Follow Us on Google
Godwin Tsa, Abuja
A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court has ordered a former Director, Legal Services of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, to be remanded in prison custody over offences connected with the controversial P&ID $9.6bn judgment given against Nigeria by a British court.
Justice Olukayode Adeniyi, sitting in Apo division of the court, ordered that the defendant be remanded in the Suleja Prison in Niger State.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Taiga before the court on an eight-count charge to which she pleaded not guilty.
Taiga was accused, among other things, of receiving bribe through her offshore bank account, alongside the then Minister of Petroleum Resources, the late Rilwan Lukman, for signing the Gas Supply Processing Agreement (GSPA) between the Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID) Limited and the Federal Government of Nigeria, on January 11, 2019.
The defendant was also accused of violating various laws by entering into the agreement without prior approval by the Federal Executive Council and a certificate of no objection to the contract from the Bureau of Public Enterprise.
According to prosecution counsel, Bala Sanga, Taiga was alleged to have signed as Nigeria’s witness to the GSPA while the then minister presiding over the ministry, the late Dr Rilwan Lukman, signed as Nigeria’s representative.
