7th July, 2023
By Michael Adeshina
The supreme court has ordered the release of Peter Nwaoboshi, a senator who represented Delta North, from Ikoyi prison in Lagos where he is being held.
Nwaoboshi, before today, was sentenced to seven years in jail for offences of fraud and money laundering.
In a judgement on Friday, the Supreme Court also freed the two companies – Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd and Suiming Electrical Ltd – tried with him on a two-count charge brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In a lead judgment by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the apex court held that Nwaobishi and the two companies were unjustly and maliciously prosecuted by the EFCC for committing no offences known to law.
The court said EFCC subjected them to needless criminal trial in relation civil transaction.
In a split decision of four-to-one, the Supreme Court set aside the July 1, 2022 judgment of the Court of Appeal, Lagos, which reversed their discharge and acquittal by a Federal High Court in Lagos.
The EFCC had arraigned Nwaoboshi and his two firms in 2018 before Mohammed Idris, a judge who was later elevated to the court of appeal.
They were then re-arraigned before Chukwujekwu Aneke on October 5, 2018.
The EFCC accused Nwaoboshi and his companies of illegally acquiring a property named Guinea House on Marine Road, in Apapa, Lagos, for N805 million, property said to belong to the Delta State Govt.
The anti-graft agency had claimed that part of the money paid for the property was transferred by Suiming Electrical Ltd on behalf of Nwaoboshi and Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd, adding the funds are believed to be proceeds of their illicit activities.