The Code of Conduct Bureau recently filed a 13- count false declaration of assets charge against Senate President, Dr Olusola Saraki. Here is a timeline of the trial which has been adjourned till October 21st and deface by Saraki who did not honour the invitation of the tribunal until September 22nd.
On mobile, swipe to navigate; on PC, click on the arrows.
The current engagement of Justice M. M. Koko of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja has temporarily stalled the trial of 40-year old pastor, Paul Agada, who is charged with stealing over N200 million belonging to his employer.
Agada, who was employed as General Manager in charge of Business Development and Strategy over a chain of businesses owned by Goomeej Nigeria Ltd, owners of Lugard Beach Hotels, Lokoja, Kogi State and Mr. Biggs outlets in Lokoja, Okene, Abuja and Lagos, was arraigned on a 21-count charge filed by the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
In the suit, Agada was charged with forgery, stealing, dishonesty, among others.
He pleaded not guilty to the charge and was granted bail. Trial was to commence when Justice Koko was appointed as a judge of one of the election petition tribunals, following which the judge adjourned the case indefinitely.
Count of the charge reads: “That you Pastor Paul Agada ‘m’, sometimes in 2010, in Abuja, within the judicial division of this court, with intent to defraud, did forge petty expenses vouchers belonging to Goomeej Nig Ltd. (your employer and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 364 of the Penal Code Law.”
Count two: “That you Pastor Paul Agada ‘m’, sometime in 2010, in Abuja, within the judicial division of this court, with intent to defraud, did forge internal memo dated 25/02/2010 belonging to Goomeej Nig Ltd (your employer) and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 364 of the Penal Code Law.”
Count three “That you Pastor Paul Agada ‘m’, sometime in 2010, in Abuja, within the judicial division of this court, did steal N199,536,499.00 property of Goomeej Nig. Ltd (your employers) and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 289 of the Penal Code Law.”
In count four, he was accused of stealing his a 5.5 KVA power generating set worth N120,000, belonging to his employer while counts five and six charged him with stealing his employers’ N100,000 and N600,000 respectively.
In other counts, he was charged with stealing various sums of money belonging to his employers.
The Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday refused to stay proceedings in a suit by Bi-Courtney Group against the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).
Bi-Courtney is challenging some of the defendant’s powers as prescribed in the AMCON Act.
The instant suit arose from an alleged N50billion debt, which AMCON claims Bi-Courtney, the concessionaire of the Murtala Muhammad Airport, Terminal 2 Lagos, owes it.
The Court of Appeal, Lagos Division had dismissed AMCON’s appeal of a ruling by Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court on the alleged debt.
The judge had nullified an order appointing a former Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) President Mr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) as the receiver/manager over the assets of Bi-Courtney, its Chairman Dr Wale Babalakin (SAN), Chartered Investment Limited, Resort International Limited and Roygate Properties Limited.
Justice Buba had held that the order by his colleague, Justice Okon Abang, was made in error and should not have been given when there were pending cases and subsisting orders on the same case.
According to him, the true facts were not disclosed to Justice Abang. “This court has no doubt it has been misled,” the judge said.
The appellate court, presided over by Justice Sidi Bage, upheld Justice Buba’s ruling. It added that the circumstances under which AMCON obtained the ex- parte order against Bi-Courtney Group amounted to an abuse of court process.
The court resolved the issues formulated by the parties against AMCON and dismissed the appeal.
Bi-Courtney, through its lawyer Oluseun Awonuga, filed a fresh suit against AMCON’s challenge of its powers and sought exemplary damages over the corporation’s actions concerning the debt.
“We are contending that the actions they took against us were in bad faith,” Awonuga said yesterday while opposing the application for stay of proceedings.
Besides, the lawyer said AMCON’s powers are “draconian” and that other debtors are in trouble if the corporation can obtain ex-parte orders to seize debtors’ property.
“These rules are so draconian,” he said, adding that AMCON also requires debtors to pay certain fees daily until they liquidate their debts.
AMCON’s lawyer James Ogungbamila sought to stay proceedings in the hearing pending the determination of its appeal to the Supreme Court.
However, Awonuga opposed it, and urged the court to refuse it. He said AMCON was deliberately trying to stall proceedings.
Ruling, Justice Mohammed Idris refused to stay proceedings because the appeal did not emanate from the case before him.
“The application pending at the Supreme Court is not in relation to proceedings pending in this case. Sincerely, I see no reason why the application should be granted,” the judge held.
Besides, he said there is no appeal “properly” filed before the Supreme Court yet.
“There is nothing in the affidavit that supports the grant of this application. I see no reason why it should be granted. It fails and is hereby struck out,” Justice Idris added.
He adjourned further hearing till tomorrow.
