The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday moved to re-arraign three senior officials of the National Assembly over an alleged N337.06 million fraud case before the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Jikwoyi, Abuja.
The defendants — Aishatu Bappa El-Nafaty, Mamud Alhaji Abubakar and Igba Ityoakura Joseph — were scheduled to take fresh pleas before Justice Muhammed Zubairu on an amended 23-count charge.
According to the EFCC, the charges border on conspiracy, forgery, criminal breach of trust, official corruption and the alleged illegal conversion of National Assembly funds amounting to N337,062,350.
El-Nafaty is currently the Director of the Public Affairs Department in the Directorate of Special Duties and Parliamentary Security of the National Assembly. Abubakar is a former Permanent Secretary in the National Assembly Service, while Joseph serves as a Deputy Director of Procurement.
However, the planned re-arraignment was stalled following a preliminary objection filed by counsel to the second defendant, Muhammed Ndayako (SAN).
The defence lawyer urged the court to strike out counts three, four, five, six, seven and 18 of the amended charge, arguing that they were incompetent and amounted to an attempt to revive counts previously quashed by the court in a ruling delivered on May 12, 2025.
Responding, EFCC prosecuting counsel, Francis Usani, informed the court that the objection was served on the prosecution at short notice, only days before the scheduled re-arraignment.
Usani argued that the application was frivolous and intended to frustrate the proceedings, urging the court to dismiss it and allow the defendants to take their pleas on the amended charges.
According to the charge sheet, the defendants allegedly conspired between 2017 and 2019 to commit criminal breach of trust while serving in various capacities within the National Assembly.
One of the charges alleges that El-Nafaty dishonestly converted N89.87 million, which was transferred from National Assembly accounts into a personal account domiciled with a commercial bank.
Another count accuses her of allegedly forging payment receipts purportedly issued by a private company between 2017 and 2018 with intent to defraud.
During proceedings, counsel to the first defendant indicated plans to file a similar preliminary objection. Justice Zubairu subsequently directed that the application be filed within 48 hours.
The court also ordered the prosecution to respond to the objections and adjourned the matter until September 23, 2026, for hearing on the preliminary applications.
The case remains one of several high-profile corruption matters involving public officials being prosecuted by the EFCC.
