A Bauchi State High Court has struck out a suit filed by a former lawmaker, representing the Ningi/Warji Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Abdullahi Sa’ad Abdulkadir, against WikkiTimes, its publisher Haruna Mohammed Salisu, its editor Aminu Adamu Naganye, and Dr Ibrahim Disina, a popular Islamic cleric who publishes Xchange Hama Media.
Hon. Abdulkadir, known as Baba Iyali, had instituted a lawsuit following the publication of an investigative report that exposed alleged fraud in a constituency road project in Warji Local Government Area of Bauchi State.
The suit, BA/357/2022, was dismissed on Thursday, January 8, 2026, by Justice Abdulkadir Lamido Kabir of High Court No. 7, Bauchi Judicial Division, sitting in Bauchi for lack of diligent prosecution.
Court records show that the plaintiff failed to appear at the scheduled hearing and did not submit any letter or explanation for his absence. Acting on an oral application by S. G. Idrees, counsel to the 1st and 4th defendants, and supported by S. A. Abubakar, counsel to the 2nd and 3rd defendants, the court struck out the matter for lack of diligent prosecution.
In its ruling, the court awarded ₦200,000 in costs to each defendant, ordering that the amount be paid before any attempt to relist the suit. The order, signed by the court registrar, AbdulKareem Shehu, clarified that the decision was reached on procedural grounds and did not touch on the substantive merits of the case.
Background
The lawsuit arose from an investigative report originally produced by Xchange Hama Media and cross-published by WikkiTimes as part of its editorial collaboration with accountability-focused media outlets. The investigation documented how a 2.5-kilometre Baima–Rumba road project, facilitated by Hon. Abdulkadir, as a constituency project was abandoned after millions in payment.
Findings from the investigation revealed that the same road project was awarded and paid for twice under two different names—Rumba Road and Baima–Tiyin Road—to two separate companies: Ree Engineering Ltd and First Brick Construction Ltd. Records showed that a total of ₦46.7 million was released to the two firms in 2021, yet the road remained largely uncompleted and in a dilapidated condition.
Payment records obtained from an open contracting portal, govspend, showed that ₦27.08 million was paid to Ree Engineering Ltd in April 2021, and that ₦19.63 million was later paid to First Brick Construction Ltd in September 2021 for the same stretch of road, described under a different nomenclature.
Field visits by the reporter confirmed that only a few shallow culverts were constructed, while substantial portions of the road were excavated and left unconstructed, thereby exacerbating transportation challenges for farmers, traders, and commuters in the agrarian communities of Rumba and Baima.
The investigation further revealed that both companies listed as contractors were inactive on the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) database, lacked verifiable physical offices, and appeared not to meet the minimum requirements for public procurement under the Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2007 and the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020.
Although WikkiTimes did not originate the investigation, its name was included in the suit, a pattern in which independent investigative outlets are targeted for repression because of their reputation for hard-hitting accountability journalism.
WikkiTimes has, over the years, published investigations exposing corruption, abuse of power, and governance failures across Northern Nigeria, making it a frequent target for frivolous lawsuits.
