The Supreme Court of Nigeria has revoked the bail granted to socialite Fred Ajudua and ordered his immediate return to custody over an alleged $1,043,000 fraud involving a Palestinian national, Zad Abu Zalaf.
In a ruling delivered on Friday, May 9, 2025, the apex court upheld two appeals filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), challenging the 2018 decisions of the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, which had granted Ajudua bail and transferred his case to another judge for retrial.
According to a statement issued by the EFCC’s Head of Media & Publicity, Dele Oyewale, Ajudua’s trial, which began in 2005 before Justice M.O. Obadina of the Lagos State High Court, suffered multiple delays due to legal technicalities. The case was later reassigned to Justices J.E. Oyefeso and M.A. Dada, before whom Ajudua was finally arraigned on June 4, 2018.
Dissatisfied with the appellate court’s ruling granting Ajudua bail, the EFCC filed appeals marked SC/51C/2019 and SC/912C/2018 at the Supreme Court. In its judgment, the Supreme Court allowed both appeals, revoked Ajudua’s bail, and reinstated Justice Dada’s original decision denying bail.
The Court also ordered that Ajudua be remanded at a correctional facility and directed the Chief Judge of Lagos State to reassign the case back to Justice Dada to continue the trial without starting afresh.
Additionally, the Court held that the second appeal had become academic, as it concerned an order to restart the trial that is no longer applicable in light of the new ruling.