Over Obiano’s N4 billion fraud trial, Anambra and the EFCC battle.
The Anambra State government filed an appeal on Wednesday, contesting the continuing trial of former governor Willie Obiano for suspected N4 billion embezzlement. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ordered the Federal High Court in Abuja to disregard the appeal.
Over Obiano’s N4 billion fraud trial, Anambra and the EFCC battle.
The government of Anambra State, according to the EFCC, was not a defendant in the case and could not, therefore, contest the proceedings.
Obiano was charged with nine counts by the anti-graft agency on January 24. The allegations stemmed from alleged theft of N4 billion worth of state security votes.
According to the EFCC, he committed the purported theft throughout his eight years as the governor of Anambra State.
After entering a not guilty plea, Obiano was granted bail and allowed only to leave Abuja.
Charles Soludo, the current governor of Anambra State, paid Obiano a visit in Abuja one day following his arraignment and offered his support.
Obiano’s attorney, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), told the court during the case’s most recent hearing that the Anambra State government had submitted a request on March 3 contesting the EFCC’s jurisdiction to try the former governor.
The motion stated, in part, that the Anambra State Government had filed an appeal contesting the EFCC’s authority to look into the Anambra State Government’s security vote.
Ikpeazu pleaded with the judge to drop the accusations against his client because to jurisdictional inaccuracies.
In response, the EFCC submitted a counter-affidavit in which it argued that Obiano’s trial could not be stopped by the Anambra State government’s appeal.
Sylvanus Tahir, the EFCC’s prosecutor, maintained that charges and supporting documentation created a prima facie case against Obaino.
“Contrary to the depositions contained in paragraphs 5 (v) and (vi) of the defendant’s affidavit, the charge and the proofs of evidence disclose a prima facie case and link the defendant with the allegations constituted in the charge,” the EFCC stated in a counter-affidavit that was disposed of by one Habu Fari.
According to the deposition in paragraph 5(xi) of the affidavit supporting the motion, neither Anambra State nor the Anambra State Government are defendants in the current proceedings. The referenced appeal is unrelated to and has nothing to do with the current charge.
“The instant charge is brought genuinely, initiated through the proper legal process, free of witch-hunt, precise, unassailable, and borne out of the process of a serious investigation as a call to duty to fight economic and financial crimes, in contrast to the deposition in Paragraphs 5(xii), (xii), (xiv), (xv), (v) (xvii), and (xviii).”
“This honorable court has the unique jurisdiction to try the counts that compose the charge, all of which have to do with money laundering.”
Following the adoption of respective procedures by the EFCC prosecutor and Obiano’s attorney, Justice Inyang Ekwo postponed the decision until April 18, 2024.
