Alleged forgery: Ex-NIRSAL MD, others to be arraigned March 13

Mr Aliyu Abdulhameed, former Managing Directing, Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) Plc, will be arraigned by the police on March 13 on allegations bordering on document forgery.

Our correspondent gathered that the arraignment, which was earlier fixed for Wednesday, could not proceed, due to the volume of cases before Justice Inyang Ekwo.

Abdulhameed will be arraigned alongside Babangida Abdullahi, the 2nd defendant in the 10-count charge marked: FHC)ABJ/CR/555/2023 dated and filed Nov. 28, 2023.

In the charge signed by CSP Celestine Odo, Legal/Prosecution Section of the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters, the defendants, and others now at large, were alleged to have, about Oct. 23, 2023, conspired among themselves to commit an offence of forgery.

In count two, the defendants, and others now at large, sometime in Oct. 23, 2023, were alleged to have conspired among themselves to commit an offfence.

The offences are said to be contrary to Section 3(6) and punishable under Section 1(2){c} of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, Cap. M17, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2010.

Our correspondent reports that former President Muhammadu Buhari had, on Dec. 1, 2022, fired Abdulhammed on allegations of corruption bordering on agric loans.

NIRSAL, a $500m non-bank financial institution, is a creation of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) mandated to manage agribusiness-related credit risks in Nigeria.