The judges of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal have stated that there is no proven record showing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was arrested or convicted for any crimes.
Delivering a ruling on the petition of the Labour and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, the tribunal noted that struck out the petitions claim that Tinubu’s forfeiture of funds amounts to a conviction of a criminal act.
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The Supreme Court had in a split decision of four-to-one set aside the conviction and sentencing to seven years imprisonment of Sen. Peter Nwaoboshi for offences of fraud and money laundering.
In a lead judgment by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the apex court held that Nwaobishi and the two companies were unjustly and maliciously prosecuted by the EFCC for committing no offences known to law, who subjected them to needless criminal trial in relation civil transaction.
The court set aside the July 1, 2022 judgment of the Court of Appeal, Lagos, which had reversed their discharge and acquittal by a Federal High Court in Lagos
The apex court therefore ordered his immediate release from Ikoyi prisons in Lagos, where he is currently being held.
The supreme court also freed the two companies – Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd and Suiming Electrical Ltd – tried with him on a two-count charge brought against them by EFCC.
The EFCC had accused Nwaoboshi and his companies of illegally acquiring a property named Guinea House on Marine Road, in Apapa, Lagos, for N805 million, property said to belong to the Delta State Govt.
The anti-graft agency had claimed that part of the money paid for the property was transferred by Suiming Electrical Ltd on behalf of Nwaoboshi and Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd, adding the funds are believed to be proceeds of their illicit activities.
The Court of Appeal on Friday in Abuja upheld the judgment of Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court which sentenced Abdulrasheed Maina to eight years imprisonment.
Maina, who was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), was sentenced following his conviction for laundering pension funds to the tune of N2.1 billion.
Delivering judgment on behalf of the three-member panel, Justice Elfreda Daudu-Williams held that an opportunity was given to Maina to defend himself which he failed to use.
“There was no denial of fair hearing as opportunity was given to the appellant to defend himself by the lower court.
“Given the foregoing, it behooves on the appellant to defend himself in the money laundering allegations.’’
Justice Daudu-Williams said that there was not enough evidence in the defence given by Maina to prove that he did not commit the offence.
´The whole issue is resolved against the appellant and the appeal fails, this is the position of the court,’’ the judge said.
Justice Abang had on Nov. 8, 2022 sentenced Maina. the former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT) to eight years in prison for money laundering.
The sentence was to run concurrently beginning from Oct. 25, 2019, when he was arraigned.
The judge also ordered that Maina’s company, Common Input Property and Investment Limited, which was charged alongside Maina be wound up and its assets forfeited to the Federal Government.
Maina, not satisfied with the judgment of the trial court, approached the appellate court challenging the judgment.
In the charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/256/2019, EFCC alleged that Maina used fictitious names to open and operate various bank accounts.
The anti-graft agency also said that he recruited his relatives that were bankers to operate fake bank accounts through which illicit funds were channeled.
The EFCC arraigned him on a12-count charge and alleged that sums of N300 million, N500 million and N1.5 billion were stolen from pensioners and deposited in the accounts
Mr. Doyin Okupe, former Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday evening, paid the sum of N13 million for the 52-year jail term bagged for N240 million money laundering offence.
Justuce Ijeoma Ojukwu, in a judgment, had found Okupe guilty in 26 out of the 59 counts preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice Ojukwu had ordered that the 26 counts, which attracted 2-year jail-term each, would run concurrently, meaning, the convict would only spend two years in prison.
The judge, however, gave an option of N500, 000 in each of the counts, amounting to N13 million, which must be paid before 4:30pm (the close of work) today.
She ordered that if Okupe failed to meet the option of fine within the time frame, he should be taken to Kuje Correctional Centre to serve his prison term.
However, a check at the court at about 6pm showed that Okupe, who is the Director General of the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the Labour Party (LP) Presidential Candidate, Mr Peter Obi, had paid the money.
It was earlier reported that the wife and son of Okupe had pleaded for leniency after he was convicted.
Mrs Omolola and Mr Adesunkanmi Okupe, while testifying to the convict’s good character, begged the court to temper justice with mercy.
Omolola decsribed her husband as a good man.
“I got married to him on the 1st of May, 1991.
“My husband is a very good person. He had been a role model to myself and children with sound Christian values
“I have never found him in any allegation of this before,. I will like to appeal to the court for leniency.
“My husband has dedicated his life to serve the nation and he is not here today because he is found guilty of the offence but because of his mistake.
