Alleged fraud: I have no case to answer, Adoke’s co-defendant tells court

Mohammed Adoke

Aliyu Abubakar, standing trial along with a former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN) over alleged money laundering has told a Federal High Court, Abuja that he had no case to answer in the matter.

Abubakar’s counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) disclosed this known while adopting his final written addresses in the trial-within-trial after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) closed its case on Wednesday.

Olanipekun argued that the extra-judicial statements obtained from his client by the EFCC during investigation were not made voluntarily and that the anti-graft agency admitted in their application they filed that Bala Sanga, the former prosecuting lawyer, was present during the extraction of the statements.

He alleged that Sanga induced Abubakar to implicate Adoke and others in the matter.

“Bala Sanga was there, he was the investigator and prosecutor at the same time. He was the one who was inducing the 2nd defendant (Abubakar). He was the one saying bring this man in, bring that one in,” he told the court.

The senior lawyer argued that Sanga, who doubled as investigator and prosecutor, should have been in the court to clear all doubts and insisted that his client was coerced to make the statements.

He then, prayed the court to dismiss the EFCC’s argument and uphold Abubakar’s no-case submission.

Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), representing the former Minister (1st defendant), also aligned with Olanipekun’s submission, while
the EFCC’s lawyer, Offem Uket, disagreed with Olanipekun and argued that during the trial-within-trial, it was revealed that Abubakar’s lawyer was always present when the statements were taking.

The lawyer, who said Abubakar was neither induced nor forced to make the statements, urged the court to dismiss the no-case submission.

The trial Judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo adjourned the matter till Decemberq 12 for ruling on Abubakar’s no-case submission.

It would be recalled that, Abubakar, while being led in evidence as defence witness in the trial-within-trial on July 19, told the court that Sanga, threatened him to indict Adoke and former President Goodluck Jonathan in alleged money laundering suit.

Aminu Lawal, the second prosecution witness in the trial-within-trial, had, on May 10, said that Abubakar was neither enforced to make statements nor induced to implicate others in the course of the investigation, and that he was never threatened to be detained.

Lawal was part of the investigators who took the defendant’s statements on Dec. 31, 2019 and on Jan. 6, 2020.

But Abubakar, a business mogul, told the judge that the extra-judicial statements he made on December 31, 2019 and on January 6, 2020 were not made voluntarily, saying that when he was invited to the EFCC’s office in December 2019, Sanga, threatened to detain him if he refused to make extra-judicial statement.

Besides, Abubakar said on January 6, 2022, Sanga, who introduced himself as the new prosecutor in the matter, told him that there was an evidence before him (Sanga) which showed that he (Abubakar) gave the sum of 20 million dollars to Adoke.

Abubakar also told the court that Sanga informed him that there was another evidence which indicated that he (Abubakar) gave the sum of 50 million dollars to ex-President Jonathan.

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