The Supreme Court has affirmed the decisions of the trial court and Court of Appeal that convicted and sentenced Albert Bassey, former Akwa Ibom finance commissioner, to seven years in prison for fraud.
![](https://thenigerialawyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/SADR.jpeg")
The five-man panel of the apex court led by Justice Stephen Adah delivered the ruling on Friday, following a review of Bassey’s appeal.
The panel upheld the Court of Appeal’s decision but restored the order of restitution originally made by the High Court, which the Court of Appeal had previously ignored.
“The order of this court is that the conviction and sentencing imposed by the lower court on the 23 day of June 2023 on the appellant is hereby affirmed but the order of the lower court avoiding the order of restitution given by the trial court did not follow the law, so it is revised and the right order is to nullify same and thereby the restitution of sum of N204 million made by the trial court is restored,” Justice Adah said.
According to a press release on the official Facebook page of the EFCC on Friday evening, the five-member panel of the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the trial court’s and the Court of Appeal’s decisions that found Mr Albert guilty of corruption-related offences.
The release said that the court, however, faulted the Court of Appeal for setting aside the restitution order earlier made by the trial court, describing the omission as a misapplication of the law.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had, in 2019, arraigned Bassey on a seven-count charge for allegedly taking possession of six vehicles worth N204 million as bribes while serving as finance commissioner in Akwa Ibom.
Mr Albert was accused of receiving bribes of 12 cars in 2012 as commissioner for finance and chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Direct Labour Coordinating Committee from an oil marketer, Olajide Omokore, who is also an associate of former Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
Mrs Alison-Madueke is currently standing corruption-related trial in the UK.
Bassey reportedly collected one of the vehicles from Jide Omokore, an associate of Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum resources.
Omokore reportedly had dealings with Akwa Ibom state government when he offered the vehicle to the former commissioner.
During the trial, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stated that Mr Omokore’s companies bought the cars for Mr Albert after receiving N3 billion in contracts from the Akwa Ibom State Government at that time, and that the vehicles were part of corruption proceeds.
The anti-graft agency had listed the vehicles bought for the convicted senator to include:
- Infinity QX 56 BP, valued at N45 million
- Toyota Land Cruiser V8 BP, valued at N40 million
- Range Rover, valued at N40 million
- Toyota Hiace, High Roof, valued at N27 million
- Toyota Hiace High Roof, valued at N16 million
- Toyota Hilux 4×4, valued at N36 million
Mr Albert served as finance commissioner under the then Governor Godswill Akpabio, when he committed the offence.
The anti-graft agency, through its prosecution counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, arraigned Mr Albert before Justice Agatha Okeke of the Federal High Court in Uyo on seven counts of corruption and abuse of office.
On December 1, 2022, Bassey was convicted on all the seven-count charges against him and sentenced to seven years in prison for each charge, totalling 42 years. The sentences were to run concurrently.
However, he approached the appellate court where a three-man panel led by Raphael Agbo upheld the conviction but with an option of fine.
Dissatisfied, Mr Albert approached the Court of Appeal, where a three-member panel led by Justice Raphael Agbo upheld the conviction but introduced an option of fine. That aspect of the judgement became one of the issues contested before the Supreme Court.
The apex court later struck out parts of the appellate court judgement.
With Friday’s ruling, the Supreme Court ended the protracted legal battle, affirming the conviction and seven-year sentence, while restoring the N204 million restitution order originally granted by the trial court.
Beyond serving as commissioner, Mr Albert was a senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East from 2015 to 2023 under the PDP. He later defected to the Young Progressives Party in 2022 to contest the Akwa Ibom governorship election but was defeated by Governor Umo Eno. He later defected to the APC.
The Supreme Court’s decision represents the final chapter in a corruption case that has spanned several years and multiple court levels, ultimately affirming the conviction of a former state finance commissioner who went on to serve in the Senate.
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