“I ask the court to consider his health and age which is 70 years.
“He has run his family effectively my lord,” she said.
Also, Adesunkanmi said: “I have known him for 31 years.
“He is a man of honesty and integrity with great character..
“I have a privilege of being mentored by him throughout my life time.
“He had imparted in me high value of perseverance and hard work that greatness comes by following God, unbending faith and diligence.
“This among many other is what I have learnt about Okupe.”
He appealed to the court to be lenient
Besides, former Governor of old Anambra, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, and former National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr Idi Farouk, had also urged the court to temper justice with mercy in Okupe’s sentencing.
The judge had, earlier, stood down proceedings for Okupe to exercise his right under Section 310 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) to call witnesses to testify about his character, before the court could proceed to pronounce sentence on the convict.
The court presided over by Justice Ojukwu, had convicted Okupe for breaching the Money Laundering Act.
The judge held that Okupe was found guilty of contravening Sections 16(1)&(2) of the Money Laundering Act, for accepting cash payments without going through financial institution, in excess of the threshold allowed under the Act.
Okupe was said to have received N240 million in cash from the office of the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (retired).
Athree-man panel of the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, has upheld the conviction of a former Managing Director of the defunct Bank PHB Plc, Francis Atuche, and reduced his jail term from 10 years to eight years.
Apart from not setting aside Atuche and the bank’s former Chief Financial Officer, Ugo Anyanwu, conviction, the court affirmed the discharge and acquittal of Atuche’s wife, Elizabeth.
Atuche and his co-convict, Anyanwu, had approached the appellate court to set aside their conviction by Justice Lateefa Okunnu of the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos on June 16, 2021 over a N25.7 billion fraud.
The panel, comprising Justices Sadiq Umar, Adebukola Banjoko and Kayode Bada, on Thursday, while resolving all the issues in the appeal in favour of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, except the sentencing, also clarified that Atuche’s jail term was 12 years concurrently, rather than 120 years, handed down by the lower court, if calculated consecutively.
In an abridged ruling read by Justice Umar, the three-man panel upheld the EFCC’s arguments and unanimously dismissed the appeal.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that in 2021, Justice Okunnu, while sentencing Atuche and Anyanwu, had upheld the arguments of the prosecution counsel, Kemi Pinheiro, SAN. About three years after their arraignment by the EFCC in 2011, they had approached the Court of Appeal, to challenge their trial by the lower court for lack of jurisdiction.
But in a judgment delivered in September 2016, the court ordered Justice Okunnu to hands-off the trial, but did not quash the numbers of counts against the defendants. Consequently, the EFCC approached the Supreme Court to set aside the judgment and order a trial in the matter.
In its judgment, the apex court directed that the case be returned to Justice Okunnu for continuation of trial. While the trial lasted, Pinheiro opposed Atuche’s contention that the funds in dispute were loaned and not stolen.
Delivering judgment, Justice Okunnu had held that “The first and third defendants did not debunk the evidence of the prosecution that the loans were used to purchase shares. They rather contended that the monies granted as loan could be used for whatever purposes.” The trial court, therefore, sentenced Atuche and Anyanwu, but acquitted Atuche’s wife.
There was a mild drama at the premises of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday, after Abdulrasheed Maina, former Chairman, Pension Reformed Task Team (PRTT), was convicted and sentenced to eight years imprisonment.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Justice Okon Abang, the presiding judge in the money laundering suit filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against Maina, had earlier handed down a cumulative eight-year imprisonment to the ex-pension boss.
Abang ordered that the terms of imprisonment for all the 12 counts shall run concurrently from Oct. 25, 2019, being the date Maina was arraigned before the court.
The judge, who ruled that Maina must refund money running over a billion naira to the Federal Government coffers, among others, also ordered that the companies used in the
unlawful act be winded up.
However, when the officers of the Kuje Correctional Centre were taking Maina out of the court premises amidst tight security, some officers of the EFCC drove into the court premises with two vehicles, blocking the prison Hilux van that was about to convey the ex-pension boss to the correctional centre.
The development led to a hot arguments between the two opposing personnel as they cork their rifles in defence of their stand.
However, the prison officers stood their ground, refusing to allow the EFCC operatives, some of who came in police uniform, to whisk Maina away.
A prison officer, who spoke to NAN anonymously shortly after the pandemonium, said the EFCC operatives had come in the name of rearresting Maina for another charge.
“They said they have a warrant to rearrest him after he was just convicted.
