Senator Usman, who was the finance director of the Peoples Democratic Party's (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation was arrested earlier this month for receiving N2.5bn (£8.6bn) out of a sum of N4bn (£13.8m) taken out of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the orders of former national security adviser Col Dasuki. After being detained for about four days Senator Usman entered into a deal with the EFCC to return some of the cash she got.
In addition, the former senator, who represented Kaduna South Senatorial District, has surrendered two of her houses to the federal government as a condition for her release from EFCC custody. It is expected that she will now be released on bail on health grounds, given the amount of money and the property she has forfeited to the government in lieu of what she collected.
Although the EFCC has obtained a court order to keep Senator Usman in detention to interrogate her further, it was learned that an undisclosed health challenge had compelled operatives to consider granting her administrative bail to seek medical attention. In her role, Senator Usman was responsible for collecting money for former president Dr Goodluck Jonathan's re-election campaign.
One EFCC source said: “She is still with us but we are considering granting her bail, even though we have a subsisting court order to keep her. The former minister and lawmaker has agreed to surrender two of her choice property in Abuja, in addition to refunding N140m to the federal government.”
EFCC sources claimed that Senator Usman had unhindered access to huge sums of cash, some of which came from the Central Bank of Nigeria. Investigations showed that the former minister used various sums of money which were paid into her accounts, to acquire choice properties in Abuja.
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