A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory on Wednesday discharged a judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja of all 18-count charges of fraud brought against him, his wife and a senior lawyer.
The judge, Adeniyi Ademola, and his wife, Olabowale, as well as Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Joe Agi, were accused of fraudulent diversion of huge sums, ranging from local and foreign currencies, possession of firearms and involvement in illegal collection of gratification, Premium Times reports.
The defendants, particularly the first and second defendant, Ademola and his wife, a former Head of Service in Lagos State, were alleged to have abused their offices by conspiring to and consequently collecting gratification, in negation of their constitutional duties as public officers.
They had prayed the court to determine that they had no queries to answer, after the prosecution closed its case at the last adjourned date.
Delivering the judgement on the application for ‘no case submission’, Justice Jude Okeke, who presided over the matter, said the prosecution failed to prove its allegation before the court with facts, hence the court would not rely on speculations.
The judge said his observation of the matter proves that the case was built on “high level suspicion and speculation,” fuelled by the very important fight against corruption.
Okeke said the allegation of collecting gratification, as made by the prosecution, should have indicated clearly that the alleged gratification was corruptly collected and that the reasons for such corrupt transfers were related to the alleged offence.
Regarding the alleged transfer of N10 million for example, between the first and third defendants, Okeke said the prosecution failed to show clearly, the official function of Ademola, in respect of which the N10 million was illegally offered as gratification.
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