Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
A Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin has remanded Dr. Saadu
Alanamu in prison custody for alleged fraud to the tune of N182m and
abuse of bail condition.
Incidentally, Alanamu’s name was forwarded to the Senate by President
Muhammadu Buhari last week for confirmation as a commissioner of the
National Population Commission.
The PUNCH had reported last year that Alanamu was nominated into the
board of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences
Commission by the then acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, despite
being probed by the same agency.
However, following public outcry, Osinbajo withdrew his nomination after which the ICPC arrested and arraigned him for fraud.
Alanamu, who is a former Chairman of the Governing Council of the
Kwara State Polytechnic, was charged alongside the Chief Executive
Director of Namylas Nigeria Limited, Salman Sulaiman, for allegedly
collecting a bribe from a contractor.
He was initially granted bail by Justice Mahmud Gafar but was
remanded in prison on Monday following allegations by the judge that
some persons had offered him a bribe to dismiss the case.
The spokesperson for the ICPC, Mrs. Rasheedat Okoduwa, said in a
statement that in the course of trial, the defence counsel alleged that
Alanamu was “forced, harassed, intimidated and coerced” into making his
statement to the ICPC investigators and therefore, the statement should
not be admitted in evidence.
Consequently, Justice Gafar ordered a trial-within-trial, which commenced the same day.
This, he said, was for the court to determine whether the statement was made voluntarily or not.
While delivering his ruling on the trial-within-trial, Justice Gafar
overruled the objection of the defence and admitted Alanamu’s
confessional statement into evidence.
The trial judge also went on to revoke Alanamu’s bail for abuse of bail conditions.
The case was adjourned till Thursday (today) for hearing.
The commission, in the charges accused Alanamu, who was also the
Chairman of the Kwara State Polytechnic Tenders Board, of collecting N5m
bribe from a contractor, Salman Sulaiman, as a kickback for the award
of a contract.
The counsel for the ICPC, Sunny Ezeana, told the court that Alanamu
received the bribe through his First Bank account on February 11, 2015
from Namylas Nigeria Limited, a company owned by Sulaiman, who is also
his friend.
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