governors remaining in the part. The move that has generated political speculations in Bauchi State.
In his resignation letter, Mr Kashim did not state the reasons for leaving the PDP but said the decision followed “due consideration,” adding that he intends to explore other avenues to seek the mandate of the people of the state.
Mr Kashim was the PDP governorship candidate in Bauchi State ahead of the 2023 general election but stepped down from the race months before the polls to support Governor Mohammed.
He was later appointed Secretary to the State Government after Governor Mohammed’s re-election.
Background
Mr Jaja, the Accountant General of Bauchi State, was arraigned before the Federal High Court in Abuja, alongside a bureau de change operator, Aliyu Abubakar, and his company, Jasfad Resources Enterprise, in April 2025.
Mr Kashim, former SSG, Aminu Hammayo, Saleh U. Mohammed, and Balarabe Abdullahi were listed as suspects that were at large.
The defendants are facing nine counts of money laundering, diversion of public funds and criminal misappropriation involving N8.38 billion.
According to the EFCC, the defendants allegedly converted and transferred N2.8 billion from the Bauchi State Government’s expenditure account into the account of Jasfad Resources Enterprise between January and December 2024, contrary to the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
All the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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