The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has charged Jimi Lawal, a former senior adviser to ex-Kaduna Governor Nasir el-Rufai, with five counts of corruption and money laundering. Lawal served on the Kaduna Economic Development Council from 2019 to 2023 and was also a special adviser during el-Rufai’s first term.
The case, marked FCH/KD/16c/2025, was filed in Kaduna’s federal high court on Wednesday by ICPC’s assistant chief legal officer, Osuobeni Akponimishingha. Lawal faces three charges alongside co-defendants Umar Waziri, Yusuf Inuwa, and Solar Life Nigeria Limited.
According to the ICPC, in 2018, Lawal “indirectly took control of the sum of N10 million from the Kaduna State Accountant General Operational Account No. 0211139802 via the Guaranty Trust Bank Automated System (GAPS) and deposited it into Solar Life Nigeria Limited’s Guaranty Trust Bank account 0130133086, for which he was the sole signatory.”
In a second charge, Lawal is accused of taking control of N47.8 million from Kaduna’s finance ministry in July 2018. The ICPC alleges that in September 2018, while serving as senior special adviser to el-Rufai, Lawal took control of N7.3 million from the Kaduna state internally generated revenue account.
This money was deposited in a United Bank for Africa (UBA) account 10200067882 before being transferred to the Guaranty Trust Bank account 0130133086 of Solar Life Nigeria Limited, again for which he was the sole signatory. The commission asserts that Lawal “ought to have known the funds were proceeds of an unlawful act of corruption,” which violates Section 18(2)(d) and is punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
In the third count, the ICPC claims that in October 2024, Lawal made false statements to investigators Wellington Nkemadu and Gudi Johnson Daniel. He allegedly stated that the total sum of N64,800,562—received in three tranches of N10,000,000, N47,840,000, and N7,320,562 from the Kaduna State Government through the Guaranty Trust Bank Account of Solar Life Nigeria Limited—was paid to Bariatu Yusuf Mohammed and Aisha Dikko as estacode.
According to the commission, “Lawal knew the statement was false and, in doing so, committed an offence under Section 25(1)(a), which is punishable under Section 25(1)(b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.”
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