Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige

Dr. Chris Ngige, former Governor of Anambra State (2003-2006) and Federal Minister of Labour and Employment under President Muhammadu Buhari (2015-2023), was arraigned by the EFCC on 12 December 2025 before Justice Maryam Aliyu Hassan of the FCT High Court Gwarinpa on an eight-count charge (suit no. FCT/HC/CR/726/2025) of abuse of office and contract fraud totalling approximately N2.14 billion, allegedly committed while he supervised the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) as Labour Minister. The charges allege he awarded NSITF supply, training and consultancy contracts to companies linked to his associates, and received corrupt gratifications via his campaign organisation's Zenith Bank account. He pleaded not guilty, was remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre, and granted bail on 18 December 2025. Trial commenced 28 January 2026 with the first prosecution witness, Pedro Torwuese Chellen, alleging that a N80m NSITF Makurdi office-renovation contract was awarded to a company that did not participate in the BPP bidding process. The case is ongoing as of May 2026. Ngige is also remembered in Nigerian political history for the dramatic 10 July 2003 kidnapping during which Anambra political godfather Chris Uba and a police squad sought to coerce his resignation as governor over disputed pre-election payments — a political godfatherism episode rather than a corruption proceeding, and therefore not part of this archive's cases array.