EXCLUSIVE: Fugitive Ex-Naval Officer Tahir Yusuf Leads Thugs To Throw Out Women, Children From Ex-Wife’s Zaria Property | Sahara Reporters

The development is particularly troubling because the retired Admiral is not a party to the suit pending before the court over the property and never applied to be joined.

A former Director of Accounts of the Nigerian Navy, Rear Admiral Tahir Yusuf Bio (rtd), who was declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged diversion and laundering of about N2 billion, has again invaded his former wife’s property in Zaria, Kaduna State with armed thugs and plainclothes naval personnel.

SaharaReporters learnt that the move was in complete disobedience to a subsisting interim injunction granted by a competent court of law

The development is particularly troubling because the retired Admiral is not a party to the suit pending before the court over the property and never applied to be joined.

The property in dispute is located on Church Hill Avenue in the Government Reserved Area (GRA), Sabon Gari, Zaria.

SaharaReporters learnt that the property was initially allocated as official quarters and later offered for sale under the Kaduna State Government policy on the sale of non-essential government houses.

The newspaper also obtained a certified true copy of the interim injunction that currently protects the property.

The order was granted on May 20, 2022, by Hon. Justice K. Dabo of the High Court of Kaduna State sitting in the Zaria Judicial Division in the case between Zainab Yombe as Plaintiff and Mahmuod Shehu as Defendant with Suit No: KDH/Z/127/2022.

The court in clear terms restrained the “Defendant by himself, his agents, servants, persons claiming through him and his privies from further entry into, clearing, excavating, digging or in any manner interfering with the Plaintiff’s possession or dealing with the house, pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice.”

Lawyers involved in the suit confirmed to SaharaReporters that the order has not been vacated nor set aside on appeal and has not been discharged.

The latest invasion led by the retired Admiral was captured in video clips obtained exclusively by SaharaReporters.

In one of the videos, recorded on October 8, 2026, Tahir was seen at the disputed house dressed in a light blue kaftan and a blue cap, surrounded by over young men who reportedly acted as enforcers.

Witnesses at the scene of the alleged invasion told SaharaReporters that some of the men who accompanied the Admiral were serving naval personnel who had chosen not to wear their uniforms.

“They were dressed in mufti, in kaftans, casual shirts and tracksuits, including a masked man in a black tracksuit whose face was covered, in order to avoid easy identification as military men acting as private enforcers for a retired general who is currently a fugitive from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,” a source told SaharaReporters.

This pattern of using plainclothes military men has reportedly become his trademark in recent months as he moves around Abuja, Kaduna and Zaria.

Sources told SaharaReporters that during the invasion, which reportedly involved threats and forceful ejection of occupants, the Nigeria Police Force and personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) were invited to the scene.

However, when the police and NSCDC personnel arrived, they could not do anything to stop Tahir and his alleged thugs.

“Despite being armed law enforcement officers with the statutory duty to enforce court orders and maintain peace, they were overpowered, intimidated and ultimately left the scene without taking any action. Their inability to act has raised serious questions about the influence a retired general who is wanted by the anti-graft agency still wields over security agencies,” another source added.

In the same video, a man identified as the plaintiff’s lawyer is heard pleading with the retired officer in a calm but audibly strained voice, reminding him that the matter is already before a court.

The lawyer says the parties can appear before Justice Dabo on 22 October, and urges him to respect the judicial process.

Tahir and his group allegedly ignored the appeal, refused to leave the property and began throwing out household items.

Another video obtained by SaharaReporters shows the aftermath. Mattresses, chairs, refrigerators, bags, clothes, cooking utensils and other belongings lie in a heap on the grass verge outside the fence, while women, children and sympathisers sit by the roadside, some weeping and calling for help.

Residents who witnessed the scene described it as lawlessness and pure self-help.

Relevant documents obtained by SaharaReporters, including witness depositions on oath and bank receipts do not show that Tahir has any link to the property.

These documents, which were filed in court as far back as March 2022, indicate that the plaintiff, who is the ex-wife is the one who paid for the property.

In her witness deposition on oath, sworn on March 31, 2022, at the High Court Registry, Zaria, before the Commissioner for Oaths, the plaintiff, Zainab Yombe, described herself as an adult female, a Muslim, a Nigerian citizen residing at No xxx Fulani Road, Kurmin Mashi, Kaduna.

Zainab stated that she is the plaintiff in the suit and that she knows the defendant, Mahmuod Shehu, who lives within the jurisdiction of the court.

According to her, sometime in October 2017, one Barrister Rahab Damina, who was then the lawyer to her former husband, Tahir Yusuf and also their family lawyer informed her that there was a civil servant who was offered his official quarters under the sale of Kaduna State non-essential government houses but had no money to pay and did not want to lose the allocation and asked if she could pay for it.

It noted that because the information came from their trusted family lawyer, she expressed interest and instructed Barrister Damina to conclude the transaction and inform her of the consideration.

