Justice Mohammed Madugu of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting in Bwari, has dismissed all the forgery allegations levelled against the National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, (APGA) Chief Edozie Njoku by the Nigeria Police.
The Police had on November 22, 2022, charged Chief Njoku and the Youth leader of APGA, Chukwuemeka Nwoga, to court over a purported allegation of conspiring with others at large to alter a judgment of the Supreme Court delivered by Justice Mary Peter Odili (rtd).
Delivering judgment on Tuesday, Justice Madugu dismissed all the 14-count charges preferred against the APGA Chairman by the police.
The court held that due to “lack of sufficient and credible evidence, the prosecution has failed woefully to prove its case against the defendants.
“I find the 1st defendant, Chief Edozie Njoku and the 2nd defendant, Chukwuma Nwoga not guilty as charged, and therefore they have been discharged and acquitted” Justice Madugu ordered.
The defence counsel had urged the court to discharge and acquit the defendants because the police had failed woefully to discharge the burden of proof solely placed on them by law.
The court adopted the issue formulated by the defence counsel to determine whether the prosecution had proven its case against the defendants beyond reasonable doubt.
By section 138 of the Evidence Act, the court noted that the prosecution is expected to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
In his judgment, Justice Madugu stated that “it is crystal clear that internal disputes in APGA had played a significant role in causing the complexity of the case.
In the 1st count, the court noted that being an allegation of criminal conspiracy, it must be proven by the prosecution with circumstantial evidence.
However, the court held that the prosecution witness did not produce any evidence linking the defendants with an agreement or conspiracy to commit the alleged offence.
“In accordance with section 178 of the penal code, the prosecution did not establish any dishonest intent following the letter Chief Njoku wrote to Justice Mary Peter Odilli, retired.
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