The former Comptroller of the Nigerian Customs Service, Abdullahi Dikko, has died.
A statement by the agency’s Public Relations Officer, Joseph Attah, read; “The family of the former Comptroller General of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko Inde just announced his passing away today. His funeral prayers ( Janaza ) will take place tomorrow, Friday 19th February, 2020 after Jumaat Prayers at National Mosque Abuja.
“He was the Comptroller General of Customs from 2009 to 2015. May Allah Forgive his shortcomings and may Aljannatul Firdausi be his final abode.
“May Allah give his family and loved ones the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.”
Before his death, he was accused of N1.1 billion fraud allegedly committed during his reign as the customs boss.
The last heard of case was when, in June 2020, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, withdrew the N1.1 billion fraud case brought against former Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Abdullahi Inde Dikko and two others.
Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of Federal High Court in Abuja in a ruling on Wednesday dismissed the charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/21/2019 in view of the oral application by ICPC’s lawyer, E. A. Sogunle to withdraw the charge under Section 108 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.
Sogunle told the court that despite a bench warrant issued on Dikko, who has not attended court since the charge was filed early last year, the prosecution has been unable to arrest him and produce him in court.
Dikko was named with two others – a former Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs in charge of Finance, Administration and Technical Services, Garba Makarfi and Umar Hussaini, a lawyer and owner of Capital Law firm – as defendants.
