The Court of Appeal in Abuja has refused to grant bail to a former Director of Finance and Administration in the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Garba Mohammed Dukku, who is serving a 24-year prison sentence for diverting over N319 million in public funds.
Dukku, who served under the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), was convicted by the Federal High Court in Abuja on corruption and money laundering charges after the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) successfully prosecuted the case.
Justice James Omotosho had found him guilty on a six-count charge, ruling that he fraudulently diverted N318.25 million belonging to the AMMC into his personal Fidelity Bank account between 2012 and 2013.
According to the ICPC, the funds were transferred into the account in several instalments, including N56.25 million, N71 million, N53 million, N54 million, N46 million, and N36.3 million.
The anti-graft agency also established that the money was later transferred to bureau de change operators for unauthorised transactions.
During his trial, Dukku claimed he handed the money over to his superiors. However, the court rejected the defence, ruling that he failed to provide credible evidence to support the claim.
As an alternative to serving the prison sentence, the trial court gave him the option of paying a fine amounting to five times the value of the money involved in each count, estimated at about N1.6 billion.
After beginning his jail term, Dukku approached the Court of Appeal seeking bail while his appeal against the conviction and sentence is being heard.
However, in a unanimous judgment delivered by a three-member panel of justices, the appellate court held that the former FCTA director failed to present any exceptional circumstances that would justify granting him bail.
The court held that nothing was placed before it to warrant the exercise of its discretion in favour of the applicant and dismissed the application for lacking merit.
While rejecting the bail request, the Court of Appeal approved an accelerated hearing of Dukku’s substantive appeal against his conviction.
The case remains one of the high-profile corruption prosecutions handled by the ICPC involving the alleged diversion of public funds.
