Former Labour Minister, Chris Ngige was arraigned on an eight-count charge bordering on alleged contract fraud and accepting gifts to the tune of N2.2 billion. Photo credit: @OfficialEFCC
Trial of former Anambra State governor and ex-Labour Minister Chris Ngige continued on Wednesday, January 28, 2026. The First Prosecution Witness, PW1 Mr Pedro Torwuese Chellen, testified before a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja.
Chellen stated that the company awarded the N80 million contract for renovating the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) office in Makurdi didn’t participate in the bidding process. This is a key point in the trial.
Led in his testimony by prosecution counsel, Sylvanus Tahir, SAN, the witness an entrepreneur and project manager of Imanil Haq Nigeria Limited told the court that his company briefed its lawyers to petition the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, after it discovered that the company which the NSITF contract was awarded to was not part of the bidding process.
Following the petition, the witness disclosed that he was invited to the EFCC, where his statements were taken. Upon identifying the petition in court and the bid documents attached to it, it was admitted as Exhibit P1.
The witness, in the course of his testimony, narrated how his company applied for the contract and participated in the bidding process following its advertisement in the papers
According to him, following the loss by his company, he wrote to the management of NSITF, requesting for details concerning the award of contract, to which he said, nothing came out of it, leading him to appeal to Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, where it was revealed that the contract was awarded to a company, which did not participate in the bidding process.
During cross examination by defence counsel P.I.N. Ikwueto SAN, the witness disclosed that his petition was against the management board of NSITF. Speaking further, he said that he also complained about the change of title of the contract from “‘Renovation of Makurdi Office’ to ‘Construction of Makurdi Office,’” adding also that the initial cost N80 million (Eighty Million Naira only) was also hiked to N120 million (One Hundred and Twenty Million Naira only) by the management board of the NSITF.
While acknowledging that he made this statement to the EFCC in 2023, he observed that there was massive corruption in NSITF and further acknowledged that while he has not attended any management meeting of NSITF board, he learned through the media that the board was later reconstituted.
The matter was adjourned till January 29, 2026.
