The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) has postponed the judgment scheduled for yesterday in the false asset declaration case against former Niger Delta Minister, Godsday Orubebe.
The tribunal rescheduled the judgment for July 19. The postponement was informed by the absence of the tribunal Chairman, Danladi Umar, who is said to have travelled out of Abuja.
The tribunal on June 2, this year, chose June 30 for judgment in the case involving the ex-Niger Delta minister.
The tribunal chose the date yesterday after Orubebe concluded his defence, having called two witnesses, including himself.
Orubebe was on November 8, 2015, arraigned on a four-count charge of false asset declaration and bribery by the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation.
The prosecution, on March 8, this year, announced an amendment to the charge, reducing the counts to one.
Orubebe pleaded not guilty to the amended charge of false asset declaration when he was re-arraigned.
The single count reads: “That you, Godsday Peter Orubebe, on or about June 29, 2011, while being a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in charge of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this tribunal, did make a false declaration of assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau when you failed to declare Plot 2057, Asokoro District, Abuja, on assumption of office on September 26, 2007, and on leaving office (at the end of your tenure) on June 29, 2011, and you hereby commit an offence contrary to Section 15 of Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act Cap 15 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and punishable under Section 23(2) of the same Act.”
While testifying as the second defence witness yesterday, Orubebe explained that he failed to declare the plot in 2011 because he had sold it to his landlord before he made the last asset declaration while leaving office.
Led in evidence by his lawyer, Selekowei Larry (SAN), Orubebe, who said he sold the barren plot at N10 million, explained that he also did not declare it when he assumed office in 2007 because it was not allocated to him then.
He said the land was allocated to him by the Federal Government, as a minister, through the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister. He said he never visited the plot because it was in an undeveloped part of Abuja, and that he sold it to pay his rents, at N5 million per annum, for two years (2009-2010 & 2010-2011).
He regretted that he was subjected to trial for an “empty plot of land in a bush,” which, he said, was allocated to him by the government in which he served.
When asked by Larry why he did not declare the plot when he assumed office in 2007, Orubebe said: “As at September 26, 2007, when I first declared my assets, I never had a property named Plot 2057, Asokoro District, Abuja. So, I could not have declared it as I was coming in as a minister.
“On June 29, 2011, when I was temporarily disengaged from the Federal Executive Council, because the FEC was dissolved, before I was reappointed, I never also had a property known as Plot 2057, Asokoro District, Abuja. So, I could not have declared a property that was not mine.
“As at when I was dis-engaging, I could not declare the land, because it was no longer mine. But I declared other property, including land that were given to me by the government that I served,” he said.
Explaining how he sold the land, Orubebe said: “On June 29, 2011, Plot 2057, ordinary empty land in a bush, that was given to me by the Federal Government that I served, via an offer letter from the minister of the FCT. I decided to give it out to my landlord, Barrister Akinwumi Ajibola, the managing director of Givention Properties Limited, to settle my two years’ house rent.’’