Supreme Court frees senator jailed for alleged N805 million fraud

The Supreme Court on Friday nullified the conviction of Peter Nwaoboshi, who was jailed for corruption.

Mr Nwaoboshi represented Delta North senatorial district at the Nigerian Senate.

He was convicted by the Court of Appeal in Lagos on a two-count charge of fraud and money laundering on 1 July 2022.

But Mr Nwaoboshi approached the Supreme Court, urging it to quash his conviction.

The Supreme Court, in a four-to-one majority judgement on Friday, ordered Mr Nwaoboshi’s immediate release from Ikoyi Correctional Centre in Lagos, where he is being incarcerated for a seven-year jail time.

Emmanuel Agim, who delivered the Supreme Court’s lead majority decision, freed two companies, Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd and Suiming Electrical Ltd, that were prosecuted alongside Mr Nwaoboshi by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The majority decision of the Supreme Court voided the verdict of the Court of Appeal in Lagos, which had reversed Mr Nwaoboshi’s acquittal by the Federal High Court in Lagos.

Giving reasons for its decision, Mr Agim said the former senator and the two companies were “unjustly and maliciously prosecuted” by the EFCC for committing no offences known to law.

The justice noted that Mr Nwaoboshi and the firms were subjected to needless criminal prosecution in a case bordering on civil issues.

But in the dissenting judgement, Ibrahim Saulawa said the Court of Appeal was right to have convicted Mr Nwaoboshi for fraud.

Mr Saulawa added that the financial transactions involving Mr Nwaoboshi and his companies had elements of dishonesty.

Background

The anti-graft agency had accused Mr Nwaoboshi and his companies of unlawfully acquiring an asset named Guinea House on Marine Road, Lagos, for N805 million.

The said property belonged to the Delta State government.

According to the EFCC, part of the money paid for the property was wired by Suiming Electrical Limited at the behest of Mr Nwaoboshi and Golden Touch Construction Project Limited.

It added that the transactions were believed to be proceeds of illicit financial activities.

It will be recalled that Mr Nwaoboshi went into hiding upon his conviction.

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After over seven months of hiding, he was apprehended by EFCC operatives at a hospital in Lagos last February.

From his hiding, Mr Nwaoboshi failed to obtain a post-conviction bail from the Supreme Court.

Rejecting his bail application on 27 January, the Supreme Court ruled that it could not grant him bail while he was on the run.