The presiding judge, Justice Binta Nyako, struck out the case and discharged the defendant
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has struck out the cyberstalking charge filed against the Chairman of Human and Environmental Development Agenda, (HEDA), Olanrewaju Suraju, by the Nigerian government for lack of evidence.
The presiding judge, Justice Binta Nyako, struck out the case and discharged the defendant following an application by the government's lawyer, Y. Eko, to withdraw and discontinue with the charge preferred against the defendant.
At the resumed hearing of the case, Eko told the court that she got an instruction from the Attorney-General of Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to withdraw the charge and send to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for further review.
Recall that a former Minister of Justice, Bello Adoke, one of the accused charged with fraud in the OPL245 scam also referred to as Malabu scandal, had petitioned the police and accused Suraju of being behind the petitions resulting in his prosecution for corruption and money laundering.
He was said to have told the police that evidence was fabricated against him to unduly incriminate him in the multi-million dollar scandal.
Suraju, who addressed journalists at the court, said, “The Nigerian government has sued JP Morgan Chase Bank over the payment of $801million to Malabu from the account that belongs to Nigeria and because of that JP Morgan was actually the one that brought the email upon which Adoke claimed was forged.
“It was brought by JP Morgan Chase to court and the same thing with the tape. The Nigerian government has gone contrary to what they said here and in the UK court, to say that email was authentic and legitimate.
“So it was in that instance we challenged them that this is what you are saying in the UK court and you are saying that same thing was forged in Nigeria. JP Morgan’s lawyer in London brought it up and said the Nigerian government was not credible by coming to say those documents are authentic because the same documents are actually being used to prosecute me in Nigeria.
“The UK-based Nigerian lawyer said that the charges filed in Nigeria were at the compromise of DPP and Adoke and it was not the Nigeria government. He pleaded there on February 28 in London court that the charges will be withdrawn.”