Former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Vincent Ogbulafor was on Thursday discharged of the 16-count charge filed against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other related Offences Commission (ICPC).
But his co-accused, Emeka Ebila, who was then the Secretary of National Economic Intelligence Committee, the body which was tasked with the verification exercise, was convicted and jailed five years for the alleged offences.
The jail terms of five years on each of the counts are to run concurrently.
Ogbulafor was the Minister of Special Duties supervising the activities of NEIC, which was set up in 2001 for the verification and payment of debts owed to local contractors by the Federal Government.
Justice Ishaq Bello, in his judgment on Thursday, held that from the evidence before the court, there was no nexus between Ogbulafor, who was the Minister of Special Duties when the offences were allegedly committed, and the alleged crimes.
But the judge said Ebila’s confessional statement tendered before the court without any objection from his lawyer, was a corroboration of the allegations leveled against him by the prosecution.
The PDP chief, who was then the supervising minister of NEIC and Ebila, were alleged to have defrauded the Federal Government to the tune of over N170m through payments to contractors for jobs that were not carried out.
The anti-graft agency had arraigned the Ogulafor and Ebilah on May 10, 2010, alleging that ex-PDP chairman, while serving as minister of state for special duties in 2001, conspired with the others to float three fictitious companies with which they perpetrated the fraud.
According to the ICPC, the offences committed contravened Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Act, 2000, among other provisions of the same law
The accused were alleged to have used Henrichiko Nigeria Limited, DHL Consultants and Chekwas Industries to fraudulently obtain N82.6 million, N11.5 million and N6.2 million respectively in 2001.
Justice Bello further held that going by the confessionary statement of the second accused person (Ebilah), it was clear that there was no conspiracy between him and the first accused person.
The court also held that the prosecution also failed to prove the ingredients of conspiracy before the court.
“It is clear from the evidence that the first accused person was not given any money, even the second accused in his evidence stated that he did not give the first accused any money.
Ebila’s absence from court on two previous occasions had stalled the delivery of the judgment.
This time around he , was wheeled into the courtroom wearing a neck brace.
The court however discountenanced the plea by Ebila’s counsel, A. A Nwogu, for the sentencing on the account of her client’s ill health.
In the perceptive of the court, the accused could be seen on the wheelchair, there was no medical report disclosing his true state of health before the court.
