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Court sets Elumelu free for wrong accusation by EFCC

 The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has struck out of the N5.2 billion fraud charges brought against Honourable Ndudi Elumelu by the Economic and … Continue reading Court sets Elumelu free for wrong accusation by EFCC


 The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has struck out of the N5.2 billion fraud charges brought against Honourable Ndudi Elumelu by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), citing that the lawmaker knew nothing about the contract.

Mr Elumelu, a member of the House of Representatives from Delta state and former chairman of the House committee on power, was asked to go home by the presiding Judge, Justice Garba Umar on the ground that “he has no case to answer.”

Justice Umar ruled in favour of the defendant, Elumelu on the grounds that “there was no iota of evidence linking him with the N5.2 billion rural electrification project fraud awarded by the Federal Ministry of Power.”

In the ruling, Justice Umar agreed that “those to stand trial in such a case were the civil servants in the Ministry who allegedly awarded the contracts and not the lawmaker with just over-sight function on the ministry.”

The court noted that from the totality of the evidence adduced by EFCC, there was nowhere that Mr Elumelu influenced the contract award or took any step that that was inimical to the national economy as alleged by the EFCC.

The judge held that the proof of evidence filed along with the 32-count criminal charges by the anti-crime agency had been evaluated and “saw no substance in it as far as the accused person was concerned.”

He also upheld the submission of the lead counsel to the defendant, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), that “what the EFCC brought before the court was an un-substantiated allegation which no matter how strong cannot take the place of proof.”

Justice Umar said that it would amount to wasting the precious time of the court to allow the trial to go ahead in the face of a basely allegations and struck out the criminal charges against the lawmaker.

Honourable Elumelu had three years ago been arrested and detained along with his counterpart in the Senate, Senator Nicholas Yahaya Ugbane on the allegation that they aided fraud in the award of the N5.2 billion contracts for rural electrification projects across the country.

His discharge is coming after a trial that has lasted for over three years following his arrest in 2010 when he was detained for over a month in Kuje prison after his arrest.