THE Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday fixed September 28 for the trial of 10 persons and a vessel, MV Peace, who were charged with dealing in a petroleum product without licence.
They were arrested for dealing in 200 metric tons of Automated Gas Oil (AGO) without documentation from the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
Justice Mohammed Idris granted them bail for N2 million each.
Their sureties, the judge said, must be property owners in Lagos and must swear to an affidavit of means, which must be verified.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said the defendants conspired to commit the crime on April 4.
They are the vessel’s captain James Abatan, Wasiu Owonikoko, Patrick Ameh, Johnson Ademola, Felix Otto, Chigozie Oguike, Olu Salisu, Jomo Gadagbe, Kunle Saheed and Rasheed Adio.
The alleged offence is contrary to and punishable under Section 3 (1) (6) (17) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, Cap M17, 2004.
The accused were said to have stored the products without lawful authority, an offence contrary to Section 4 of the Petroleum Act of 2004.
Justice Idris upheld defence counsel Dada Awoshika’s submission that the alleged offence was bailable.
The judge said the effect of granting bail was not to set the suspects free, but to enable them attend trial conveniently since they are still presumed innocent until proven guilty.
EFCC’s lawyer Rotimi Oyedepo said the Navy arrested the accused persons.
He said when DPR analysed the vessel, it found AGO on it, but the accused persons were unable to produce genuine license authorising them to deal in the product.
Oyedepo said the vessel is owned by a company called D Dove Oil and Maritime Services Limited with its registered address at Plot 2, Lateef Jakande Road, Agindingbi, Ikeja, Lagos.
According to him, when EFCC operatives visited the company, they could not find its directors, who he said must have hurriedly relocated to another location.
He said other suspects in the case are still at large.
Trial of Tunde Aderinola, a student of The Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), suffered another adjournment yesterday because of the absence of the complainant, Solaja Omotayo, and the Investigating Police Officer (IPO).
Aderinola was first arraigned on June 2, on a three-count charge of mobilising hoodlums to attack Omotayo; assault and breach of peace in contravention of Sections 409, 171 and 16(d) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.
His lawyers, O.S.A. Aromolaran and O.M. Folami pointed that the complainant had failed to appear in court since the trial began. They argued that their client’s liberty was at stake as the matter had been on since May 26.
They urged Magistrate O.O. Olatunji to strike out the case for want of diligent prosecution.
Magistrate Olatunji advised the prosecuting, Inspector Iyabode Johnson to serve a summons on the witnesses to appear in court on the next adjourned date or the case would be struck out.
He adjourned the matter till August 28.
Tongues are wagging in Ekiti State judicial circles following the discontinuance of trial of three persons charged to court for the murder of one Mrs. Rebecca Adewumi in Omuo-Ekiti in 2012.
The late Mrs. Adewumi was hacked to death by a gang of youths known as ‘Imekula’ in the community who claimed that she was a witch. The suspected killers of the deceased were believed to be acting on the orders of some prominent individuals in Omuo.
The deceased was accused of using witchcraft powers to ‘torment’ her stepson, Ola Adewumi, who later died of an undisclosed ailment.
Three persons were later arraigned at an Ado Ekiti High Court for their alleged complicity in the killing of the late Mrs. Adewumi.
They are Chief Olatunbosun Orojo, the Olisa of Ilisa Quarters, Omuo (1st accused person), Mrs. Ademola Adewumi (2nd accused person) and Feranmi Abe (3rd accused person).
But trial had reached an advanced stage and was approaching judgment before the judiciary workers went on strike and shortly after the six-month strike was suspended, a Notice of Discontinuance of the murder case was issued by the Office of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice.
The Notice of Discontinuance of the murder case was backed by a letter written and signed by a representative of the family of the late Mrs. Adewumi, one Gabriel Omokanju.
The move to halt the case that was nearing judgment displeased the trial judge, Justice Monisola Oluwatoyin Abodunde who said although the accused “are discharged, they are not acquitted.”
She said: “You are hereby discharged but not acquitted. You are discharged not on the basis of the merit of the case”.
Justice Abodunde clarified the court was fully aware of the powers of the State Attorney General under Section 2(11) of the 1999 Constitution as Amended, to discontinue cases at whatever stage before judgment, noting he would not tamper with such (powers) as being exercised in the case.
However, according to her, the move to settle the matter out-of-court came when the case had already attained an advanced stage as both the prosecution and defense had closed their case and 10 witnesses had been called and cross-examined.
She regretted that the exercise of such prerogative by the Attorney General at such an advanced stage when judgment was already being awaited only meant a waste of time and resources of the court which would also affect expected returns to the National Judicial Council (NJC).
Justice Bodunde observed there should be a stage in the trial of a case after which such powers could not be exercised by the Attorney General again, hinting at possibilities of initiating moves soonest to cause such limitations to further sanitise judicial processes.
