The Court of Appeal, citing a technical slip, struck out the appeal that the EFCC filed to seek the retrial of Orji Kalu for alleged N7.1 billion fraud he allegedly perpetrated while being Abia State Governor, on Wednesday.

The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Wednesday struck out an appeal seeking a retrial of a former governor of Abia State, Orji Kalu, over charges of N7.1 billion fraud.

In the decision anchored on a technical ground, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal said the records of proceedings at the Federal High Court in Abuja were not properly compiled and transmitted to the appellate court for adjudication.

Delivering the lead judgement on Wednesday, Joseph Oyewole, referencing the Court of Appeal procedural rules and section 104 of the Evidence Act, said it was mandatory for a public officer in custody of the records of the trial court’s proceedings to certify at the foot of such documents that were tendered before the court.

“The Court of Appeal cannot adjudicate on a case whose records of appeal were not properly transmitted. The record of appeal is incompetent. The appeal is hereby struck out,” Mr Oyewole said. But EFCC’s lawyer Oluwaleke Atolagbe, told journalists shortly after Wednesday’s ruling that he would refile the appeal for it to be heard and determined on its merit.

Background
In September 2021, a judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Inyang Ekwo, barred the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from retrying Mr Kalu, who was earlier convicted of N7.1 billion fraud.

Mr Kalu, a serving senator representing Abia North, was already serving a 12-year jail term for the offences when the Supreme Court, on 8 May 2020, set aside the proceedings leading to his and his co-defendants’ conviction. The Supreme Court’s judgement delivered on an appeal by Mr Kalu’s co-defendant, Ude Udeogu, had ordered a retrial at the Federal High Court.

Mr Kalu went on to secure his release from prison based on the Supreme Court’s verdict but quickly applied to the Federal High Court in Abuja to stop his retrial. In his decision on the issue, Mr Ekwo held that the Supreme Court’s judgement did not order the retrial of Mr Kalu.

The judge cited section 36 (9) of the Nigerian constitution and Section 238 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (2015), in saying, “no person can be retried on the offence upon which he has been convicted. However, the defiant EFCC through its lawyer, Oluwaleke Atolagbe, approached the appellate court to have Mr Ekwo’s decision nullified.

Mr Kalu was tried based on amended 39 counts in which they were accused of stealing and mismanaging funds belonging to Abia State during his days as governor between 1999 and 2007. He was tried alongside his company, Slok Nigeria Limited, and Udeh Udeogu, who was director of Finance and Accounts at the Abia State Government House during Mr Kalu’s tenure as governor.

In December 2019, Mohammed Idris, then a judge of the Federal High Court in Lagos, (now a Justice of the Court of Appeal) sentenced Mr Kalu, to 12 years in prison for N7.1 billion fraud.

The judge sentenced his co-defendant, Udeh Udeogu, to 10 years in jail for diverting Abia State’s funds. The court also ordered Slok Nigeria Limited to be wound up and its assets forfeited to the federal government.

But, ruling on Mr Udeogu’s appeal, the Supreme Court on 8 May 2020 set aside the conviction and sentence on the grounds that the judgement of the trial court delivered by Mr Idris after he had been elevated to the Court of Appeal bench was unconstitutional.

Ejembi Eko, a Supreme Court judge (now retired), who delivered the lead verdict, held that a Justice of the Court of Appeal cannot operate as a judge of the Federal High Court.

He ruled that section 396 (7) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, on which the then-president of the Court of Appeal, Zainab Bulkachuwa, relied on to authorise the trial judge to return to the High Court to conclude the trial was unconstitutional. He then ordered the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to reassign the case to another judge of the court for retrial.

Following the nullification of his conviction by the Supreme Court, the former governor filed an application at the Federal High Court seeking an order for his release from the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS), Kuje, Abuja.

A judge, Mohammed Liman, in June 2020, granted the application and ordered the immediate release of Mr Kalu from custody. As EFCC commenced moves to enforce the other leg of the Supreme Court‘s judgement for a retrial, Mr Kalu rushed to the court to file an application to block it.

His lawyer, Awa Kalu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said the Supreme Court never ordered the retrial of the erstwhile governor of Abia State as he was not a party in the matter that led to the nullification of the entire proceedings at the trial court.

The judge, Mr Ekwo, agreed with the application and prohibited Mr Kalu’s retrial. However, the court ordered the retrial of the co-defendant, Udeh Udeogu, who initiated the Supreme Court appeal.

The lead prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, had pointed out a contradiction in Mr Kalu’s arguments at the lower court.

