Supreme Court wrongly freed Bode George – Falana

Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has said the Supreme Court was wrong in quashing the conviction of former Chairman of the Board of Nigerian Ports Authority, Chief Olabode George, and five former members.



Falana, in a statement on Sunday, said the judgment of the Supreme Court was “highly erroneous,” insisting that “it was based on wrong legal foundation.”

The Supreme Court on December 13 set aside the judgment of Justice Olubunmi Oyewole of the Lagos High Court, who jailed George and others.

The judgment of the Lagos High Court had earlier been affirmed by the Court of Appeal in Lagos before the apex court reversed it on December 13.

The apex court,in its judgment, quashed the conviction on the grounds that the offence of contract splitting, which they were found guilty of by the trial court, was unknown to law at the time the judgment was handed down.

But the rights lawyer, who maintained that the validity of the Supreme Court’s judgment “remains questionable”, said George and others were not convicted for contract splitting“but for abuse of power and disobedience of lawful order.