“Our own stand is that the court just convicted him and if they need to rearrest him, they should come through the court.
“The court will give the directive for us to obey,” the officer said.(
The Court of Appeal, Yola Division, Adamawa State has affirmed the conviction of Ibrahim Mohammed Umar, a former electoral officer with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Yola South Local Government Area.
Umar and his accomplice had earlier been convicted of a three-count charge by an Adamawa State High Court and sentenced to seven (7) years imprisonment for receiving a monetary benefit (bribery) to the tune of N362 million, being part of the bribe allegedly distributed by a former minister of petroleum resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke to influence the outcome of the 2015 elections.
Umar was arraigned alongside a former staff of a new generation bank by the EFCC on September 28, 2018. During the trial, EFCC called 14 witnesses and tendered several documents which were admitted in evidence.
Justice Nathan Musa, in his judgment, held that EFCC proved its case beyond reasonable doubt as investigation proved that the convict was identified as the person who signed and collected the said sum and was unable to account for its whereabouts.
He was therefore convicted and sentenced to seven years imprisonment without an option of a fine on all the counts.
Dissatisfied with the judgment, the convict approached the Court of Appeal, Yola Division on March 4, 2020, asking that the judgment of the lower court be set aside.
The appellate court on April 14, 2021, delivered its judgment, wherein it unanimously affirmed the judgment of the lower court.
The Court of Appeal in Lagos has set aside the conviction of four companies linked by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with Dr Waripamo Owei Dudafa, an aide to former president Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, and Dame Patience Jonathan, wife of the former President.
According to a statement by the companies’ lawyer, Mike Ozekhome SAN, the judgment was delivered during a virtual court session via Zoom with attendance restricted to only parties and their counsel.
The firms are: Transocean Property & Investment Company Ltd, Seagate Property Development & Investment Ltd, Pluto Property & Investment Company Ltd and Avalon Global Property Development Company Ltd.
The EFCC had allegedk the companies were holding funds allegedly belonging to Dame Patience Jonathan, wife of the former President Goodluck Jonathan.
It arraigned before the Federal High Court in Lagos, Dudafa; Amajuoyi Briggs, a lawyer who was the secretary to all the companies; Demola Bolodeoku, a bank official and the companies on a 15-count charge.
Following the trial, Justice Babs Kuewumi convicted the firms on November 2, 2016.
But, dissatisfied, they challenged the decision through their lawyers, led by Ozekhome and Ige Asemudara.
Delivering judgment on Friday, the appellate court overturned the lower court’s decision.
According to the statement, It held that the convictions of the four companies were a nullity having being done in gross disregard of statutory and constitutional provisions.
It noted that the validity of the companies’ plea of guilt which was challenged by the Appellant was still yet to be determined before the convictions were made.
The court held that the firms’ convictions breached the fair hearing provisions of the constitution.
The lead judgement was read by Hon. Justice C. N. Uwa, while Justices Tunde Awotoye and Abundaga agreed with the lead judgment.
The counsel present at the Zoom meeting were Asemudara for the Appellant (all the companies) with him were Ejieke Onuoha and Azubuike Solomon Akpe, while Rotimi Oyedepo with A. O. Mohammed appeared for the EFCC.
The sentencing date for Derek Chauvin has been set for June 16, following the former Minneapolis police officer’s conviction on three counts in the murder of George Floyd.
TheNewsGuru.com, TNG gathered that the sentencing will happen at 1:30 p.m.
The former Minneapolis police officer was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Chauvin will stay locked up until his sentencing date.
According to CBS News’ Erin Donaghue, Chauvin faces decades in prison, but he could serve far less than the maximum sentence for each charge under Minnesota sentencing guidelines.
In Minnesota, second-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. Third-degree murder is punishable by up to 25 years in prison. Second-degree manslaughter is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. But sentencing guidelines recommend less time for offenders with no criminal history, and also recommend they serve their sentences on multiple convictions concurrently. That means Chauvin would effectively only serve the sentence on the highest count.
For someone with no criminal history such as Chauvin, the suggested sentencing range for unintentional second-degree murder and third degree murder is the same — from just over 10 and a half years to 15 years in prison. The recommended median sentence is 12 and a half years — the same sentence handed down in 2019 to Mohamed Noor, a former Minneapolis police officer convicted of third-degree murder for firing a shot from inside his squad car and killing a woman who had called 911.
