Former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, has been declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission following her failure to appear before a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja where she is to face trial on a 21-count charge bordering on fraud and abuse of office.

Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the FCT High Court in Apo issued a bench warrant for her arrest on April 16, 2026, after she and a co-defendant, former Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Bashir Nura Alkali, failed to appear for their scheduled arraignment. Only the third defendant, Sani Nafiu Mohammed, was present in court that day.

The EFCC is prosecuting the former minister over allegations of criminal breach of trust, abuse of office, fraudulent award of contracts, and the conversion of public funds totalling approximately $1.3 million and N746.5 million bringing the combined sum to roughly N2.49 billion.

The money in question was excess payment made under the National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office (NASSCO) for the validation of Rapid Response Register beneficiaries. The funds were meant to be refunded to the ministry by contractor, Visual ICT Limited, but were allegedly diverted for personal use by Farouq and Alkali during the period between May 2021 and September 2022.

Prosecution counsel Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, told the court that the EFCC had filed the charges since December 15, 2025, but had been unable to arraign the first two defendants despite repeated efforts. He disclosed that their lawyers had previously promised to produce them in court but the defendants never appeared. Jacobs also raised serious concerns about Farouq’s whereabouts, telling the court that she had written to the EFCC in 2024 requesting the release of her international passport for a medical check-up in Saudi Arabia.

The commission granted the request, but she neither returned the passport nor provided any medical reports from the trip.

Her lawyer, Abdul Ibrahim, SAN, urged the court to accept an affidavit citing ill health as the reason for her absence, but the court rejected the plea. The judge declined a further request by the defence for six weeks to produce her and granted the EFCC’s application for a bench warrant on the spot.

Farouq served as the pioneer minister of the ministry under former President Muhammadu Buhari from 2019 to 2023, becoming one of the youngest ministers in that administration. Her ministry has faced a series of fraud allegations tied to the management of social intervention funds, including the National Social Investment Programme and related poverty alleviation schemes. President Bola Tinubu suspended several of those programmes upon assuming office in 2023, citing the need to investigate the allegations and reform the delivery systems.

The case has been adjourned to May 18, 2026, for arraignment and continuation of trial proceedings.