ICPC Charges El-Rufai’s Former Aide Lawal with Money Laundering

The ICPC has filed charges against former Kaduna State Governor El-Rufai’s aide, Lawal, over alleged money laundering, intensifying anti-corruption efforts.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has charged Jimi Lawal, a former senior councillor and adviser to ex-Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai, with five counts of unlawful diversion of public funds and money laundering.

Lawal was charged with alleged financial misappropriation, along with Umar Waziri, Yusuf Inuwa, and Solar Life Nigeria Limited.

On January 15, 2025, Osuobeni Akponimisingha, the Assistant Chief Legal Officer of ICPC, filed charge number FCH/KD/16c/2025 at the Federal High Court in Kaduna.

According to the charge sheet, the ICPC accused Jimi Lawal of indirectly taking control of N10,000,000 in 2018. This amount was transferred from the Kaduna State Accountant General Operational Account Nigeria (0211139802) via Guaranty Trust Bank’s Automated System (GAPS), and subsequently deposited into an account at Guaranty Trust Bank belonging to Solar Life Nigeria Limited, where he served as the sole signatory.

The commission stated that Lawal should have known the funds were proceeds of corruption. By failing to recognize this, he allegedly committed an offense in violation of Section 18(2)(d), which is punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022.

The ICPC also charged Lawal with indirectly seizing control of N47,840,000 from the Kaduna State Ministry of Finance via GTB Account number 0130133086 in July 2018.

In a separate allegation, the ICPC claimed that Jimi Lawal, in September 2018 while working as a Senior Special Adviser/Counselor to Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna State, assumed control over N7,320,562 from an account belonging to the Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service at United Bank for Africa (account number 10200067882). He subsequently transferred these funds to Solar Life Nigeria Limited’s Guaranty Trust Bank Account (number 0130133086).

In a separate charge, Lawal was accused of providing false information to Messrs Wellington Nkemadu and Gudi Johnson Daniel while they were conducting their investigations.

According to the accusation, Lawal asserted that a cumulative amount of N64,800,562—disbursed in three separate payments of N10,000,000; N47,840,000; and N7,320,562 from the Kaduna State Government via Solar Life Nigeria Limited’s account at Guaranty Trust Bank—was transferred to Bariatu Yusuf Mohammed and Aisha Dikko as estacode.

Nonetheless, the ICPC maintained that the accused was aware of the false nature of their statement and thus committed an offense in violation of Section 25(1)(a) and punishable under Section 25(1)(b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.