Alleged N1.4bn Fraud: Appeal Court Rules Out Charges Against Gov Emmanuel, Paul Usoro, Others

A Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos, on Friday ruled out four of the 10 count charges filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC against Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, President, Paul Usoro, SAN and two others over alleged N1.4 billion fraud.

Others mentioned in the charged include Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Finance, Nsikan Nkan; Accountant-General of the state, Mfon Udomah; state Attorney-General, Uwemedimo Nwoko, and Margaret Ukpe.

According to the charge, Governor Emmanuel Udom was described as being “currently constitutionally immune from prosecution.”

Recall that Justice Rilwan Aikawa of the Federal High Court, Lagos, had on May 30, 2019, dismissed an application filed by Udom, seeking to quash the entire charge preferred against Usoro and other defendants by the EFCC.

However, Justice Aikawa held then that Udom’s application lacked merit because he was not a party to the suit.

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Udom, who was dissatisfied with the ruling, filed for an appeal against the court’s decision through his lawyer, Dr Charles Mekwunye.

But rhe Court of Appeal on Friday in a unanimous judgement read by Justice Bello Aliyu allowed the appeal filed by Udom against the ruling of the Federal High Court.

The court, however, dismissed the four of the 10 counts which particularly alluded to Governor Udom’s involvement in the alleged crime.