On Wednesday, July 10, Anamekwe Nwabuoku, a former acting Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), pleaded with an Abuja Federal High Court to extend his deadline for completing the return of public funds that he and his co-defendant, Felix Nweke, are accused of embezzling.
Nwabuoku and Nweke, a former Deputy Director in the Ministry of
Defence, are facing 11 counts of money laundering to the tune of N1.6 bilion preferred against them by the EFCC.
According to reports, Nweke is the second defendant in the charge with the file number: FHC/ABJ/CR/240/24, dated May 20 and submitted by Ekele Iheanacho on May 27. Nwabuoku is the first defendant in the case.
They were accused of committing the crime between 2019 and 2021, when Nwabuoku was the Ministry of Defence’s Director of Finance and Accounts.
Nwabuoku was appointed acting AGF on May 20, 2022 under ex-
President Muhammadu Buhari after Ahmed ldris was suspended as AGF Over alleged N80 billion fraud.
However, a few weeks after taking office in July 2022, he was dismissed.
Upon calling the case on Wednesday, the defendants asked the judge to postpone their arraignment until a later time so they could finish the refund.
Their lawyers informed the court that they had taken steps toward
settling the matter and had made substantial refunds of the money traced to them by the anti-graft agency.
Responding, counsel who appeared for the EFCC, Ogechi Ujam,
acknowledged that though the commission was in receipt of a proposal letter, she said: However, no negotiation has been made, no settlement has been done and no agreement has been reached by parties.”
She said that given the circumstances, we humbly request permission from this honorable court to arraign the defendants.
Judge Omotosho heard all sides, then postponed the arraignment until October 14.
