Court Frees Lawmaker As Wife Surrenders To EFCC

A Chief Magistrates’ Court sitting in Lagos has struck out a charge against a federal lawmaker, Aliyu Ahman Pategi.

Mr Pategi was remanded last week Friday after failing to produce his wife, former Minister of State for FCT, Oloye Jumoke Akinjide.

Chief Magistrate Afolashade Botoku freed the lawmaker following Akinjide’s surrender on Tuesday afternoon to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at its Lagos office in Ikoyi.

The anti-graft agency had charged Mrs Akinjide for allegedly collecting N650m out of the $115m allegedly given by a former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, to compromise the 2015 general election.

Mr Pategi had on August 10, 2016, entered a bail bond of N650m to secure an administrative bail for Mrs Akinjinde, but the former minister was said to have jumped the bail.

Mrs Akinjide’s non-appearance had stalled her arraignment in the charge marked before the Federal High Court in Ibadan with the court threatening to strike out the charge should the EFCC fail to produce her.