The Appeal Court sitting in Abuja has ruled out the judgment of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) convicting the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe, over allegations of false declaration of assets.
The former minister was convicted in October 2016 for allegedly failing to declare a property (plot of land) in Asokoro, Abuja.
The Federal Government then filed a one-count charge of false asset declaration against him but the former minister told the tribunal that the property was no longer his as at the time he went into public service.
He further stated that he had sold the property and saw no need to declare what was not his.
The tribunal, however, convicted him on the basis that the title deeds of the property still bore his name.
A three-man panel of judges of the Appeal Court led by Justice Mohammed Abdul Aboki voided the conviction, describing it as a miscarriage of justice.
The court held that it was obvious that Orubebe sold the property, even if the property still had his name on it, there was no need to declare it.
The court therefore discharged and acquitted the former minister.
