N805m Fraud: Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Jailed Senator Nwaoboshi’s Appeal

The Supreme Court on Thursday failed to hear the appeal filed by a jailed serving Senator, Peter Nwaoboshi representing Delta North.

Nwaoboshi is said to be the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Delta North Senatorial District in the forthcoming election.

The court had, in a ruling on January 12, granted Nwaoboshi’s prayer that his appeal filed last year but scheduled for November 21, 2024 be brought forward and heard promptly.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, who led a panel of five during the January 12 hearing, held in his lead ruling, that Nwaoboshi’s application, having not been opposed by the prosecuting agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other respondents, should be granted as prayed.

Justice Ariwoola subsequently rescheduled the hearing of the appeal for February 9 this year as against the earlier date of November 21, 2024.

Other members of the panel, Justices John Okoro, Amina Augie, Mohammed Garba and Emmanuel Agim agreed with the lead ruling.

When lawyers to parties, including Kanu Agabi (SAN) who led Nwaoboshi’s legal team, got to court on Thursday, they were informed by court’s officials that the court was not ready to hear the appeal.

Upon learning about the development, Agabi, other lawyers in the case as well as Nwaoboshi’s associates, who were in court, later left.

The Nation learnt that the apex court was not in the mood to hear Nwaoboshi’s appeal in view of the recent revelation that he went underground shortly after he was sentenced on July 1, 2022 to a term of seven years imprisonment for money laundering by the Court of Appeal in Lagos.

Nwaoboshi is, in the appeal marked: SC/CR/900/2022, seeking to reverse the July 1, 2022 judgement of the Court of Appeal in Lagos which convicted and sentenced him to seven years imprisonment for money laundering.

The Court of Appeal also, in the judgment, ordered that his two companies – Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd and Suiming Electrical Ltd – be wound up in line with the provisions of Section 22 of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2021.

The Court of Appeal’s judgment was on the appeal filed by the EFCC against June 18, 2018 judgment by Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court, which discharged and acquitted Nwaoboshi and his companies on the two-count charge of fraud and money laundering on which they were tried.

The EFCC accused Nwaoboshi of unlawfully acquiring a property identified as Guinea House, Marine Road, Apapa, Lagos, for N805 million.

It claimed among others, that part of the money paid to the property ( N322 million), which was transferred by Suiming Electrical Ltd on behalf of Nwaoboshi and Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd, was from proceeds of fraud.

The Supreme Court had in an earlier ruling on January 27 this year, rejected Nwaoboshi’s request for post-conviction bail on the grounds that he failed to submit to the July 1 judgment of the Court of Appeal in Lagos.

Justice Emmanuel Agim, in the lead ruling, wondered why Nwaoboshi, who refused to submit himself to the law, was now seeking the indulgence of the law.

Justice Agim noted that, being serving Senator and a candidate of the APC for Senator Delta North Senatorial District ought to be an assurance that “he is law abiding and will readily submit to the authority of the law.”

He added that despite the fact that Nwaoboshi has an appeal pending before the court, his application could not be granted because of the undisputed fact that he is in Nigeria, but has continued to device means to frustrate the subsisting custodial sentence imposed on him by the Court of Appeal.

Justice Agim added: “Worst still, he has remained at large, except for his occasional production of medical reports here and there. It is difficult to imagine where he is.

“While he remains at large, it is very difficult for this court to exercise any discretion in his favour”, the judge said, adding that Nwaoboshi could not remain in defiance of the law and yet seek to benefit from the law.

In his contribution, Justice Tijani Abubakar described Nwaoboshi’s conduct as sad and a slap on the rule of law.

Justice Abubakar wondered why a law maker of the status of a Senator would find it difficult to obey the law he participated in enacting.

He added: “It is a very sad development in our democracy that a lawmaker has refused to respect the law of the land.

“This is a sad development. It is a slap on democracy, and a slap on the rule of law.

“We must make it very, very clear to all Nigerians that nobody is above the law. The government and the governed are subject to the

rule of law. And, we must ensure that there is respect for the rule of law.

“Lawmakers must lead by example. They make the laws, they must respect the laws. And, if they do not respect the laws, it means that they have failed in discharging their mandate.

“On our part, we continue to ensure that the rule of law prevails. My message is that nobody is above the law. The government and the governed are subject to the rule of law.

“The application is frivolous. It is vexatious. It is irritating,” Justice Abubakar said.