STOLEN JEWELLERY: PATIENCE JONATHAN'S EX-AIDES ROT IN JAIL AS COURT ADJOURNS CASE 40 TIMES.(PHOTO).

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 Stolen Jewellery: Patience Jonathan's Ex-Aides Rot in Jail as Court Adjourns Case 40 Times Some former domestic workers of ex-First Lady Patience Jonathan have been imprisoned for over six years, with their trial repeatedly delayed due to adjournments. The 15 workers, accused of stealing jewelry and valuables worth N200 million, were arrested in 2019 and are being held at the Okaka Custodial Centre in Bayelsa State. The defendants were accused of stealing seven gold bangles and jewelry, five Samsung air conditioners, two sets of upholstery chairs, and six Samsung flat-screen televisions. They also face 18 counts of conspiracy to commit murder, armed robbery, burglary, and stealing. The workers claim they were unlawfully detained without evidence. "We have been in prison since 2019. We were domestic staff of the former first lady, Patience Jonathan. In 2019, there was a case of breaking into one of her apartments in Otuoke, and she decided to arrest all her workers," one ...

ALLEGED N8. 5BN FRAUD: YOU HAVE CASE TO ANSWER, LAGOS COURT TELLS NIMASA STAFF, EX-JTF COMMANDER. (PHOTO). #PRESS RELEASE.


 Alleged N8.5bn Fraud: You Have Case To Answer, Lagos Court Tells NIMASA Staff, Ex-JTF Commander


Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Monday, April 22, 2024, told a former Commander of the Joint Military Task Force, Operation Pulo Shield, Major-General Emmanuel Atewe ( rtd.), and a  staff of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Kime Engonzu, that they have a case to answer in the alleged N8.5bn money laundering case brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.


Atewe and Engonzu are standing trial on a 22-count charge bordering on money laundering to the tune of N8, 537,586,798.58, which also involves a former Director-General of NIMASA, Patrick Akpobolokemi, and Josephine Otuaga, also a staff of NIMASA.


One of the counts reads: "That you, Patrick Ziadeke Akpobolokemi, Major General Emmanuel Atewe, Kime Engozu, and Josphine Otuaga, sometime in 2014, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Court, with intent to defraud, conspired amongst yourselves to commit an offence to wit: conversion of the sum of N8,537,586,798.58 property of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2012 and punishable under Section 15 (3) of the same Act."


They pleaded "not guilty" to the charges, thereby prompting the commencement of their trial.


In the course of the trial, the prosecution called several witnesses and subsequently closed its case against the defendants.


However, the defendants, rather than open their defence, filed a no-case-submission.


Akpobolokemi had, in a no-case submission, filed by his lawyer, Dr. Joseph Nwobike, SAN, prayed the court for an acquittal without having him present a defence.


Ruling on the no-case submission  on Monday, Justice  Faji discharged and acquitted Akpobolokemi  and Otuaga, the fourth defendant. He however, ruled that Atewe, the second defendant, and Engonzu, the third defendant, should open their defence in counts 12 to 22 of the charge.


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