Court Adjourns Ruling On Bail For El-Rufai’s Ex-Chief of Staff To Jan. 16.

A High Court of Kaduna State has adjourned ruling on the bail application by Mr Muhammad Bashir Sa’idu, former Chief of Staff to ex-governor of Kaduna State, Mr Nasir El-Rufai, to January 16, 2025.

Sa’idu was arrested by security operatives on December 30, 2024 along the Kaduna-Zaria highway and was later arraigned before a Chief Magistrate Court in Rigasa.

The Court thereafter directed that he should be remanded at the Kaduna Correctional Centre.

This was as it was gathered that from sources within the security circle that Sa’idu may have implicated El-Rufai in his confessional statement to the police.

It was gathered that Sa’idu alleged that he sold 45 million US dollars belonging to the Kaduna State Government, equivalent to N18.4 billion at the significantly undervalued rate of N410 per dollar as against the parallel market rate of N498 per dollar, with criminal intent, resulting in a N3.9 billion loss to the government in 2022.

This was as the prosecution alleged that the N3.9 billion discrepancy was laundered by the embattled Sa’idu, in violation of Section 18 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

However, Counsel to Sai’du, Mr Oladipo Tolani, SAN, in an interview with Daily Trust while responding to the allegations, described them as baseless.

Tolani said; “Bashir Saidu has been in detention since 2nd January, 2025 when he was captured along the Kaduna-Zaria highway at Rigachiku, Igabi Local Government Area of the state.

“After his detention, we filed an application for bail which was argued today (Thursday). On Wednesday, the state government filed a charge against Saidu and the matter was adjourned for ruling on 16th January, 2025,” he said.

Responding to claims that Saidu indicted El-Rufai, Tolani said, that no evidence was given by a chief security officer, just as no evidence was taken or testimony given.

…Sourced from Daily Trust