Emmanuel lkpeama.
A Contractor Olugbenga Obadina, who is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has before the Federal High Court in Abuja admitted receiving N2.17 billion for a job he didn’t execute.
This was disclosed by the EFCC on its official social media page.
The case which was presided over by Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, the court heard Obadina deny that payments made to his company, Almond Projects Limited, by the Office of the National Security Adviser on November 28, 2015, were for any power project in Yobe State or elsewhere.
Obadina and Almond Projects Limited, the first and second defendants respectively, face an eight-count charge by the EFCC, including conspiracy, official corruption, and money laundering. The charges relate to payments totaling N2,017,190,000 (Two Billion, Seventeen Million, One Hundred and Ninety Thousand Naira) they allegedly received from the NSA office under Colonel Sambo Dasuki (Rtd) without any contractual agreement or scheduled work for the federal government.
Under cross-examination based on Obadina’s evidence-in-chief, prosecution counsel, Ibrahim Buba asked the defendant to identify the project for which payments were made to his company.
Specifically, he was also asked to state if the payment was for the purpose of installing a power plant or any power project in Yobe State, to which he answered in the negative.
“My lord, with reference to payments in the document that is written, particularly to the Almond project, no site was mentioned in all of the description. No location was mentioned in any of the descriptions my lord,” he said.
Prodded further by prosecution counsel to confirm if it would be right to say that no part of the payments was made for installation of solar or power plants in Yobe State, the defendant acquiesced, stating, “Yes, none of these payments was made for the installation of solar in the state.”
Citing the defendant’s extra- judicial statement, marked Exhibit GO1, 1-9, prosecution counsel pointed out that there was nowhere in the entirety of the defendant’s statement where he specifically mentioned a particular area in Yobe State where the project was to be executed and though the defendant contested the claim, saying that he mentioned a site outside Damataru, the state capital, but could not point to it in his statement when challenged by the prosecution counsel to do so.
There was no re-examination from the defence and Justice Dimgba adjourned the matter till May 30 and 31, 2024 for continuation of trial.
