The Court of Appeal in Abuja has officially denied a request from Garba Mohammed Dukku, a former Director of Finance and Administration at the Federal Capital Territory Administration, to be released from jail. Dukku is currently fulfilling a 24-year prison sentence following his conviction for embezzling N319 million while employed by the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council.
Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court previously convicted Dukku on six counts of money laundering and corruption initiated by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission. Evidence presented by the commission revealed that Dukku moved over N318 million of public funds into his private account between 2012 and 2013, later funneling the money through currency exchange operators. While Dukku argued that he had passed the funds to his supervisors, the court rejected this claim due to a total lack of supporting evidence.
Beyond the prison term, the high court ordered Dukku to pay fines totaling roughly N1.6 billion. While waiting for his appeal against the conviction to be heard, Dukku requested release on bail. The three-member panel of the Court of Appeal unanimously rejected this motion, citing a lack of exceptional circumstances to justify his freedom. While the panel denied the bail request, it did agree to expedite the processing of Dukku’s main appeal.
