Former Taraba State governor, Darius Ishaku, arraigned for alleged involvement in an alleged N27 billion fraud case, was granted bail by a Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday.
The court set his bail at N150 million.
Ishaku is also required to present two sureties resident in Abuja to the court. At least one of the sureties must be a director and an employee of the Federal Government.
Sylvanus Chinedu Oriji gave the order while ruling on the bail application Paul Haris Ogbole and Oluwa Damilola Kayode, Ishaku’s and Bello Yero’s counsels, made.
Oriji also ruled that both Ishaku and his co-defendant are prohibited from leaving Nigeria without obtaining permission from the court.
The Punch reported that Rotimi Jacobs, the counsel representing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said that the antigraft agency had granted Ishaku administrative bail and would not oppose his bail application at the court.
The judge scheduled the next trial hearings for November 4, 5 and 13.
On Monday, FIJ reported how Ishaku was arraigned alongside Yero, who served as permanent secretary of the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, on a 15-count charge bordering on offences of conspiracy, and conversion of public funds among others.
Both defendants were accused of diverting over N1.13 billion from a 2.5% contingency fund allocated for local government and chieftaincy affairs between July 2015 and May 2019.
Other allegations include the dishonest diversion of substantial sums, including N3.34 billion between July 2019 and February 2021, N650.6 million from January 2019 to April 2021, and other amounts totalling N193 million and N170.5 million.
The EFCC claims these funds belonged to the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and local government councils in Taraba.
Yero and Ishaku were arrested on September 27 and both pleaded “not guilty” to the charges. Ishaku served as Taraba governor from 2015 to 2023.
