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High profile corruption trial: Is Rashidi Ladoja guilty of N4.7b fraud charges?

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The Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday February 8, 2019, discharged and acquitted a former Oyo State Governor, Alhaji Rashidi Ladoja, of the N4.7 billion fraud charges pressed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2008.

Delivering judgment in the 11-year-old trial, Justice Mohammed Idris said the evidence brought to court against Ladoja and Waheed Akanbi, a former Oyo State Commissioner for Finance, was “too low on credible evidence”.

It could be recalled that the former Governor of Oyo State, Rashidi Ladoja, was in December 2016, arraigned alongside his aide, Waheed Akanbi, over N4.7billion fraud.

The duo were arraigned before Justice Idris of a Federal High Court Lagos on an 8-count charge of money laundering contrary to Section 17(a) and punishable under Section 14(1) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act.

In the course of trial, the EFCC tendered several documents through its witnesses in order to establish its case against the defendants.

In the charges, EFCC accused Ladoja and Akanbi of conspiring to illegally sell Oyo State’s shares in FCMB, GTB, UBA and Intercontinental Bank, adding that they diverted the proceeds.

The anti-graft agency alleged that Ladoja used the proceeds of the shares to, among others, offset the debt he allegedly incurred while battling against his impeachment in 2007.

According to the prosecution, Ladoja purchased vehicles for Oyo State lawmakers and paid N385m to the lawyers he hired to challenge his impeachment in court.

But Ladoja and Akanbi pleaded not guilty. The anti-graft commission had since closed its case in the matter.

Following the closure of the prosecution’s case, the defence lawyers informed the court that they intended to make a no case submission to the prosecution’s case and prayed the court for an adjournment.

The case witnessed further hearing on 27th September, 2018, while Ladoja was re-arraigned on November 5, 2018, along with his former Commissioner for Finance Waheed Akanbi, following an amendment of the charge by the EFCC.

They, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges. In the amended charge, EFCC added that Ladoja allegedly “compelled” a broker to sell the state’s shares.

The prosecution alleged that the former governor did not remit N1.9 billion realised from the sale of the shares.

The commission told the court that the money allegedly went to Ladoja, his family and friends and was not refunded.

EFCC had closed its case before the amendment, but rather than open their defence, the accused opted to file no case submissions.

The trial, however, ended on Tuesday 27, November, 2018, after 10 years of legal battle at a Federal High Court Lagos.

The trial ended before Justice Mohammed Idris, with Mr Ladoja mounting the witness box to give evidence in his trial. They pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted bail.

After the close of prosecution’s case, the accused had opted to file a no case submission before the court, contending that the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case against them.

In its ruling, the court dismissed the no case submission, holding that based on a preponderance of evidence as put forward by prosecution, there was no doubt that the accused had some explanations to make.

The court then ordered the defence to open its defence.

Justice Mohammed Idris dismissing the case on Friday February 8, 2019, said the evidence brought to court against Ladoja and Waheed Akanbi, a former Oyo State Commissioner for Finance, was “too low on credible evidence”.

The judge said the EFCC failed to call relevant witnesses that could have helped it to prove its case, adding that the six witnesses it called gave inconsistent and contradictory testimonies.

The judge said most of the documents which the EFCC tendered in support of its case were lacking in probative value.

He noted also that the prosecution was inconsistent with the amount of money it claimed that the defendants diverted and laundered.

Justice Idris described the handling of Ladoja’s case by the prosecutor, Mr Olabisi Olufemi, from the law firm of Festus Keyamo as an example of how a criminal case should not be handled.

Describing the prosecution of Ladoja and Akanbi as unjust, Justice Idris said he found that if anyone was to be prosecuted for the alleged fraud, it should have been the persons who the EFCC fielded as prosecution witnesses two, three and four.

The judge said: “There is a thin line between success and failure; that thin line is called credible evidence.

“The case of the prosecution is too low on credible evidence; for this reason, I agree with the 1st defendant when he stated that to sustain the 11 counts, the prosecution called six witnesses, three of whom, being PW2, PW3 and PW4, are particeps criminis, who adduced material evidence.”

The judge said there was no way government would succeed in its anticorruption fight when real offenders are shielded.

Reacting to the judgement, Ladoja said: “I’m grateful to God. It shows that the judge actually understood the issue.

“What interests me about the judgment is the fact that the judge made some fundamental observations that if you want to fight corruption in Nigeria, the prosecution should work better.

“He pointed out that the people who were supposed to be charged were shielded from prosecution.

“Which means that they were only looking for big names; they wanted to prosecute Ladoja because he is a former governor whereas the people who stole the money were there, shielded by the prosecution.”

He added, “The 11-year-old trial has taken a toll on me. But I only hope that this will be a lesson to the prosecution.”

EFCC didn’t appeal the judgment and the case closed.

Despite the judgement, however, the question on the lips of observers is: “Did Rashidi Ladoja or his cohorts ACTUALLY LOOT the alleged N4.7 billion?”

The former governor recently made headlines when he said that the northern part of the country is embarking on plane to leave Nigeria while the south are wasting time demanding for Biafra and Oduduwa Republic with no tangible roadmap.

He cited two instances showing northern Nigeria’s game plan including the railway to link the North to the Niger Republic and a refinery that might be built in President Buhari’s hometown—Daura in Katsina State.

Read also:

High profile corruption trial: How ex-Gov Suswam diverted N9.79b Benue funds ~ Report

[This Publication includes part of a compendium by Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) covering corruption cases as at 22nd of November, 2019.]

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