{"id":65602,"date":"2019-03-18T20:58:52","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T19:58:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=65602"},"modified":"2019-03-18T20:58:52","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T19:58:52","slug":"former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"Former SGF Babachir Back In Court Over N500million Grass-Cutting Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has re-arraigned a<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, and
\nthree others before Justice Jude Okeke of a Federal Capital Territory, FCT
\nHigh Court, Maitama.<\/p>\n

Mr Lawal along with his younger brother, Hamidu David Lawal, Suleiman
\nAbubakar, Apeh John Monday and two companies, Rholavision Engineering Ltd
\nand Josmon Technologies Ltd, were re-arraigned on an amended 10-count
\ncharge bordering on fraud, diversion of funds and criminal conspiracy to
\nthe tune of over N500 million.<\/p>\n

They were earlier arraigned before Justice Okeke on February 13 and the
\nprosecution was meant to open its case today, March 18.<\/p>\n

At the resumed hearing, counsel for the EFCC, Offem Uket, told the court
\nthat the charges against them had been amended, and that they had to take
\na fresh plea.<\/p>\n

However, citing Section 218 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice
\nAct, ACJA 2015, Akin Olujimi, counsel for Mr Lawal, argued that \u201cbefore
\nthe charge is taken, the prosecution ought to have filed the amended
\ncharge to ensure that it was properly endorsed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Other defence counsels aligned themselves with the submission of Olujimi.<\/p>\n

Justice Okeke, while ordering the prosecution to comply with the section
\ncited by Mr Olujimi, however, ruled that in the interim, the amended
\ncharges be read to the defendants.<\/p>\n

One of the counts reads: \u201cThat you, Engineer Babachir David Lawal, while
\nbeing the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and a
\ndirector of Rholavision Engineering Ltd on or about the 22nd August 2016
\nat Abuja in the Abuja Judicial Division of the High Court of the Federal
\nCapital Territory did knowingly hold indirectly private interest in the
\ncontract awarded to Josmon Technological Ltd but executed by Rholavision
\nEngineering Ltd for the removal of invasive plant species and simplified
\nirrigation to the tune of N258,132,735.99 (Two Hundred and Fifty Eight
\nMillion, One hundred and Thirty Two Thousand, Seven Hundred and Thirty
\nFive Naira only) by the office of the Secretary to the Government of the
\nFederation (OSGF) though the Presidential Initiative for North East (PINE)
\nand thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 12 of the
\nCorrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.\u201d<\/p>\n

They pleaded \u201cnot guilty\u201d to the amended charges.<\/p>\n

The defence team, thereafter, prayed the court to allow the defendants to
\ncontinue with the bail earlier granted them by the court.<\/p>\n

The request of the defence was granted by Justice Okeke, who adjourned to
\nApril 11, 2019 for \u201ccommencement of trial\u201d, noting that, \u201cthe court is
\nminded to grant an adjournment due to the amendment of the charges.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Court had earlier granted the defendants bail in the sum of N50
\nmillion, with one surety in like sum, who must be resident within the
\njurisdiction of the court, and must be owner of a landed property within
\nthe jurisdiction of the court, with evidence of three years tax payment.
\nThe international passports of the defendants were also ordered to be
\ndeposited with the court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has re-arraigned a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, and three others before Justice Jude Okeke of a Federal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":64736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer SGF Babachir Back In Court Over N500million Grass-Cutting Fraud - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former SGF Babachir Back In Court Over N500million Grass-Cutting Fraud - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has re-arraigned a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, and three others before Justice Jude Okeke of a Federal…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-18T19:58:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/PIC-5.-PRESIDENT-BUHARI-SACKS-SGF-BABACHIR-LAWAL.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"headline\":\"Former SGF Babachir Back In Court Over N500million Grass-Cutting Fraud\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-18T19:58:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/\"},\"wordCount\":498,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/PIC-5.-PRESIDENT-BUHARI-SACKS-SGF-BABACHIR-LAWAL.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Exclusive\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/\",\"name\":\"Former SGF Babachir Back In Court Over N500million Grass-Cutting Fraud - Pointblank News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/PIC-5.-PRESIDENT-BUHARI-SACKS-SGF-BABACHIR-LAWAL.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-18T19:58:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/PIC-5.-PRESIDENT-BUHARI-SACKS-SGF-BABACHIR-LAWAL.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/PIC-5.-PRESIDENT-BUHARI-SACKS-SGF-BABACHIR-LAWAL.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":450},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Former SGF Babachir Back In Court Over N500million Grass-Cutting Fraud\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\",\"name\":\"Pointblank News\",\"description\":\"Just the news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\",\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Our Reporter\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Former SGF Babachir Back In Court Over N500million Grass-Cutting Fraud - Pointblank News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Former SGF Babachir Back In Court Over N500million Grass-Cutting Fraud - Pointblank News","og_description":"The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has re-arraigned a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, and three others before Justice Jude Okeke of a Federal…","og_url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/","og_site_name":"Pointblank News","article_published_time":"2019-03-18T19:58:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/PIC-5.-PRESIDENT-BUHARI-SACKS-SGF-BABACHIR-LAWAL.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Our Reporter","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Our Reporter","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/"},"author":{"name":"Our Reporter","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"headline":"Former SGF Babachir Back In Court Over N500million Grass-Cutting Fraud","datePublished":"2019-03-18T19:58:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/"},"wordCount":498,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/PIC-5.-PRESIDENT-BUHARI-SACKS-SGF-BABACHIR-LAWAL.jpg","articleSection":["Exclusive"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/","name":"Former SGF Babachir Back In Court Over N500million Grass-Cutting Fraud - Pointblank News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/PIC-5.-PRESIDENT-BUHARI-SACKS-SGF-BABACHIR-LAWAL.jpg","datePublished":"2019-03-18T19:58:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/PIC-5.-PRESIDENT-BUHARI-SACKS-SGF-BABACHIR-LAWAL.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/PIC-5.-PRESIDENT-BUHARI-SACKS-SGF-BABACHIR-LAWAL.jpg","width":800,"height":450},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/former-sgf-babachir-back-in-court-over-n500million-grass-cutting-fraud\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Former SGF Babachir Back In Court Over N500million Grass-Cutting Fraud"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/","name":"Pointblank News","description":"Just the news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c","name":"Our Reporter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Our Reporter"},"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}