The trial judge, Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia, who heard the case in Lagos before she was transferred to the Ilorin Division of the court, had earlier planned to return to Lagos to deliver the judgment on Monday. The scheduled judgment could, however, not be delivered as planned on Monday but was reserved till May 20. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is trying Omatseye for allegedly engaging in contract splitting and bid rigging estimated at over N1.5bn while he was the DG of NIMASA. The offence, according to the EFCC contravened Section 58(4) (d) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007. Omatseye was also charged with money laundering contrary to Sections 14(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004. But upon his re-arraignment before Ofili-Ajumogobia on January 21, 2013, he had pleaded not guilty to the amended 27 counts pressed against him, following which the court asked the prosecution to substantiate its claims. In doing so, the prosecution, represented by Chief Godwin Obla (SAN), called three witnesses including, an EFCC Investigator, Ibrahim Ahmed; a former Acting Director of Procurement with NIMASA, Mohammed Shehu; and an officer of the Bureau of Public Procurement, Aminu Aliyu. But when called upon to respond to the EFCC, Omatseye, through his lawyer, Mr. Olusina Sofola (SAN), filed a no-case submission, contending that the charge filed against him by the EFCC was defective. He argued that the prosecution had failed in the final analysis to establish a prima facie case against him to warrant him to enter the dock to defend himself. But Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia, in a ruling on February 2, 2015, dismissed Omatseye’s no-case application, holding that the EFCC had made a case strong enough to warrant Omatseye to canvass argument to exonerate himself of the charges. Omatseye subsequently opened his defence at the end of which both parties on March 14, 2016 adopted their final written addresses and canvassed summary arguments.]]>