Former NIRSAL boss, others arrested, detained over alleged criminal diversion of N5.6 billion

The erstwhile Managing Director of the Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending, NIRSAL, Aliyu Abdulhameed has been arrested by operatives of the Department of State Security, DSS.

He was arrested over alleged embezzlement of N5.6 billion meant for agricultural intervention during the former President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

A picture of Abdulhameed seen by SaharaReporters on Monday showed him sitting on bare floor at one of the DSS offices.

CAPITAL POST recalled that the former NIRSAL MD loomed large during his tenure with numerous financial scandal trailing him, but he appeared undeterred because of his connection with cabal in the presidential villa at the time.

He reportedly used three of his personal accounts to launder and divert the fund. The accounts were identified as FCMB (4986133010), GTB (0245155058), and Stanbic IBTC (0021195810).

In the net as Monday morning was NIRSAL’s head of Finance, Idris Issa Aweda who obviously served as conduit pipe to siphon money of the agency.

He “advance for security challenge in the North-East on the farms fields”, “security challenge in the North-Central on the farms fields”, “advance for external security issue armoured car” and “advance for security challenge in the South-East on the farms fields”, a source said on Monday.

For instance, at 4:50pm on August 16, 2017, NIRSAL paid N8m into the GTB account number 0245155058 of Aweda being payment for “security”.

Also, on October 6, 2017, at 4:56pm, NIRSAL credited Aweda’s GTB account with the sum of N8m for “security imprest”.
As at October 2019, Aweda still received money in his personal account.

At 9:31am on October 23, 2019, over N12m was paid into Aweda’s FCMB account 4986133027.