Alleged minister's assailant acquited 9 years after

Nnamdi Felix / Abuja

Nigeria’s Supreme Court on Friday discharged and acquitted an alleged assailant of former minister of information and communication, Prof Dora Akunyili. The court upheld the appeal by the suspected assailant, Mr. Jude Ugwu.

A seven man panel of the apex court presided over

by justice Datijo Mohammed while affirming the lower courts decision held that there was no substantial evidence linking Mr. Jude Ugwu to the alleged attempted crime.

Ugwu, alias “agada”, and four others were charged before an Abuja high court for attempted murder of Prof. Akunyili when she was traveling through Anambra to Delta state in 2003 while in office as then Director General of the Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC.

According to the charge, a bullet tore through Akunyili’s headgear when the accused persons allegedly fired at her car. Mr. Ugwu subsequently challenged the competence of the charge against him all the way to the apex court where his innocence had been established by the apex court.