The judge could choose to sentence based solely on those guidelines. But prosecutors have said they intend to introduce a series of “aggravating factors” that could add additional time to Chauvin’s sentence. They include committing a crime in front of a child — the youngest bystander who witnessed Floyd’s fatal arrest was 9 years old — and using police authority to commit a crime.
Prosecutors have also said Floyd was particularly vulnerable, because he was handcuffed behind his back, that Chauvin acted with particular cruelty when he ignored Floyd’s pleas, and that Chauvin acted as a part of a group.
“As long as the judge finds the aggravating factors exist — such as the crime being committed in front of kids, or in particular cruelty — then the judge can go from the 12 and a half year guideline all the way up to 40 years,” said attorney Joe Tamburino.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday called the murder conviction of former Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd a “step forward” but said such a verdict was much too rare in a country plagued by systemic racism.
“This can be a giant step forward in the march toward justice in America,” Biden said in remarks from the White House.
A jury on Tuesday convicted former Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin of murder in the arrest of George Floyd, a milestone in the fraught racial history of the United States and a rebuke of law enforcement’s treatment of Black Americans. read more
“I can’t breathe.” Those were George Floyd’s last words. We cannot let them die with him. We have to keep hearing them. We must not turn away. We cannot turn away. This can be a moment of significant change”, Biden said.
KAMALA HARRIS:
Today’s verdict brings us a step closer to making equal justice under law a reality. But the verdict will not heal pain that has existed for generations. It will not take away the pain felt by the Floyd family. That’s why we must recommit to fight for equal justice.
We are all part of George Floyd’s legacy. And now our job is to honor it—to honor him.
The Senate should pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to hold law enforcement everywhere to the highest standards of accountability and help build trust between law enforcement and our communities
BARACK AND MiCHELLE OBAMA
Today, a jury did the right thing. But true justice requires much more. Michelle and I send our prayers to the Floyd family, and we stand with all those who are committed to guaranteeing every American the full measure of justice that George and so many others have been denied.
HILLARY CLINTON
George Floyd’s family and community deserved for his killer to be held accountable. Today, they got that accountability. Always and forever, Black lives matter.
MINNESOTA GOVERNOR TIM WALZ
Today’s verdict is an important step forward for justice in Minnesota. The trial is over, but our work has only begun. The world watched on May 25, 2020 as George Floyd died with a knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Thousands of Minnesotans marched in the streets last summer in the wake of his death — inspiring a movement around the globe. While many of these people never met George, they valued his humanity. They knew what happened was wrong. They called for change, and they demanded justice.
UK PRIME MINISTER BORIS JOHNSON
I was appalled by the death of George Floyd and welcome this verdict. My thoughts tonight are with George Floyd’s family and friends.
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION
For the first time in Minnesota state history, a white police officer has been held accountable for killing a Black man. While today’s verdict is a small win for police accountability and may help heal a grieving community, the systems that allowed George to be murdered — ripping him away from his family and the communities that loved him so much — remain fully intact.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE
Justice has prevailed in the case against #GeorgeFloyds killer #DerekChauvin, but the work is not done! We must keep fighting to end qualified immunity, and we must get #PoliceReformNOW.
U.S. SENATOR RAPHAEL WARNOCK
My heart goes out to the Floyd family. Thankfully today they received something that approaches justice. Obviously, it will not bring George Floyd back. Hopefully this is the beginning of a turning point in our country, where people who have seen this trauma over and over again, will know that we have equal protection under the law.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
That a family had to lose a son, brother and father; that a teenage girl had to film and post a murder, that millions across the country had to organize and march just for George Floyd to be seen and valued is not justice. And this verdict is not a substitute for policy change.
U.S. SENATOR TIM SCOTT
“…We can have confidence that the justice system is becoming more just.
NATIONAL FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE
The trial was fair and due process was served. We hope and expect that all of our fellow citizens will respect the rule of law and remain peaceful tonight and in the days to come.
OPRAH WINFREY, TV PERSONALITY
Relieved – and emotional in ways I didn’t expect. I cried tears of joy as each verdict was read. I’m grateful to the witnesses and their testimonies. Grateful to Darnella Frazier. Grateful to every Juror for seeing and acknowledging what the world saw on that tape. Thank you God for real!
MARYLAND GOVERNOR LARRY HOGAN
The senseless murder of George Floyd served as yet another reminder that we still have a long way to go to live up to our nation’s highest ideals. Justice has now been served, and we hope that this verdict will bring some measure of peace to the Floyd family and the community.