Alhaji Muhammad Bashir Sa’idu, the former chief of staff to ex-Governor Malam Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, has allegedly implicated his former boss in a confessional statement related to an ongoing money laundering investigation.
Sa’idu was remanded at the Kaduna Correctional Centre after his arrest and arraignment by security agencies on December 31, 2024, following the charges brought against him.
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He is accused of selling $45 million in hard currency belonging to the Kaduna State Government—approximately N18.45 billion—at a significantly undervalued rate of N410 per dollar, instead of the prevailing parallel market rate of N498 per dollar.
This resulted in a loss of N3.96 billion to the state.
The prosecution claims the offence took place in 2022 when Sa’idu was serving as the state’s commissioner of finance under the El-Rufai administration.
The charges further allege that Sa’idu laundered the N3.96 billion discrepancy, violating Section 18 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
A security source, speaking anonymously to journalists in Kaduna, revealed that Sa’idu’s confessional statement implicated El-Rufai in the scheme.
The accused reportedly stated: “The procedure for currency conversion was not the decision of the commissioner of finance but that of his excellency, the then governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El Rufai. Whenever the need arose to convert funds to naira, the Governor would direct how much to convert. Bids from various buyers were obtained, and in most cases, the bids I forwarded to His Excellency for approval were higher than those available in the parallel market.”
Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 states that any person who contravenes subsection (2) shall, upon conviction, be subject to imprisonment for a term of at least four years but not exceeding 14 years, a fine amounting to no less than five times the value of the proceeds of the crime, or both.
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