Justice Mariam Hassan of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has ordered Chris Ngige, a former governor of Anambra State and Minister of Labour and Employment, to stay at the Kuje Correctional Center.
Channels TV said that Ngige, who was charged with corruption, would stay in Kuje Correctional Centre until Monday, when his bail plea will be reviewed.
The minister was accused of giving his friends an unfair edge in getting various contracts when he was in office from 2015 to 2023.
While he was in government, he was also accused of taking gifts worth millions of naira in a corrupt way through his businesses.
The former minister, on the other hand, said he was not guilty of any of the eight accusations brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
But the court couldn’t hear his bail application since it was sent to the prosecution just before the court started.
His main lawyer, Patrick Ikweato (SAN), asked the court to let the former minister go on health reasons until the bail hearing.
But EFCC’s lawyer, Sylvanus Tahir (SAN), said no to the request, saying that the former minister was a flight risk. He also said that he will formally respond to the bail application.
Justice Hassan made a quick decision to put off the hearing for the bail application until Monday, December 15.
In the charge marked FCT/HC/CR/726/2025, the former minister was accused of using his position as Minister of Labour and Employment and Supervising Minister of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) to give Cezimo Nigeria Limited, a company whose MD/CEO and alter ego, Ezebinwa Amarachukwu Charles, is your associate, an unfair advantage by awarding the company Seven different contracts for consultancy, training, and supply by the NSITF worth N366,470,920.68, among other things.
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