The verdict, however, lay to rest speculations that Ogunlewe’s name was one of 50 prominent Nigerians barred from travelling abroad by the Federal Government. The judge cleared the former minister and his co-accused persons–the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Prof. Olusola Oyewole and Moses Olusola Ilesanmi, in his ruling on their no case submission against an18-count charge of conspiracy, stealing and abuse of office preferred against them by the anti-graft agency. In his ruling, Justice Majekodunmi held that EFCC had not made out a prima-facie case against the defendants sufficient enough for the court to call upon them to enter their respective defence. He said: “In counts 2, 3 and 4 of the information, the three accused persons were alleged to have stolen and fraudulently converted the various sums of N3.5 million, N1.5 million and N1.75 million, property of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) respectively. “I have perused the totality of the evidence of the prosecution witnesses in search of prima facie evidence of fraudulent intention. PW2, PW5, PW8 and PW9 testified in respect of counts 2 to 4 but their evidence failed to link any of the accused persons to the offences charged in these counts. It neither showed that they converted any of those sums of money to their own use or that there was any intention to permanently deprive the owner of it. The evidence of these witnesses was further discredited under cross-examination. “There was no shred of evidence from the prosecution through the Audit Department of FUNAAB indicating that those sums of money were not appropriated or spent for approved purposes. There is no evidence before this court that the various sums alleged to have been stolen being the property of FUNAAB was missing from the coffers of the university.” On counts 5 to 8, the judge noted that no evidence was led by the prosecution to prove the stealing of N10.2 million, N7.7 million, N3.6 million and N4.3 million as alleged in the counts. On counts 9 to 11 which alleges stealing of various sums of money by Professor Oyewole (2nd accused), the court held, “the prosecution has not led any evidence of any fraudulent intent by the 2nd accused to steal the said allowances. In effect, an essential ingredient of the offence of stealing has not been established.” On counts 12 to 15 which alleged abuse of office on the part of the three defendants, the court noted that the allegation that the trio fixed funds belonging to the school in fixed deposit account with intent to defraud could not be substantiated. The judge also cleared the 2nd accused person with regards to allegations of obtaining money by false pretence leveled against him in counts 16 to 18. Justice Majekodunmi further held that the prosecution had failed in its entirety to lead any evidence whether direct or circumstantial to prove that all the three accused persons conspire to steal money between the period of May 2013 and February 2014. “In the final analysis, I find that the prosecution has failed to discharge the onus on it to establish prima facie case against the three accused persons in respect of the respective offences charged against them in counts 1 to 18 of the information such that could make me call upon them to enter their respective defence. Accordingly, this no case submission is hereby upheld. The three accused are hereby discharged and acquitted”, the judge said. The three accused persons were arraigned before the court on 25th November, 2016 and each of them pleaded not guilty to the charge. The case subsequently proceeded to trial.]]>
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Authored by Ben Ijeoma Adigwe Esq., ACIarb (UK), LL.M, Dip. in Artificial Intelligence, Director at the Delta State Ministry of Justice, Asaba, Nigeria.
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