Chukwunyere Anamekwe Nwabuoku, who once served as acting Accountant General of the Federation in Nigeria, was convicted of money laundering involving N868.4 million in defense funds. On March 23, 2026, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja sentenced him to 72 years in prison.
Mr. Anamekwe was born in 1962 in Ehime Mbano, Imo State, to the family of Mr. Robert O. Anamekwe.
He started his civil service career at the Centre for Democratic Studies (CDS), where he was Principal Accountant from 1992 to 1995. From 1996 to 2001, he worked as Assistant Chief Accountant in the Office of the AGF in Abuja. Between 2001 and 2003, he served as Special Assistant to the Senate President on Public Affairs at the National Assembly. Later, he became Chief Accountant at the Ministry of Defence Headquarters in Abuja and led the Accounts Administration.
After his promotion to Assistant Director of Accounts, he managed ministry funds from 2009 to 2012. In 2012, he became Deputy Director (Accounts) and was assigned as Supervisory Officer for Ecological Funds Accounts in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. He was promoted to Director (Accounts) in 2017 and posted to the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. From May 2019 to March 2021, he served as Director of Finance and Accounts at the Ministry of Defence Headquarters.
He has completed several management courses both in Nigeria and overseas. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), and a member of the Nigeria Institute of Management (NIM).
President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Anamekwe Chukwunyere Nwabuoku as Acting Accountant-General of the Federation after Ahmed Idris was suspended for alleged financial fraud.
Nwabuoku holds a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Accountancy from the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) in Enugu and a Master of Science (M.Sc) in Financial Management from Commonwealth University, Belize.
On February 11, FIJ published a report showing that Nwabuoku admitted to moving N868.4 million through four privately owned companies.
Nwabuoku made this admission in a statement to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
He admitted that the stolen funds were transferred from the Ministry of Defence, where he had been finance director, to four private companies. The companies involved were Temeeo Synergy Concept Limited, Turge Global Investment Limited, Laptev Bridge, and Arafura Transnational Afro Limited.
In the same statement, the former acting AGF said the transactions were for “classified purposes.” However, his explanations contradicted his earlier testimony, in which he denied any connection to the four companies.
At the time, Nwabuoku also claimed he first heard about the companies when they were mentioned in court.
In a statement to the ICPC on February 2, 2025, the former acting AGF admitted in writing that the funds were transferred from the Ministry of Defence, while he was Director of Finance, to the four companies for classified security purposes and were not to be disclosed. The prosecution proved that the funds paid by the Ministry of Defence to the four companies were not for lawful transactions, as there was no evidence they were used for security purposes.
Summary Details of the Case:
