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Tag: Azibaola Robert

  • Jonathan’s cousin challenges EFCC powers to remand suspects

    Jonathan’s cousin challenges EFCC powers to remand suspects

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s cousin, Azibaola Robert, on Tuesday asked the Federal High Court in Lagos to declare that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has no power to remand suspects under sections 293 and 294 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.

    Robert, a lawyer and environmental activist, filed the suit following his arrest and detention by the commission last April.

    He has since been arraigned and granted bail by a Federal High Court in Abuja.

    Robert was accused of receiving $40 million in September 2014 from the former National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki (retd), for supplying “tactical communication kits.”

    EFCC said the ex- President’s cousin received another N650 million from Dasuki on December 8, 2014.

    Robert had sued the EFCC, Attorney-General of the Federation and the Federal Government over his detention.

    His lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, who filed the suit in Lagos, on Tuesday, said he was ready to move his client’s originating summons.

    Justice Mojosola Olatoregun, however, asked him to return on another date for the hearing.

    The plaintiff is praying the court to hold that sections 293 and 294 of the ACJA 2015, which the EFCC relied on to secure remand orders from magistrate courts, were inapplicable in his case.

    He said the sections were for capital offences such as murder, armed robbery, kidnapping or treasonable felony for which a legal advice from the Attorney-General is required before a charge is filed.

    Robert said the sections do not apply to financial crimes.

    He is also praying the court to hold that EFCC’s alleged attempt to force him to implicate Jonathan was contrary to section 7 of the ACJA, which he said has outlawed the practice of arresting a citizen in lieu of another.

     

  • Jonathan’s cousin remanded in Kuje prison

    Jonathan’s cousin remanded in Kuje prison

    A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday ordered that Mr. Azibaola Robert, a cousin of ex- president Goodluck Jonathan, be remanded in Kuje Prison pending the determination of his bail application.

    Azibaola and his wife, Stella, were arraigned before Justice Dimgba for allegedly receiving a $40m contract from former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.

    The couple, alongside their company, Oneplus Holding Limited, were arraigned on a seven- count charge of money laundering and fraud.

    While the judge ruled that Stella could continue to enjoy the administrative bail earlier granted her by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), he picked Wednesday for ruling on Azibaola’s bail application.

  • EFCC denies detaining Jonathan’s cousin illegally

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday denied that it is illegally detaining Azibaola Robert, a cousin of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The EFCC said Robert’s claim that it was trying to force him to implicate the former president was untrue.

    The commission urged the court to dismiss the suit, adding that Robert’s detention was to investigate an alleged fraud of $40million against him.

    EFCC said it granted the suspect administrative bail, but he has failed to fulfill the terms.

    In a counter-affidavit deposed to by an investigator, Mohammed Hassan, in opposition to Robert’s fundamental rights enforcement action, EFCC said the plaintiff was trying to frustrate investigation into the matter.

    “An application for the enforcement of fundamental rights does not serve as a defence or shield from criminal investigation. This suit is frivolous, time-wasting, an abuse of court processes and should be dismissed with cost,” Hassan said.

     

     

  • Jonathan’s cousin petitions Dogara over detention

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s cousin, Azibaola Robert, has sought the intervention of the House of Representatives over his alleged detention without charge by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    Robert’s family, in a petition to the leadership of the House, is seeking for justice in the violation of his fundamental human rights.

    The petition alleged that the arrest and detention of Robert was part of a larger plot by the anti -graft agency to implicate the former President.

    While faulting the allegations against Robert, the family claimed that he carried out a job for the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) that was still indebted to his company.

    The petition reads in part: “Mr. Azibaola Robert is the Managing Director of ‘Kakatar Engineering and Construction Company Limited’ and its sister company, ‘One Plus Holdings Limited’. He is a cousin to former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, and a law abiding and peace loving Nigeria.

    “Recently, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested the said Mr. Azibaola Robert over allegations of a $40 million contract which the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) awarded to ‘One Plus Holdings Limited’ for the surveillance and security of oil pipelines across the Niger Delta.

    “The ONSA is at present indebted to the company (One Plus Holdings Limited) to about $4 million, being final payment for the said surveillance/oil pipeline security contract.

    “Mr. Azibaola Robert was arrested and taken into EFCC custody on 23rd March, 2016 and has since spent over a month in EFCC detention, without any formal charge brought against him. Preceding his arrest, however was a raid on his house by scores of heavily armed mobile policemen who in the process subjected his wife and young children to the most dehumanizing and traumatic ordeal.”