Plateau lawmaker who was declared wanted by court accuses ICPC of manipulation

The lawmaker representing Jos North Constituency in the Plateau State House of Assembly,
Hon. Adamu Aliyu who was declared wanted by a Federal High Court over over an alleged fraudulent N73.6 million
Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, contract, has accused the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, of misleading the court by concealing critical material facts in the case.

Aliyu who filed a motion before the same court in Abuja on Friday, is seeking an ex-parte order from the court to vacate the arrest warrant issued against him by Justice Emeka Nwite who issued the order following an application by the ICPC over the alleged contract fraud on September 12, 2025

In the controversial case, the court, acting on the application by the ICPC, had declared the Plateau lawmaker wanted after a businessman, Mohammed Jidda, had petitioned the anti-graft agency alleging that Aliyu had promised to help him secure an N850 million TETFund contract at the University of Jos, with a signed Memorandum of Understanding, MoU.

Jidda reportedly paid the lawmaker the sum of N73.6 million upfront, including N52 million meant for Imanal Concept Ltd, owned by one Saad Abubakar – who facilitated the said fake contract.

But in a fresh legal twist, the embattled legislator, in a Motion on Notice filed on his behalf by his legal team, M.B. Abdullahi and M.M. Auwal of Munir Barau Abdullahi & Co, has urged the court to set aside the order declaring him wanted, describing it as oppressive, overreaching, and unnecessary.

In the affidavit backing the motion, Aliyu noted that before the court order, he had written to the ICPC days before the Commission filed its ex- parte application, where he explained his involvement in the case but that the ICPC had deliberately ignored his letter

Aliyu who insisted that he played no direct or primary role in the alleged contract scam, claimed that he only received the sum of ₦45 million on behalf of one Lawal Abubakar, the actual contractor tied to the dispute involving the University of Jos.

In one of the exhibits he presented, the lawmaker stated that after the contract deal broke down, Abubakar demanded refund of the money which he duly effected in June 2024, stressing that this was another key point in the case that the ICPC failed to disclose to the court.

He added that the idea behind the ICPC dragging him into a criminal process while the actual dispute is sub judice violates the principle of non-duplicity and constitutes an abuse of judicial process.

Aliyu also claimed that the court order declaring him wanted was a shocking ambush as he only became aware of it when it went viral on social media and in some national newspapers, and vowed to do everything possible to clear his name including voluntarily reporting to the ICPC headquarters which he did on September 15, just three days after the publication.

Plateau lawmaker declared wanted by court accuses ICPC of manipulation