“The plaintiff (Orji Kalu) and his co-defendant are enjoying the benefit of the Supreme Court judgement, but they are avoiding the burden that comes with it.

“The Supreme Court ordered that the plaintiff and his co-defendant be tried denovo (afresh). So, there must be a conviction or an acquittal by a competent court,” Mr Jacobs had said.

DAILY POST reports that the petition for the impeachment of the deputy governor was read on Wednesday at a plenary session of the house.

The Majority Leader, Charity Aiguobarueghian, who read the impeachment petition during plenary, said the petition was signed by 21 out of 24 members against the deputy governor.

Aiguobarueghian, who said the petition was dated March 5, 2024, noted that the number of members who signed the petition were more than the two-third requirement stipulated in Section 188 (2a) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

He said the petition was addressed to the Speaker of the House, Blessing Agbebaku.

The Speaker, who acknowledged the receipt of the petition, said the petition was based on two grounds which were not made public.

The House, however, gave the deputy governor seven days to respond to the petition.

The Speaker directed the clerk of the house, Yahaya Omogbai, to serve the impeachment notice on Shaibu.

Shaibu’s impeachment notice might not be unconnected to his face-off with the state Governor, Godwin Obaseki that had led to him losing out during the just concluded Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, gubernatorial election primaries in the state.

Recall that Shaibu had alleged a plot to impeach him from office, claiming his governorship ambition was responsible for the plot.

He was elected as PDP candidate during a parallel primary election conducted in his residence in Benin City, the state capital.

Asue Ighodalo was also announced winner of another PDP primary exercise which took place at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin.

The Lagos State House of Assembly has told the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency to prepare for the emergence of state police.

The Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Information, Security and Strategy, Stephen Ogundipe, gave the charge while on a working visit with other members of the committee to the LNSA office on Monday, according to a statement by the agency on Monday.

Ogundipe, while applauding the management of the Lagos State Neighborhood Safety Agency and the Corps, led by its General Manager, Ifalade Oyekan, “for the massive shift forward,” implored the agency “not to rest on its laurels as it continues to prepare the corps for the emergence of a state police, which is in the offing.”

He noted that the agency “has improved in terms of service delivery and continues to show the way to go about community policing to other similar agencies.”

In his response, LNSA GM, Oyekan, thanked Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu “for his unalloyed commitment to the safety of lives and properties in the state” which, according to him, is “the fuel spurring the agency’s unwavering drive for excellence.”

The safety corps boss said the agency was determined to live up to its mandate in the governor’s T.H.E.M.E.S. Plus Agenda, and thanked the Assembly, the visiting committee, and Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, “for their legislative and oversight support at all times.”

The PUNCH reports that President Bola Tinubu at an emergency meeting with the 36 state governors in February agreed to set up a committee to come up with the modalities for setting up state police to tackle the nation’s worsening insecurity.

FG Needs To Communicate Whether Subsidy Has Returned Or Not — Obanikoro

Former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, says the Federal Government may be filling the widening gap between the United States’ dollar and Nigeria’s naira in the final price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol.

Obanikoro, a former lawmaker who represented Lagos Central Senatorial District from 2003 to 2007, was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday.

According to the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, the Federal Government should be transparent and communicate whether subsidy has returned or not.

President Bola Tinubu had in his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023 declared an end to the petrol subsidy era, with the essential commodity jumping from around N184 to over N600, depending on the part of the country.

The new administration also collapsed the foreign exchange rate with the naira plunging to an all-time low from about $1/N700 last May to over $1/1500 at the moment.

Many stakeholders in the downstream sector, especially those involved in the marketing and distribution of petroleum products had lamented that the wobbling value of the naira against the dollar grossly affects the pump price of the product. Some of them had embarked on strikes and threatened to hike the price of the commodity.

Recently, the World Bank and the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited, Robert Dickerman, claimed that the Federal Government is still paying subsidy for the product.

This week, human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, challenged the Federal Government to “without any further delay, confirm or deny the serious allegation and end the opacity surrounding the importation of fuel from foreign countries”.

Asked whether subsidy had returned on petrol or not, Obanikoro said, “You talk about subsidy, Mr Falana knows the price of crude in dollars and if our money, the naira has lost so much value, and crude is dollarised, evidently, there must be a cushion somewhere and to what extent is that cushion being done, I can’t speak to that; it’s somebody who is representing the government that can address that.

“But my common sense tells me that there is a gap and because of the pain in the country, the government cannot allow that lacuna to be left unfilled, hence government may chip in some amount of money to fill in that gap.

“I do believe that that needs to be communicated, no doubt about that. That is why it is important to take the people along step by step “