Court grants bail to Jimi Lawal, former El-Rufai’s adviser

A  Federal High Court in Kaduna on Tuesday  granted bail to Jimi Lawal, a former aide to ex- governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state.
Lawal who served as adviser to El-Rufai was arraigned alongside three others  before the court by the  Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for alleged fraud and other charges.
The court however asked the defendants to provide two sureties, with the sum of N50 million in  like sum.
The sureties must also have  landed property in Kaduna, with verified Certificate of Occupancy (C of O)
The court also ordered the defendants  to deposit their international passports, national passports, green passports and official passports if any before the Deputy Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court Kaduna.
The defendants were arraigned before the court over alleged N64m fraud by the ICPC.
The anti-graft agency said, Lawal, Umar Waziri, former Accountant General of Kaduna State, Yusuf Inuwa, a former aide to El-Rufai and Solar Life Nigeria Limited, the company, we charged for diverting N64 million.
According to the ICPC, the money was sent in three tranches of N10 million, N47.840 million, and N7.320 million to the bank account of Solar Life Nigeria limited where Mr Lawal is believed to be  the sole signatory.”
Speaking to journalists shortly after the Court sitting on Tuesday, Counsel to one of the defendants, Johnson Usman SAN, said the court granted bail to the defendants.
He however, said the Court ordered that, the defendants be remanded in prison custody pending the perfection of their bail conditions.
He added that the bail conditions will be perfected on Wednesday.
The case was  adjourned to 26th and 27th of March, 2025 for trial.