ICPC charges el-Rufai’s former adviser, Jimi Lawal, for money laundering

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has charged Jimi Lawal, who used to work for former Kaduna Governor Nasir el-Rufai, with five counts of corruption and money laundering.

Lawal worked as a “senior adviser” to el-Rufai and served on the Kaduna Economic Development Council from 2019 to 2023. He had also been el-Rufai’s special adviser during his first term. The case (marked FCH/KD/16c/2025) was filed Wednesday in Kaduna’s federal high court by ICPC’s assistant chief legal officer, Osuobeni Akponimishingha.

Lawal will face three charges alongside Umar Waziri, Yusuf Inuwa, and Solar Life Nigeria Limited. The ICPC says that “sometime in 2018,” Lawal “indirectly took control of the sum of N10 million from the Kaduna State Accountant General Operational Account No. 0211139802 via the Guaranty Trust Bank Automated System (GAPS) and paid it into the Guaranty Trust Bank Account 0130133086 of Solar Life Nigeria Limited, an account for which he was the sole signatory.”

In the second charge, Lawal is accused of taking control of N47.8 million from Kaduna’s finance ministry in July 2018. The ICPC also alleges that in “September 2018, while serving as senior special adviser/counsellor to El-Rufai, Lawal took control of N7.3 million from the Kaduna state internally generated revenue account.”

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According to the lawsuit, the money was “domiciled in United Bank for Africa (UBA) account 10200067882 and later transferred to the Guaranty Trust Bank account 0130133086 of Solar Life Nigeria Limited, an account for which he was the sole signatory.”

The commission says “Lawal ought to have known the funds were proceeds of an unlawful act of corruption, which contravenes section 18(2)(d) and is punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”

In the third count, the ICPC claims that in “October 2024, Lawal made false statements to Messrs Wellington Nkemadu and Gudi Johnson Daniel during their investigative duties.” They say “Lawal claimed that the total sum of N64,800,562—received in three tranches of N10,000,000, N47,840,000, and N7,320,562 from the Kaduna State Government through the Guaranty Trust Bank Account of Solar Life Nigeria Limited—was paid to Bariatu Yusuf Mohammed and Aisha Dikko as estacode.”

“Lawal knew the statement was false and, in doing so, committed an offence under Section 25(1)(a) and punishable under Section 25(1)(b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000,” the commission added.