Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has dismissed the N600m money laundering case brought against Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji.
The judge acquitted Mr. Ikuforiji and his aide, Oyebode Atoyebi after stating that his trial was anachronistic. He said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ought to have treated the case as an aborted trial and discontinued.
Justice Buba has a reputation for aiding corrupt persons from the benchh. In 2008 while at the Federal High Court in Rivers State, Buba granted a perpetual injunction against the EFCC to prevent the anti-corruption agency from arresting or prosecuting former Rivers State Governor, Peter Odili for corruption.
The EFCC had instituted a 20-count charge against Ikuforiji and his personal assistant, Mr. Oyebode Atoyebi, for laundering over N600 million contrary to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act (Establishment) Act, 2004.
Prosecutors at the agency said the 1st and 2nd defendants received the money from the Lagos State House of Assembly without passing through a financial institution as required by the EFCC Act.
The anti-corruption agency closed its case in June after presenting two witnesses against the speaker and his aide.
One of the witnesses told the court that Ikuforiji and Atoyebi collected N13.5m as honorarium, another N4.5m for renovating the speaker’s residence, and N1.5m for the speaker’s guest house every month for six consecutive months.
However, on Friday, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), who heads Ikuforiji’s defence team, presented a “No Case Submission” before the court, arguing that based on the evidence adduced and presented by the Prosecution to the Court, no criminal liability had been established against the Defendants.
Delivering the ruling delivered, Justice Buba granted the “No Case Submission” and accordingly acquitted and discharged the Defendants.
He said the court was firmly of the view that “all the monies received by the Defendants went through the standard procedures and that the monies were received for the use of the House of Assembly”.
Ikuforiji, a two-time speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, is seeking to become governor of the state in 2015 on the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC).