reader poll
As a PREMIUM TIMES reader, your opinion matters. please take our survey to help us better understand our readers’ values and preferences. Your feedback will give us valuable information about how we can tailor the different types of content we offer to meet your needs. He survey It should only take 6-8 minutes to complete.
Click here to take it.
Patience Omoike-Mark, adviser to former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode, testified on Thursday that a Lagos-based Federal High Court (FHC) failed to order the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to file new charges against him and others.
Ms Omoike-Mark said Judge Daniel Osiagor instead declared the lawsuit no longer alive in court after the Appeals Court’s Lagos Division issued a ruling annulling the case.
The lawyer, who gave the clarification in a statement she signed this Thursday in Abuja, also made available to journalists a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the ruling issued by the judge to that effect.
Media reports had claimed that an FHC in Lagos had ordered evidence and documents in a lawsuit marked: FHC/L/251C/16, filed by the EFCC against former Minister of State for Finance, Nenandi Usman, Mr. Fani-Kayode and others. returned to the commission to allow it to bring new charges against the defendants in the Abuja division of the court.
But in reacting, Ms Omoike-Mark refuted the media reports, saying the court only ordered that the documents and evidence presented in the course of the trial be returned to the parties in the case.
“We are referring to case number FHC/L/251C/16, FRN vs. NENADI ESTHER USMAN & 3 ORS.
“The matter, in which we represented the second defendant (Fani-Kayode), arose on April 25, 2023.
“The court was informed of the judgment of the Court of Appeal which quashed the charge in the Federal High Court of Lagos for lack of jurisdiction.
ALSO READ: Court orders release of documents in corruption trial of Usman, Fani-Kayode and others
“And after the lawyer requested his documents in the matter, the court, abiding by the decision of the Court of Appeal, ordered that the documents belonging to the parties to the lawsuit be released to them.
“What this implies is that all parties, including Chief Fani-Kayode, should have access to their documents.
“The court removed the lawsuit from its own docket because it no longer has jurisdiction to hear it,” he said.
The lawyer said that the clarification was made necessary for the Nigerian public to know the truth.
“As of today, there is no case regarding these charges in court against our client and after seven years of prosecution. Not only are we grateful to the courts for administering justice fairly and justly, but we are also overjoyed that what can only be described as another seven year ordeal has come to an end.
“Despite his loss in the Court of Appeal last week and the decision by the Court of Appeal judges to quash all charges, if the EFCC sees fit to go to a court in Abuja after seven years of unsuccessfully prosecuting the Same thing in Lagos, that’s your prerogative.
“Whatever they choose to do, like now, the matter is completely dead. They have lost the case; the charges have been dropped and the matter has been dismissed,” she said.
He said that the team had requested the CTC of the Court of Appeal ruling and that it would be made available to the public as soon as it is received.
Meanwhile, Judge Osiagor’s CTC ruling marked: FHC/L/251C/16 delivered on Tuesday but made available to journalists by counsel on Thursday reads in part:
“The court, having noted that the Court of Appeal has announced the death of this case in this jurisdiction.
“It is hereby ordered that all evidence or documents of the parties be returned to them.”
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Lagos Court of Appeal, on 20 April, quashed the N4.6 billion misappropriation and money laundering charges filed against Ms. Usman, along with Mr. Fani-Kayode, former Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) President Yusuf Danjuma, and a company, Jointtrust Dimensions Nigeria Ltd.
The decision followed an appeal by Ms Usman against the lower court on jurisdictional grounds. (NAN)