The Nigeria Police Force on Tuesday told the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Gwagwalada that a former resident pastor of the First Baptist Church, Garki, Abuja, Rev. Dr Israel Akanji, and five others have questions to answer over their alleged involvement in a N620 million fraud involving church funds.
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The defendants in the charge marked CR/1045/24 are alleged to have conspired in 2021 to commit a felony, in violation of Section 97 of the Penal Code.
The police further alleged that between 2012 and 2021, the defendants forged an amended version of the church’s constitution, falsely attributing it to the late Barrister Akin Aina, who was the church’s legal adviser and secretary of the Board of Trustees.
This act, the police argued, contravenes Sections 362 and 364 of the Penal Code.
The police also alleged that the defendants misappropriated N620 million belonging to the church, converting the funds for their personal use. They stated that these allegations fall under Sections 308, 309, 311, and 312 of the Penal Code, which address criminal breach of trust and fraudulent conversion of property.
In addition, the prosecution, led by Wisdom Madaki, alleged that the forged church constitution was fraudulently used in 2022, an offence punishable under Section 366 of the Penal Code.
Alongside Rev. Akanji, other defendants in the charge are Rev. Thomas Takpatore, Mr Babatunde Adebayo, Mrs Adenike Adebayo, Mr Oladele Afolabi, and Mrs Gloria Olotu.
They are facing a five-count charge bordering on alleged conspiracy, forgery, and criminal misappropriation of church funds totalling N620 million.
At the resumed sitting on Tuesday, the police, through their counsel Veronica Bisan, who held brief for Madaki, told the trial judge, Justice J. A. Aina, that the defendants have a case to answer.
When the matter was called, Bisan informed the court that the case was slated for arraignment on Tuesday. However, the proceedings took a different turn following a pending application by the defence counsel, Adeniyi Akintola (SAN), who is seeking to quash the five-count preferred against the defendants.
Akintola told the court that his client was challenging the competence of the charge, which he described as baseless and politically motivated.
He argued that the entire case was an orchestrated attempt by a former member of the church, who he said had since left the church, to embarrass the institution and its leadership.
“The person making the allegation is no longer part of the church and is simply out to bring disrepute to it. We are praying that the court quash the charge in its entirety,” Akintola stated.
Responding, Bisan admitted that the police had yet to file a formal counter-affidavit, explaining that their investigation revealed substantial grounds for prosecution.
“The defendants, based on the findings of our investigation, have questions to answer. We request a short adjournment to respond to the application to quash the charges against the defendants,” the police said.
Akintola, however, told the court that the prosecution did not file anything in reply to the defendants’ motion, adding that what the prosecution intends to do is to hang the charges on the defendants.
After listening to the parties in the suit, the judge granted the police’s request and adjourned the case to June 22.
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