The Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday struck out a N22.8 billion fraud charge against former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall, Adesola Amosu, and two other Air Force Chiefs.
Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke set the military officers free while delivering rulings on their separate preliminary objections challenging the court’s jurisdiction to try them for the alleged crime.
He accepted their request by upholding a preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the case on the grounds that the defendants were serving officers of the military at the time.
The judge held: “As officers of the armed forces, they ought to have been first investigated by the armed forces and tried rather than charging them before this court.”
He declared the investigation of Amosun dated January 30, 2015, null and void.
Justice Aneke also quashed the amended charges against the defendants.
Persecondnews recalls that Amosun was charged alongside two other officers of the Air Force – Air Vice Marshal Jacob Adigun and Air Commodore Gbadebo Olugbenga.
Also charged along with them are some companies—Delfina Oil and Gas Ltd., Mcallan Oil and Gas Ltd., Hebron Housing and Properties Company Ltd., Trapezites BDC, and Fonds and Pricey Ltd.—being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
They were arraigned before Justice Mohammed Idris on June 26, 2016, and had pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiracy, stealing, and money laundering.
The accused were alleged to have indirectly converted the sum of N3.6 billion belonging to the Nigerian Air Force to their own use.
The EFCC accused Amosun and others of stealing about N323 million from the accounts of the Nigerian Air Force between March 21, 2014, and March 12, 2015, for the purpose of purchasing for themselves a property situated at No. 1, River Street, Wuse II, Abuja.
