Justice Rilwan Aikawa of the
Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Thursday, dismissed an
application filed by Akwa Ibom State Governor, Emmanuel Udom, seeking to quash
the entire charge preferred against Paul Usoro, SAN, President, Nigerian Bar
Association, NBA, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Usoro was charged alongside Udom
and others in a case of money laundering to the tune of N1.4 billion, belonging
to the Akwa Ibom State government.
The NBA President was first
arraigned before Justice Muslim Hassan of the same court on December 18, 2018.
He was later re-arraigned before
Justice Aikawa on a 10- count charge.
One of the counts reads: “That
you, Paul Usoro, SAN, Emmanuel Udom (currently constitutionally immune against
criminal prosecution), Uwemedimo Thomas Nwoko (still at large), Nsikan Linus
Nkan, Commissioner of Finance, Akwa Ibom State (still at large), Mfon Jacobson
Udomah, Accountant-General, Akwa Ibom State (still at large) and Margaret
Thompson Ukpe (still at large) sometime in 2015 in Nigerian, within the
jurisdiction of this Honourable court, conspired amongst yourselves to commit
an offence, to wit: conversion of the sum of N1,410,000,000, 000.00 property of
the Government of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria, which sum you reasonably ought to
have known forms part of the proceeds of an unlawful activity to wit: criminal
breach of trust and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(a) of
the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended and punishable under
Section 15(3) of the same Act.”
At today’s sitting, Justice
Aikawa, in his ruling, held that the application filed by Udom lacked merit due
to the fact that the charge before the court did not include the Governor and
his aides as defendants.
The Judge held that “In a
criminal suit, there are two segments: the complainant and the defendant(s).
“In this charge before me, the
complainant is the EFCC and the defendant is Paul Usoro.
“Given the fact that the name of
the applicant was mentioned in counts one to four does not make him a defendant
in this case.
“It is also unconstitutional for
the Federal Government to investigate and prosecute a serving governor. Gov.
Udom cannot be charged in view of the immunity he enjoys, including his aides,
and also due to the fact that the N1.4 billion were funds belonging to Akwa
Ibom State and not Federal Government.”
The Judge further held that the
applicant could not apply to the court to quash the charge or seek fair hearing
as prayed in the application because he is not a defendant in the case.
Justice Aikawa adjourned the case
to June 3, 2019 for continuation of trial.
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