The Defence counsel of Godwin Obla (SAN), charged with bribing Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia with N5 million, has made a no-case submission against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Chief Ferdinand Orbih (SAN) who led Obla’s defence, made a no-case submission at an Ikeja High Court on Friday during the cross-examination of Lawal Abdullahi, an EFCC investigator.
Obla, a former EFCC prosecutor, has been accused of bribing Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia with a N5 million to pervert the course of justice in a case involving Mr Raymond Omatseye, a former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and the EFCC.
Orbih told Abdullahi, the 12th prosecution witness :“I put it to you that there is no statement from anyone including the 11 witnesses the EFCC has brought to testify in court that the N5million was for the perversion of justice”.
He added: “The second defendant (Obla) has not even been paid by the EFCC for his services rendered.
“It was because the second defendant demanded for his fees that these charges were filed against him by the EFCC.”
On an alleged meeting between the defendants where they allegedly connived to pervert the course of justice, Orbih asked the investigator how he knew the purpose of the meeting was to pervert justice.
The EFCC Investigator: “There was a meeting between the defendants in which an account number was exchanged”.
He added: “I did not attend the meeting, but it was in their statements, I did not say that they agreed to pervert the course of justice but it was my findings that proved that there was an agreement to pervert the course of justice.”
Orbih told the court that Obla paid N5 million into the account of Ofili-Ajumogobia for the purpose of purchasing iron rods for construction noting that the defendants never admitted to the EFCC that they had the intent to pervert justice.
Abdullahi was given a portion of Obla’s statement (Exhibit M) by the defence to read it aloud.
In the statement, Obla said Ofili-Ajumogobia was his friend who was a classmate at the Law School in 1988.
Obla had added in the statement that during a visit to Lagos, he visited the judge in her chambers and he told her he came to the city to purchase building materials and she had offered to help him purchase iron rods.
The defence denied any impropriety in the Omatseye case, the subject matter of the alleged N5million bribe, Orbih noted that Obla prosecuted the case against the NIMASA Director-General and even secured a conviction for the EFCC.
He said: “The EFCC was very happy when the judgment was delivered and in several national newspapers such as the Nation, the EFCC celebrated the judgment.
“In another publication in The Nation, the EFCC said they had gotten 140 convictions and the Omatseye case was the first on the list.”
Orbih tendered as evidence, clippings of publications from May 27 and 28, 2016 from The Nation newspaper.
He said: “The defendants appealed that judgment at the Court of Appeal though the EFCC was unsuccessful in defending the judgment at the higher court.
“The Court of Appeal judgment was given on May 11, 2017 and the EFCC never told the Court of Appeal that they were never going to defend the judgment from the Federal High Court because it was obtained by fraud.”
The second defendant (Obla) made 45 appearances for EFCC in the Omatseye’s case and there is no other case that he has handled for the EFCC where he has been accused of bribing a judge to pervert the course of justice.
He said: “Was there a petition from Omatseye that the judgment given against him at the Federal High Court was a product of fraud between the two defendants?
“Was it because the EFCC lost the judgment at appeal that they claimed that justice was perverted?”
Responding, Abdullahi said: “I do not know anything about this case, I told this court that as at the time this transaction took place, there was a case pending before the first defendant in which the second defendant happened to be the EFCC prosecutor.
“I do not know if there is a petition, the EFCC is a large organisation.”
Orbih noted that the alleged N5million bribe was paid on May 21, 2015 and the judgment against Omatseye was given exactly a year later by Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia of a Federal High Court on May 20, 2016.
He said the judge was never a Director of Nigel and Colive, the company’s bank account into which the N5million for iron rods was paid and that construction business is one of the objectives of the company.
He said: “Are you aware that the sale of building materials is in the Memorandum and Articles of Association of Nigel and Colive?
“The directors of the company as at 2015 were her children; the first defendant was not a director.”
Earlier, Chief Robert Clarke (SAN), Ofili-Ajumogobia’s lead defence counsel, alleged that the EFCC did not properly investigate the source of funds which the judge allegedly unjustly enriched herself with.
Clarke said: “The statement of count five was unlawful enrichment of N18 million from Arkleen Oil and Gas, were you satisfied that this money was sourced from an illegality?”
Responding, Abdullahi said “I investigated the whole case and presented it to our legal department and it was my findings the legal department used in coming up with whether there is corruption or not.
“Most of these lodgements were not lodgments from the employer of the first defendant.”
Commenting on the EFCC investigator’s response, Clarke said, “I can now see your thinking.
He said: “So any money paid into a judge’s account if not from the government is an unlawful enrichment.”
NAN reports that Ofili-Ajumogobia and Obla are standing trial on a 31-count charge bordering on corruption.
They are jointly charged with two counts bordering on perverting the course of justice.
Obla is facing a two-count charge of offering gratification in the sum of N5 million to Ofili-Ajumogobia while serving as a judge and Ofili-Ajumogobia faces a 27-count charge of unlawful enrichment, taking property by a public officer, corruption, forgery and giving false information to an official of the EFCC.
During Friday’s proceedings, the EFCC was, however, unable to close its case against the defendants due to its inability to bring the 13th and final witness to the dock because of the ongoing promotion exams at the anti-graft commission.
Justice Hakeem Oshodi adjourned the case until May 25 for continuation of trial.
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