She added that some days later, the lawyer informed her that an agreement had been reached with the defendant and directed her to pay by issuing bank drafts in favour of Kaduna State Sale of Government Houses.

It was noted that she subsequently paid a total of N15,310,000 through an account held in the name of her daughter, Basira Tahir Yusuf, with the funds described as her savings.

The payment was made through two official Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) cheques, obtained by SaharaReporters, rather than in cash. Both cheques were issued by the bank’s Zaria branch at Plot 13–15, Manchester Road.

The first cheque, dated November 7, 2017, was for N6,310,000, while the second, dated November 8, 2017, was for N9,000,000.

Both cheques were made in favour of Kaduna State Sale of Government Houses and were drawn from Guaranty Trust Bank Account No. 017382xxxxx, a Smart Kids Save Account in the name of Yusuf Basira Tahir, where Zainab Yombe is the sole signatory.

She solemnly deposed that her daughter and her former husband, Tahir Yusuf, never paid any money into that account and never had any dealings with it. She said the entire money came from her personal savings.

Zainab further deposed that after the payment was made, the defendant, Mahmuod Shehu, refused to vacate the property and deliver vacant possession.

She subsequently instructed Barrister Damina, through WhatsApp messages, to evict him from the property.

She tendered as evidence the complete record of WhatsApp conversations between herself and Barrister Damina from November 2017 to March 29, 2021 using their respective GSM numbers.

According to her, when securing the Certificate of Occupancy became tedious and Barrister Damina became busy, she engaged the services of another lawyer, Barrister Ibrahim Kalayi to follow up the matter.

She added that when she received notification that the Certificate of Occupancy was ready, Barrister Kalayi met with the defendant and the defendant issued an authorisation letter dated January 6, 2021, authorising the lawyer to collect the certificate at the Kaduna Geographic Information Service (KADGIS).

The certificate was collected and handed over to her to the knowledge of the defendant and Barrister Damina, she said.

In addition, she deposed that when the defendant was served with the invoice for payment of ground rent for 2020 and 2021, he forwarded same to her and she paid the money.

Zainab tendered the KADGIS invoice dated January 4, 2021, and the treasury revenue receipt as proof of payment.

She also deposed that when she had problems in her marriage with Tahir Yusuf, which eventually led to divorce, the defendant purportedly wrote a letter to Barrister Kalayi asking him to surrender the Certificate of Occupancy to him, claiming that he instructed him to collect it on his behalf, a claim she described as false and completely incorrect.

Furthermore, the defendant also executed a purported sale agreement between himself and Tahir Yusuf in respect of House No. xxxx Church Hill Avenue, a transaction which she said never happened, and backdated the agreement to 2017 in order to create a false impression of ownership.

These documents were formally filed as a comprehensive list of exhibits on March 27, 2022, before the High Court of Kaduna State, Zaria Division.

The list includes the Guaranty Trust Bank statement of account, the two bank cheques dated November 7 and 8, 2017, the record of WhatsApp conversations, the authorisation letter issued by the defendant to Barrister Ibrahim Kalayi, the Certificate of Occupancy, the invoice and receipt for payment of ground rent and the purported sale agreement between the defendant and Tahir Yusuf.

A previous exclusive report published by SaharaReporters on October 11, 2026, in which this newspaper reported that the retired Admiral, who had been declared wanted by the EFCC, was seen moving freely in Kaduna in open defiance of the anti-graft agency.

In that earlier report, SaharaReporters published a video showing the same Tahir in the same light blue kaftan, standing beside a silver Mercedes-Benz parked on a grass verge in Kaduna, while a woman in a brown hijab filmed him.

That report raised critical questions about why a man wanted for alleged massive fraud was still moving freely with security aides in Kaduna and Abuja without being arrested.

The EFCC, through its counsel, Cosmas Obeta Ugwu, had told a Federal High Court in Abuja in October 2022 that it could not locate the Admiral to face nine counts of alleged diversion of about N2 billion filed on March 16, 2022.

The history of his fugitive status is well documented and dates back to 2020, when Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, ordered the permanent forfeiture of N392,695,857.87, $91,955.38 and £15,050 linked to him and held in accounts operated under the name Bitmas Enterprise.

Following that forfeiture order, reports emerged that he fled to Dubai, which prompted the EFCC and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to formally write to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and Interpol to place him on a watchlist and stop-list at all entry points.

Despite that watchlist, the Admiral has continued to be sighted in highbrow areas of Abuja, Kaduna and Zaria, allegedly moving with serving naval personnel and other aides, raising serious questions about institutional complicity and protection.

Repeated efforts by SaharaReporters to reach Tahir on his mobile phone for comments on the case were unsuccessful, as calls to his number failed to connect and messages sent to him were not delivered, suggesting that he may have changed his number.

Similarly, efforts to reach EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, for comments were unsuccessful. He neither answered calls made to his phone nor responded to a message sent to him.