Femi Ashekun/
The Court of Appeal has laid bare how procedural failures by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) led to the collapse of its N22.8 billion fraud case against a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu, and two other senior Nigerian Air Force officers.
In a unanimous judgment delivered by the Lagos Division, the appellate court dismissed the EFCC’s appeal and upheld an earlier ruling of the Federal High Court, which struck out the charge after finding that the anti-graft agency failed to comply with mandatory provisions of the Armed Forces Act.
The three-member panel, presided over by Justice Yargata Nimpar, held that the failure to meet statutory conditions precedent deprived the trial court of jurisdiction, rendering the prosecution fundamentally defective.
Justice Paul Ahmed Bassi, who delivered the lead judgment, said the legal issues raised had long been settled by binding judicial authorities, leaving no basis to interfere with the lower court’s decision.
The case had earlier been dismissed by Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court, Lagos, who upheld preliminary objections filed by the defendants.
He ruled that Amosu, alongside Air Vice Marshal Jacob Bola Adigun and Air Commodore Gbadebo Owodunni Olugbenga, were serving military officers at the time the alleged offences were committed and could not be prosecuted without strict compliance with the Armed Forces Act.
Rejecting the EFCC’s argument that the objections should have been deferred until trial under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, the Court of Appeal held that issues touching on jurisdiction and failure to satisfy conditions precedent can properly be determined at the preliminary stage.
The court further found that the EFCC commenced its investigation while the respondents were still serving officers of the Nigerian Air Force, relying on documentary and affidavit evidence, including a letter dated January 30, 2015, issued during the investigation of DG Oil and Gas Limited and referenced in the amended charge.
According to the court, Sections 121 and 123 of the Armed Forces Act impose mandatory procedures for handling allegations against serving military officers, including reporting such allegations to the appropriate commanding officer.
These provisions, it said, are constitutionally backed and must be strictly complied with.
Although the court acknowledged that Section 123 of the Act constitutes a condition precedent, it held that the EFCC failed to comply with it before initiating criminal proceedings.
The defendants were first arraigned on June 29, 2016, alongside seven companies, on charges bordering on conspiracy, stealing, money laundering, concealment of proceeds of crime and conversion of funds allegedly belonging to the Nigerian Air Force.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal in its entirety and affirmed the judgment of the Federal High Court delivered on February 6, 2024, stressing that its decision was based strictly on procedural and jurisdictional grounds and did not amount to a determination of the substantive allegations.
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