Less than three days after former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, accused President Goodluck Jonathan of encouraging corruption, a panel of judges at the Supreme Court of Nigeria today quashed the conviction handed Bode George a Peoples Democratic Party chieftain earlier jailed for corruption by a Lagos High Court.
The court discharged and acquitted Mr. George claiming that prosecutors at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had no evidence of Mr. George's intention to commit fraud at the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) where as chairman of the NPA board he was caught presiding over a contract bazaar the bled the nation of Nigeria.
A panel of judges headed by a controversial judge, John Afolabi Fabiyi JSC, ruled that the charges of "contract splitting" upon which Mr. George was convicted is unknown to law.
The pattern of today's quashing of George's conviction was similar to that of a Lagos Court of Appeal ruling which similarly quashed a death sentence conviction of Major Hamza Al Mustapha's for the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola in 1996. In Lagos, a panel of Court of Appeal cleared former Chief Security Officer of late maximum dictator, Sanni Abacha Mustapha of murder charges under controversial circumstances. Al Mustapha later wrote a letter thanking President Jonathan for arranging his judicial pardon.
Al Mustapha case was handled by the same lawyer, former president of the Nigeria Bar Association , Joseph B Daudu was Al Mustapha's lawyer in the Lagos case. Mr. Daudu, a senior advocate of Nigeria, also played a lead role in securing Mr. George's freedom today.
Since leaving prison a few years ago, Mr. George had been closely linked to President Jonathan, even sometimes openly bragging that his conviction will be upturned.
Jonathan clap for yourself, you are doing very very well, especially when it comes to fighting corruption in Nigeria. What a leader !!!
ReplyDeleteJonathan clap for yourself, you are doing very very well, especially when it comes to fighting corruption in Nigeria. What a leader !!!
ReplyDeleteShame! shame!!, shame!!! on GEJ regime and PDP. The absurdity is beyond manipulation, it is bizarre and repulsively embarrassing. The citadel of Nigerias judiciary system is a complete washout!!!
ReplyDeleteIf he stole a mobile phone he would have been sentenced to 10 years. In Nigeria looting is not a crime
ReplyDeletesee una mouth.. So jon is now alpha n mega in Naija abi? Hipocritic nigerians .. I too know
ReplyDeleteMay God deliver this country from corrupt judges & politicians.
ReplyDeleteSo where are those condeming Obasanjo and praising Jonathan? The very thing OBJ wrote about in his letter has featured again!
ReplyDeleteGEJ...........................................
ReplyDeleteJooonah. Jooonah jooooonah. What a disastrous govt you are running. Sometime it seems embarrassing to be associated to this country call Nigeria,when you look at the situation of things in that country.
ReplyDeleteIt is now obvious that Jonathan is worse than Shina Rambo. Bode George was giving a slap on the wrist for stealing billions of naira, now he has been cleared. OBJ's letter now speaks for itself. GEJ is not fit to rule his house talkless of a country.
ReplyDeleteThis is a lesson to us all. If you want to steal in Nigeria, steal big so you can pay your way through. All the big thieves are living large. The likes of Maina the pension thief, Bode George NPA thief, Alams the Bayelsa thief. Ride on Jonathan, posterity will judge you all. Death is your ultimate end.
ReplyDeleteNothing wt a begining without an end, surely the owner of Universe will one day enthrone someone that will lead Nigeria aright.
ReplyDeleteMay God help us, this sounds rather unfortunate.
ReplyDeleteOBJ spoke and he was condemned ,see what is happening now.
Can we ever have any independent arm except the executive arm in
Nigeria?
The kind of ignorance being exhibited by some commentators in this forum is stomach churning. None of then has taken the pains to go through the said judgment before making their totally un informed contributions.
ReplyDeleteThe judgment was unanimous and from the snippets published in the media, the reasoning is sound and the judgment is unassailable.
@Anonymous 9:46am it is not ignorance, Nigerians are a lot wiser than you think. I need you to answer this, Is it a lie that Bode George stole money? How come our public persecutors suddenly ran out of evidence to prove this, if they did prove that a few year ago. Do they need witnesses, they abound in NPA. The govt riding on their own incompetence have created an environment where justice cannot reign and they exploit this at their own will.
ReplyDeleteThe truth is that PDP needs lagos state and Bode George seem to be their only apparatus (in their mind) to win Lagos. He has given them a condition to remove the ex-convict stain on his name. Now they have removed it and the battle for the Political soul of the South West is set.
They however forget that unlike any other regoin, the south west is better aware politically than any other region in Nigeria. We are waiting for them.
Mr know all,why wouldn't the judgement be unanimous when directive is being given from oga on top or what are you saying ?. Some pple will know the truth but still continue to pretend cos of their tribal sentiment.
ReplyDelete