Justice Christopher A. Balogun of the State High Court sitting at the
\nTafawa Balewa Square, TBS, Onikan, Lagos, on Wednesday, September 25,
\n2019, remanded Abubakar Ali Peters, Chairman, Nadabo Energy Limited, in
\nprison for plotting to evade trial and abscond from the country.<\/p>\n
Peters is standing trial on a 27-count charge bordering on obtaining by
\nfalse pretence, forgery and use of forged documents to the tune of N978,
\n401, 732, 09(Nine Hundred and Seventy-eight Million, Four Hundred and
\nOne Thousand, Seven Hundred and Thirty-two Naira, Nine Kobo (N978, 401,
\n732, 09) brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes
\nCommission, EFCC.<\/p>\n
The defendant allegedly defrauded the Federal Government of the said sum
\nof money by supplying 6, 505,140. 04 litres of Petroleum Motor Spirit,
\nPMS, instead of 19,488, 992 litres, being the quantity he was contracted
\nto supply.<\/p>\n
The defendant also allegedly forged the documents that were used to
\nprocure the product in order to conceal the exact amount he paid for it
\nand receive in excess money for the product supplied.<\/p>\n
At the resumed sitting today, the defence counsel, Emefo Etudo, sought
\nto withdraw from the case on the grounds that his client was planning to
\njeopardize the case and abscond from the country.<\/p>\n
Etudo, in a sworn affidavit, also told the court he urged his client to
\npay back the money upon realizing that he had defrauded the Federal
\nGovernment.<\/p>\n
“My Lord, he agreed to pay the money and subsequently made some
\npayments.<\/p>\n
“He, however, stopped at some point.<\/p>\n
“He also informed me of his plans to abscond from the country without
\npaying back in full the money he obtained under false pretence,” Etudo
\nstated.<\/p>\n
The defence counsel, in his further submission, told the court that his
\nclient was planning to frustrate a similar case after receiving money
\nfrom parties involved.<\/p>\n
” My Lord, my client forged his signature on the Corporate Affairs
\nCommission, CAC, documents and gave damaging false information about me
\nand other lawyers involved in the case.<\/p>\n
“He is involved in three oil subsidy cases, although the EFCC is only
\naware of two of them.<\/p>\n
“The total money belonging to the Federal Government of Nigeria, which
\nwas siphoned abroad, is about N2billion,” he further told the court.<\/p>\n
The defence counsel, therefore, urged the court to permit him to
\nwithdraw from the case, saying “the defendant is a threat to national
\nsecurity and will abscond if he continues on the bail he was granted by
\nthe court.”<\/p>\n
The prosecution counsel, S.K. Atteh, did not oppose the prayers of the
\ndefence counsel.<\/p>\n
Justice Balogun granted the defence counsel leave to withdraw from the
\ncase based on the serious allegations levelled against his client.<\/p>\n
The Judge also vacated all the undertakings made on behalf of the
\ndefendant by the counsel’s law firm since he could no longer assure the
\ncourt that he is in a position to produce the defendant at his trial.<\/p>\n
Consequently, Justice Balogun remanded the defendant in prison custody
\nand adjourned the case to October 15, 2019 for continuation of hearing.<\/p>\n
Justice Christopher A. Balogun of the State High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square, TBS, Onikan, Lagos, on Wednesday, September 25, 2019, remanded Abubakar Ali Peters, Chairman, Nadabo Energy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":69254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-news"],"yoast_head":"\n