The State Counsel, Paul Alabi, had earlier informed the court about the Notice of Discontinuance and the supporting family letter.
Alabi subsequent prayed the court that, based on the two documents, the accused persons be discharged, as both the prosecution and defense had already closed their case.
He tendered apologies for the stress and the time already expended by the court on the matter.
The defence counsel, Lekan Olatawura, supporting the prayer of the prosecution counsel, urged the court to discharge and acquit the accused persons.
Accounts with looted funds to be frozen
Oil thieves, including former ministers and some prominent individuals, have been put on notice – the law is coming after them.
President Muhammadu Buhari did not name them, but he spoke of how they plundered Nigeria’s economy by stealing one million barrels of crude oil daily, selling the stuff overseas and lodging the proceeds in their personal accounts.
Buhari spoke on Tuesday at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington D.C., United States (U.S.) at a parley with members of Nigerians In Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) as part of his four-day visit to the U.S.
He told his audience – NIDO members in America and Canada – that his administration would recover “mind-boggling” sums of money stolen from the oil sector.
“250,000 barrels per day of Nigerian crude were being stolen and people sell and put the money into individual accounts,” he told NIDO members, according to a statement issued yesterday by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media, Garba Shehu.
The statement reported Buhari as vowing to trace the accounts of individuals, who stashed away ill-gotten oil money, freeze such accounts, recover the loot and prosecute the culprits.
Buhari lamented that “corruption in Nigeria has virtually developed into a culture where honest people are abused”.
On the contentious fuel subsidy on which Nigeria spends billions of dollars in months, the President disclosed that if fuel subsidy was removed; transport, housing and food prices would go out of control and the average worker would suffer untold hardship.
He said the U.S. and other developed countries had agreed to assist in tracking the accounts where looted funds are deposited.
“We will ask that such accounts be frozen and their owners be prosecuted,”, he said.
Buhari told the NIDO members: “The amount involved is mind-boggling. Some former ministers were selling about one million barrels per day. I assure you that we will trace and repatriate such money and use the documents to prosecute them. A lot of damage has been done to the integrity of Nigeria, with individuals and institutions already compromised.”
Citing the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), President Buhari said unlike what obtained when he held the forte as Federal Commissioner for Petroleum in the military regime when the NNPC had only two traceable accounts before paying oil proceeds into the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), “now everybody is doing anyhow”.
Agreeing that the “economy is in an extremely bad shape”, Buhari said the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration would fulfill its three-pronged campaign manifesto of providing security, turning around the economy with a major focus on youth employment and fighting corruption.
When asked if the Federal Government will negotiate with Boko Haram to pave the way for the release of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls, the President said his administration would only negotiate if genuine and confirmed leaders of the militant sect came forward and convinced the government of the conditions of the girls, their location and the sect’s willingness to negotiate.
“Our objective is that we want the girls back, alive and returned to their families and rehabilitated. We are working with neighbouring countries, if they will help,” he said.
Buhari also said agriculture and mining would receive priority attention as faster job-creation avenues for the teeming unemployed youths, adding that some foreign investors had agreed to take advantage of the immense business opportunities in the country.
Speaking on when he would form his cabinet, the President jokingly observed that the question on the cabinet had been chasing him around the world even to the point that he had been nicknamed “Baba Go Slow at home.”
He, however, noted that not even the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during all the years it ruled the country ever formed a cabinet within the first four months.
“I am going to go slow and steady,” he said, calling for patience to allow the new administration “put some sense into governance and deal with corruption”.
The President promised that his administration would at the right time tap into the enormous talents available amongst members of NIDO, especially as consultants. Their requests for voting right in 2019, a Diaspora Commission and opening of new consulates in parts of the United States and Canada are to be considered.
The President had earlier met at the same venue with a group of young professionals in the U.S. and assured them of his administration’s resolve to fight corruption, remain steadfast and invest heavily in education which he said was the answer to taking the youth out of poverty and ignorance.
Trial of 10 persons accused of abusing three women in Ejigbo, Lagos, two years ago, was stalled yesterday because of the absence of a witness.
Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye of the Ikeja High Court was told that the prosecution witness (PW) was held up in traffic by a downpour.
Prosecuting state counsel Bola Akinsete said the witness left Port Novo, Republic of Benin for Lagos but could not make it to court because of the “heavy rainfall”.
She said the witness would arrive in Lagos yesterday and would be accommodated.
The prosecutor prayed Justice Ipaye to adjourn the matter till today, saying the witness would be in court to testify.
Responding, Olukoyede Ademiluyi, holding the brief of Tunji Busari, counsel to the second and third defendants, did not oppose the request, but pointed out that the prosecution should have taken steps to ensure that the witness was in court.
