EFCC arraigns education secretary over alleged withdrawal of funds for school feeding

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday arraigned the Education Secretary in Sabon Birni local government area of Sokoto State, Ishaka Abdullahi, over alleged illegal withdrawal of funds for school feeding programme in the area.

The EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, who disclosed this in a statement, said Abdullahi was arraigned at the Sokoto State High Court on six-count charge of obtaining money by false pretence to the tune of N429,000.

He said the defendant was arrested following the report that the Federal Government’s Home Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP) for primary school pupils had been hijacked by some fraudulent elements in Sabon Birni LGA.

Uwujaren said: “After the commission’s investigation, it was revealed that one Hassi Abdullahi, who was appointed one of the cooks in the programme and had a Union Bank account number 0077129142, died on March 18, 2019.

“It was also learnt that funds were still being channeled to the deceased’s account from the HGSFP account, totaling N429,000, which was fraudulently withdrawn.

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“Ishaka Abdullahi was arrested at the end of EFCC’s investigation.

The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The prosecution counsel, S. H. Sa’ad, asked the court to fix a date for the hearing of the case.

He also urged the court to remand the defendant in prison.

The defence counsel, Ibrahim Abdullahi, prayed the court to grant the defendant bail because he was standing trial in the same court on a different charge.

Justice Malami Dogondaji granted the defendant bail and adjourned the matter till October 12 for the commencement of trial.

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