The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja Thursday ordered the arrest of a former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, to answer charges of fraudulently diverting social security intervention funds during her tenure in office.
A statement from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said the court also ordered the arrest of the permanent secretary of her then-ministry, Bashir Nura Alkali.
The statement said the two of them failed to appear for arraignment on fraud charges before the court on Thursday, prompting the trial judge, Jude Onwuegbuzie, to issue a warrant for their arrest.
The statement added that only their co-defendant, Sani Nafiu Mohammed, the third defendant, was present in court.
Prosecution lawyer Rotimi Jacobs, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, told the judge that while EFCC had filed the charges against the defendants since December last year, arraignment had stalled due to the unavailability of the two defendants.
He said a previous attempt at the arraignment on 15 December 2025 failed because the two defendants were absent.
He also said their lawyers who attended the proceedings promised to produce them, but the defendants had yet to report at the EFCC office, except the third defendant.
Jacobs also noted that, although the defendants had been served with the charges, it was impossible until the court granted an order of substituted service.
The charges against Ms Umar-Farouq had not been previously reported, but she and the activities of her ministry had been in the news since her time in office over suspicious use of the social security intervention and social safety net funds entrusted to them.
Ms Umar-Farouq, who was the pioneer minister of the ministry established during former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, has been named in various fraud allegations stemming from the scandals involving the various social security programmes.
President Bola Tinubu suspended the programmes shortly after assuming office in 2023 to investigate the allegations and find a fraud-proof way of running them.