EFCC vows appeal in $9.8m corruption suit

Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency has vowed it would appeal the acquittal of Andrew Yakubu, a former group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, from the $9.8m corruption charge preferred against him.

TheCornet reports that Justice Ahmed Mohammed before whom Yakubu was tried said the EFCC failed to prove its case to the letter.

The EFCC stated that the judge “held that the prosecution failed to prove the ingredient of the offence beyond reasonable doubt.”

“He  held that the Commission ought to have investigated the defendant’s claims that the monetary gifts he claimed to have received came from his friends, and tender the recovered cash before the court.”

Based on his premises, Mohammed discharged and acquitted Yakubu.

Stating it’s displeasure with the ruling, EFCC said it “believes the trial judge erred in dismissing the charge and has resolved to test the ruling at the appellate court.”

Yakubu was arraigned by the Commission in March 2017 following the discovery of $9.8million stashed in his property located in the Sabon Tasha Suburb of Kaduna. He had pleaded not guilty upon arraignment.

In the course of trial, the Commission called witnesses and tendered documents in evidence, but the defendant filed a no case submission.

Based on the submission, the court struck out two of the six counts.

Two further counts were chalked off upon appeal by the defendant while the appellate court ordered his continued trial on the remaining two counts.