FORMER President Goodluck Jonathan’s cousin, Robert Aziboala, on Tuesday, opened his defence in the alleged $40 million fraud charge preferred against him by the Federal Government.
He told the court in his defence that he is being prosecuted by the present administration for serving his country.
Aziboala and his company, One Plus Holding Ltd were alleged to have taken possession and converted the sum of $40 million received from Office of the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Mohammed Dasuki (rtd) to personal use.
Led in evidence in chief by his counsel, Goddy Uche (SAN), the defendant said, as president of Niger Delta-HERO, he led several protests as an activist to protect Niger Delta region and Nigerians in general and the fundamental human rights of everybody that is alive and that he led the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MASOP) to advance the cause of Ogoni people.
More so, Aziboala stated that in the cause of campaigning for the enthronement of democracy, “I was arrested and detained by the State Security Service and other agencies.”
The defendant disclosed that because of his activism, he embarked on several international speaking tours on behalf of Nigeria and Nigerians.
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As Aziboala was testifying, the prosecution counsel, Sylvanus Tahir raised an objection and asked the court to expunge all he said from its records.
“My lord, the evidence of the defendant is off track and irrelevant on the basis of Section 1 of the Evidence Act” Tahir stated.
He said the charge which the defendant is facing was in relation to money laundering and has nothing to do with pro-democracy activism and environmental crusade.
Tahir insisted that none of the charges that the defendant is facing deals with extraneous matter such as the obnoxious aspects being delved into by the defendant.
Reacting, Uche who held briefly for his brother Goddy, said: “I am taking aback by the objection of the prosecution counsel.”
He, therefore, asked the court to discountenance it for being “inappropriate and inapplicable.”
“This is a criminal trial, it is not a civil proceeding. It is not a matter that is regulated by pleading but a trial which the defendant has the constitutional right under section 36(5)(b) to be given adequate opportunity to tell his own side of the story and urged the court to dismiss the objection.
However, in his ruling, Justice Dimgba dismissed the objection as lacking in merit, adding that, the testimony of the defence witness (DW1) was relevant and useful in relation to the testimony of prosecution witness 10, which said the defendant used the money for a different purpose.
Recall that the court had on March 29, 2018, discharged and acquitted Robert Aziboala’s wife, Stella of all the 9 count charges levelled against her by the Federal Government.
But, Justice Dimgba held that Aziboala (1st defendant) and his company, One Plus Holding Ltd (3rd defendant) have an explanation to make in respect of counts 2 and 3.
Counts 2 and 3 are basically the same. The difference is that count 2 borders on possession of the sum of $40million Dollars, while count 3 was hinged on conversion of the said amount, the court stated.