Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, sitting in Apo, Abuja, on Monday, May 18, 2026, sustained the arrest warrant he issued against the former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Umar Farouq, on April 16, 2026.
The former Minister, alongside two others, Bashir Nura Alkali and Sani Nafiu Mohammed, are to face prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for an alleged case of criminal conspiracy, abuse of office and diversion of public funds to the tune of $1.3 million and N746.7million.
At Monday’s proceedings, counsel to the prosecution, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, informed the court that the matter was for arraignment and observed that the first defendant was absent in court without advancing any reason.
“My lord, we were here on April 16, 2026, when your lordship granted us a bench warrant to arrest the first defendant. It was because of that that the second defendant immediately approached the Commission and surrendered himself in obedience to your lordship’s order. We urge your lordship to remove the bench warrant from the second defendant, as we will be applying that the bench warrant for the first defendant be sustained.
Speaking further, the prosecution counsel recalled that counsel to the first defendant, Oladipo Okpesheyi, SAN pleaded that the court should give him one month to produce the first defendant and further recalled the position of the judge that he will not deviate from the rules of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 by granting one month adjournment, but had to grant the long adjournment following the plea of the defence.
“My expectation this morning will be for my colleague to say that the client he promised to produce is in court today, but alas, he did not do so. I will urge your lordship to ensure that the undertaking is enforced by counsel to produce his client instead of asking the court to discharge the order. My lordship should not listen to them until the undertaking is enforced,” he said.
When asked by the judge to state the reason why the first defendant was not in court, Okpesheyi told the court that he was informed last night that his client was battling a health issue overseas and would not be fit to appear in court for two months.
“My lord, she is in Egypt. I learnt that her doctor said she is not medically fit to appear today. There is a medical report I received on my phone last night that she is in the hospital on the doctor’s advice in Egypt. She will need about two months to recover before she can come. We will be humbly asking for an adjournment,” he said.
Justice Onwuegbuzie, who frowned at the defence’s tactics of frustrating and stalling the trial, threatened to take further actions if she fails to submit herself at the next proceedings.
“At the last adjournment, M.S. Ibrahim promised the court to produce the first defendant. It will be impossible to grant another adjournment. I will not tolerate unnecessary adjournment in my court. I will give you a short adjournment, and you will go and bring her, even if she is in a wheelchair. And if she is not here, the court will do what it needs to do,” he said.
The judge held that the arrest warrant against the first defendant remained active and adjourned the matter till June 8, 2026, for arraignment.
