Dare Babalola
A Katsina State High Court has sentenced a senior official of the Sokoto Rima River Basin Development Authority (SRRBDA), Rabiu Musa Matazu, to five years in prison for diverting rent proceeds belonging to the agency.
Matazu’s sentence was handed to him by Judge Abbas Bawule, a statement by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) confirmed on its website on Wednesday.
According to the statement, Matazu who was convicted on all four counts of criminal breach of trust and abuse of office, was accused of using his position in October 2014 to take N305,000 from the proceeds of rent collected on the agency’s property and converted the money to his personal use.
The offence was said to be contrary to and punishable under Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
The court sentenced the convict to six months imprisonment with an option of N20,000 fine for each of Counts 1, 2, and 3.
The judge also sentenced him to five years imprisonment without an option of fine for Count 4. All sentences are ordered to run concurrently.
The statement did not indicate the date of the arraignment and the court’s judgement.
But from the suit number (KTH/7C/2022) provided by the agency, it could be inferred that Mr Matazu was charged in 2022.
At his arraignment, Mr Matazu pleaded not guilty to all the counts, prompting a full trial that lasted three years.
According to the ICPC statement, during the trial, the prosecutor, Ibrahim Garba, led evidence to show that Mr Matazu received N305,000 from his subordinate, Lawal Dan Sarki, being rent proceeds from the SRRBDA property in Katsina State.
The prosecution said instead of remitting the money to the agency’s account, the convict converted it to his personal use.
Judge Bawule found him guilty on all four counts in his judgement at the end of the trial.
ICPC said the conviction “demonstrates its resolve to ensure public office is not used for personal gain and that offenders are held accountable under the law.”
Pending abuse of office cases
Mr Matazu was the only one among public officials that have faced prosecution over alleged abuse of office through diversion of public funds.
In January 2025, ICPC re-arraigned Abubakar Sambo, Director of Finance and Accounts of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), before Judge Musa Liman of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Mr Sambo faces three counts of diverting N1.84 billion in different tranches under the REA’s GIFMIS platform for project supervision without requisite approvals.
In February 2025, the commission announced the arrest of Adam Yusuf, a Deputy Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Kogi State, over alleged diversion of more than N3 billion in public funds.
