$40 Million Fraud: Jonathan's Cousin Loses Court Case Against EFCC In Alleged

A Lagos Division of the Federal High Court on Monday, July 2, dismissed the fundamental rights enforcement suit instituted by Robert Azibaola, a cousin to former president, Goodluck Jonathan, against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The presiding judge, Mojisola Olatroegun, said the suit by Azibaola is an abuse of court process as the applicant had instituted similar suits in multiple courts, Premium Times reports.

According to the judge, the EFCC had acted in accordance with the appropriate laws in their investigation of Azibaola.

Azibaola had dragged the EFCC before the court challenging his arrest and detention over an alleged $40 million fraud.

Joined as respondents in the suit were the Attorney General of the Federation and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In an affidavit sworn to by Faith Robert, a lecturer at the Niger Delta State University, Bayelsa state, Azibaola said his relationship with the former president is the reason for his current travails in the hands of respondents who want him to implicate Jonathan at all cost.

Azibaola said he was detained through a warrant for remand obtained at a magistrate court for alleged financial misappropriation on “a purely civil transaction.”

He urged the court to declare that the acts of the respondents in obtaining remand orders against him for the purpose of keeping him in their custody is a flagrant violation of his fundamental right as guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution.

He also sought an order of the court restraining the respondents from further violating his rights through unlawful arrest and detention.

In a counter affidavit sworn to by a counsel of the EFCC, Idris Mohammed, the anti-graft agency averred that sometime in November 2015, the EFCC received an intelligence report against Azibaola, his company, and others regarding a suspicious contract awarded by the former NSA, Sambo Dasuki, from the committee set up to audit the procurement of defence equipment by the armed forces from 2007 to date.

The committee, the EFCC stated, discovered that between 2012 and March 2015, Dasuki, a retired colonel, awarded several fictitious contracts to different companies to the tune of N2,219,188,609; $1,671742,613; and E9,905,477.

The money was transferred without the award of any contract, the EFCC added.

In another investigation, the EFCC said it discovered that Azibaola while acting as the managing director of Mangrovetech Construction and Engineering Company Nigeria Limited, now Kakatar Ce Limited, received N2,504,917,058 from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and converted same to his own use.

The commission sai d after initially refusing to honour an invitation to the EFCC office, Azibaola showed up to avoid being declared wanted and later began “running from one place to another” and frustrating the investigation, forcing the EFCC to obtain a remand order from a court in Abuja.

Meanwhile, a Federal High Court in Abuja ruled on Thursday, March 29, that Azibaola had a case to answer in respect of two charges involving $40million which he was accused of receiving fraudulently from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) in 2014.

The presiding judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, ordered Azibaola and his company, One Plus Holdings Nigeria Limited, to enter their defence in respect of the two counts.