Abia govt files charges against civil servants over alleged N50 million pension fraud

The Abia State Government has charged three people with stealing pension funds worth over N50 million.

The civil servants are Success Nwabueze, Miriam Azubuike and Victor Chisom Samuel.

According to court documents obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, the charges were filed against the civil servants at the Federal High Court Umuahia on Monday.

Security operatives arrested the civil servants earlier in November on the orders of Governor Alex Otti of Abia State.

Charges

The civil servants face a six-count charge of conspiracy, unlawful transaction and receipt of funds, tampering, criminal intent to defraud, misappropriation, interception and diversion of pension funds, and breaking into pension data.

The Abia State Government told the court that the defendants committed the alleged offences alongside other unnamed persons said to be on the run between January and October 2024.

The government, in a charge sheet seen by PREMIUM TIMES, said the offences were punishable under various sections of Nigerian laws as applicable in Abia State.

The charge sheet was signed by the Abia State Senior Counsel, C.N. Iheji, on behalf of the State Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General, Ikechukwu Uwanna.

The laws allegedly violated by the defendants included Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act 2006, Miscellaneous Offences Act, CAP-M17, Pension Reform Act 2014, Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention) Act 2015 as amended in 2024 – all Laws of the Federation of Nigeria as applicable in Abia State.

Count one of the charges read in part: “That you, Onyeka Success Nwabueze, Miriam Azubuike, Victor Chisom Samuel and others now at large between January 2024 to October 2024 at Pension Board, Auditor General’s office and Ministry of Finance Umuahia, Abia State in Umuahia in the Umuahia Judicial Division, did unlawfully conspire amongst yourselves to defraud Abia State Government of pension funds meant for real pensioners which you are not and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 8 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act 2006 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria as Applicable in Abia State.”

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Arraignment

Mr Iheji, the state counsel, told PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday morning that the defendants would be arraigned as soon as the court fixes the hearing date.

“We are hoping that by the close of work today, the court will serve us with a hearing notice,” he said.