The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday granted bail to the Bauchi State Commissioner for Finance, Yakubu Adamu, and three other defendants standing trial over alleged terrorism financing and money laundering offences amounting to about ₦400 million.
Justice Mohammed Umar, in a ruling, ordered each of the four defendants to deposit ₦100 million as bail and provide two sureties in like sum. The court stipulated that one surety must be a serving permanent secretary, while the other must be a serving director in the civil service.
As part of the bail conditions, the defendants were directed to surrender their international passports and barred from travelling outside Nigeria without the court’s permission. They were also ordered to report weekly, every Monday, to the Bauchi State office of the Department of State Services (DSS). The case was adjourned until March 26 for hearing.
The ruling marked a reversal of an earlier decision delivered on June 5 by Justice Emeka Nwite, who had denied the defendants bail on grounds that the charges posed a threat to national security. Justice Nwite had held that terrorism-related allegations threatened social order and that granting bail at the time could endanger the public.
However, Justice Umar, to whom the case was later reassigned, ruled that the prosecution failed to present concrete evidence showing that the defendants posed a flight risk. He held that the interest of justice would be served by granting bail pending the determination of the case.
Adamu, a former branch manager of Polaris Bank Plc in Bauchi State, was arraigned on December 31, 2025, alongside three alleged accomplices identified as civil servants—Balarabe Abdullahi Ilelah, Aminu Mohammed Bose and Kabiru Yahaya Mohammed—on a ten-count charge bordering on conspiracy, conversion of public funds and terrorism financing.
The charges were filed under Sections 2(1) and 19(1)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, punishable under Section 19(2)(b) of the same law. The Federal Government alleged that the defendants conducted cash transactions valued at about $9.7 million outside recognised financial institutions.
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According to the prosecution, between January and May 2024, Adamu and other signatories to Bauchi State Government accounts allegedly handed over $2.3 million in cash to Bello Bodejo, President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, and persons associated with him. Bodejo had previously been arrested and charged with terrorism-related offences over the alleged formation of an ethnic militia, though those charges were later withdrawn.
The prosecution further alleged that the transactions were carried out with the knowledge that the funds could be used to support terrorist activities, adding that some key suspects, including the Bauchi State Accountant-General, Sirajo Jaja, are currently at large.
All the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges and urged the court to allow them regain their freedom pending trial. The court is expected to begin substantive hearing in the matter later this month.