A businessman, Marcel Nnakwe, charged with the attempted murder of former Director General, National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, Dora Akunyili, lost yesterday in an effort to quash the charges against him.
The Supreme Court, in a judgment, dismissed Nnakwe’s appeal for lacking in merit and ordered him to return to court to be tried over the alleged attempt on Mrs Akunyili’s life and the murder of another person.
Nnakwe was arraigned with seven others, including his son-Nnamdi Nnakwe – before an Abuja High Court in 2004 on a four-count charge of conspiracy, attempted murder and murder.
At the conclusion of the prosecution’s case, he made a no-case submission and urged the court to quash counts three and four of the charge.
He queried the jurisdiction of the court to hear the two counts and the powers of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) to issue fiat to the chambers of Afe Babalola SAN and Co to prosecute the charge on the ground that the alleged offences of attempted murder and murder took place in Agulu, Anambra State, where shots were fired at Akunyili’s vehicle and a man identified as Emeke Onuekutu killed.
The trial court upheld his no-case submission and also quash the two counts.
The prosecution took the case to the Court of Appeal, Abuja. The appellate court held in the prosecution’s favour, forcing Nnakwe to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Justice Clara Bata Ogunbiyi, who read the lead judgment yesterday, held that the fiat issued to Afe Babalola by the AGF was in order and that the Abuja High Court has jurisdiction over the two counts even when the alleged offences were committed outside Abuja.
“On collective deduction of Section 4(2)(b) of the Penal Code Act, read along with Section 134(a)(b)(c) and (d) of the Criminal Procedure Code Act as well as Section 301 of the Constitution, the only authority that can issue a fiat to prosecute the charges inclusive of counts three and four, is the AGF.
“This is especially the offences having, by operation of law, automatically become those that were committed within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) upon the entry of the appellant into the FCT. Counts three and four of the charge that took place in Agulu, Anambra State automatically become offences committed in the FCT as soon as the appellant entered the FCT.
“Counts three and four are a continuing manifestation of the acts in counts one and two which took place in the FCT,” the judge held.
The judge also faulted Nnakwe’ argument that Afe Babalola needed a fresh fiat to prosecute the appeal.
Justice Ogunbiyi held that the single fiat issued by the AGF for the prosecution of the case covers all aspects of it, particularly when the appeal was an interlocutory one.
The judge upheld the jurisdiction of the Abuja High Court to try the charge and ordered that hearing should continue before the court in relation to counts three and four of the charge.
Justices Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, Christopher Mitchell Chukwuma-Eneh, Olukayode Ariwoola and Kumai Bayang Aka’ahs, who were on the panel that heard the appeal, agreed with Justice Ogunbiyi’s position.