“This is a case that must be tried expeditiously and not one to beý dragged”, he said noting that it was the second time the prosecution was asking for adjournment since the trial started in March.
Citing the Evidence Act, he said: “Where the prosecution is unprepared or a witness is unprepared to make himself available, the court can discountenance such a witness and proceed with other witnesses”.
Ademiluyi urged the court to go on with other witnesses pointing out that it appeared the prosecution was not ready to go oný with the matter.
Lagos State preferred charges against Ahmed Adisa , Isiaka Waidi, Saheed Adisa, Lateef Tijani, Oloruntoyin Dauda, Adekunle Adenuga, Azeez Akinosun, Jimoh Busari, Buhari Yusuf, and Abdullahi Harun a for their involvement in the torture and molestation of Mrs Ajoke Agomo and her daughters.
They are accused of conspiracy, attempted murder, sexual assault, malicious administering of poison, obtaining money by false pretences and deprivation of liberty.
Justice Ipaye adjourned the matter till today and tomorrow.
Forward Ubong Moses Ekpai will leave Kano Pillars in search of a club abroad to further his ambition of becoming regular in the National team.
Ubong, who earned his call up to the Eagles in 2015 has told www.footballlive.ng that he will be heading out of the country soon.
Ekpai, who made the move from Akwa United to the reigning league champions over a year ago said that he is glad with the progress he has made so far since he joined Pillars. He is hoping to seal a deal with one of the clubs that has invited him for trials in Europe.
Case begins tomorrow in Ibadan
Six centralBank of Nigeria (CBN) officials and 16 others from some commercial banks are to face trial for alleged N8 billion fraud, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said yesterday.
The suspects, the agency alleged, stole and recirculated defaced and mutilated currencies.
A statement by the Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said: “The suspects drawn from various business units of the apex bank are to be arraigned by the anti-graft agency before a Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State, from Tuesday June 2, 2015 to Thursday June 4, 2015.
“They include Patience Okoro Eye (Abuja), Afolabi Olufemi (Lagos), Kolawole Babalola (Ibadan), Olaniran Muniru Adeola (Ibadan), Fatai Yusuf, Adekunle (Head, Security, CBN, (Ibadan) and Ilori Adekunle Sunday (Akure).
“The remaining 16 suspects are drawn from various commercial banks who were found to have conspired with the CBN executives to swing the heist.
“All the suspects who are currently in the custody of the EFCC are now ruing the day they literally allowed greed and craze for materialism to becloud their sense of judgment and responsibility, when they elected to help themselves to tons of defaced Naira notes.
“ Instead of carrying out the statutory instruction to destroy the currency, they substituted it with newspapers neatly cut to Naira sizes and proceeded to recycle the defaced and mutilated currency.
“The fraud is partly to blame for the failure of government monetary policy over the years as currency mop-up exercises by the apex bank failed to check the inflationary pressure on the economy.”
The commission gave further details on how the fraud was perpetrated by the suspects.
The statement added: “The lid on the scam, which is widely suspected to have gone on unchecked for years, was blown on November 3, 2014 via a petition to the EFCC alleging that over N6, 575, 549, 370.00 was cornered and discreetly recycled by light fingered top executives of the CBN at the Ibadan branch.
“The suspects, who were members of the Briquetting Panel, plotted their way to infamy on September 8, 2014 while carrying out a Briquetting exercise at the CBN Branch, Ibadan.
“In banking parlance, Briquetting is disintegration and destruction of counted and audited dirty notes. By this practice, depositor banks usually take mutilated notes to the CBN in exchange for fresh notes equivalent of the amount deposited.
“The depositor banks, in this instance, are Zenith Bank, FCMB, Wema Bank, Access Bank, First Bank, Skye Bank, Ecobank and Sterling Bank
“But while carrying out the assignment, the team was alleged to have found one of the currency boxes filled only with old newspapers rather than 20 bundles of N1000 notes.
A similar case, according to investigation, had been discovered on September 22, 2014 when a box that was supposed to contain N500 notes to the tune of N5billion was filled with old newspapers.
“Unlike in the past, this fraud could not be swept under the carpet, as a member of the Briquetting Panel from the Osogbo branch blew the lid on the illicit deal.
“In a statement, the informant stated that the exercise was designed to last between August 4 and 8, 2014. The 35-year-old, however, stated that she discovered a strange ‘sight’ while opening the third box on the second day of the exercise. It was a discovery that beat her ken.
“She added that she confronted the other members of the panel, including Eye, Head, Briquetting Panel; Treasury Assistant; Coordinator and Head, Security, CBN, Ibadan, who all assured her that they would look into it.
“ But she later found out that it was all a ruse. She said she later found out that Eye not only maintained sealed lips over the matter but omitted it from her report.
“A five-count charge awaits the suspects.”