ABUJA, NIGERIA – Nigeria’s Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) is set to arraign the Chairman of the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC), Professor Sani Lawan Malumfashi, and two other officials over an alleged ₦1.02 billion (approximately $680,000 USD) money laundering scheme. The three individuals are scheduled to appear before the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday, July 21, 2025.
Alongside Professor Malumfashi, the KANSIEC Secretary, Anas Mustapha, and a Deputy Director in the Accounts Department, Ado Garba, will also face charges. In a statement released on Friday, July 18, 2025, ICPC spokesperson Demola Bakare stated that the commission’s investigations revealed the trio allegedly conspired to execute a “large-scale illegal cash transaction” between November and December 2024, in violation of financial regulations and anti-corruption laws.
The charge sheet alleges that KANSIEC, under Professor Malumfashi’s leadership, transferred a total of ₦1,020,000,000.00 from its Unity Bank account to SLM Agro Global Farm, a company reportedly with no known contractual ties to the electoral body. The defendants claimed these funds were transferred to SLM Agro Global to raise cash for paying ad hoc staff who participated in the state’s local government elections, and that the company subsequently returned the entire amount in cash to KANSIEC.
However, Bakare stated that this narrative was inconsistent with evidence obtained during the investigation. The ICPC found that KANSIEC had, in fact, requested and received bank transfers totalling ₦59,400,000.00 for 468 Electoral Officers and 42 Assistant Electoral Officers, with the bank honouring the request and beneficiaries receiving their payments directly. The claim that the banking system would be too slow was deemed a “mere conjecture, a screen to hide corruption and a lame excuse to justify the offence of money laundering.”
Further ICPC findings questioned the alleged use of ₦20 million earmarked for a verification team to screen candidates across Kano’s 484 Wards and 44 Local Government Areas. The investigation reportedly revealed that all candidates were screened at KANSIEC’s headquarters in Kano at their own expense, and the “entire budget of N20 million was given in cash to the KANSIEC Members who constitute the screening/verification team,” despite no travel being undertaken.
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