03 April, 2013

BODE GEORGE, FIVE OTHERS ASK SUPREME COURT TO SET ASIDE THEIR CONVICTIONS


Former chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), Olabode George, on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which affirmed the judgment of a Lagos State High Court in which he was convicted for contracts splitting and inflation in 2009.
George, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), alongside five others were convicted and have since served their two-jail terms but the six ex-convicts still believe there was miscarriage of judgment and, therefore, approached the highest court in the land to declare them innocent of the crime they were convicted of.
Other ex-convicts in the matter include Aminu Dabo,. O. Abidoye, Alh. Abdullahi Aminu Tafida, Zanna Maideribi and Sule Aliyu as 2nd to 6th appellants respectively.

When the matter came up for hearing, the six through their respective lawyers, asked Justice Tanko Mohammed-led five-man penal of the apex court justices to grant them extension of time within which to file regularise their appeals having filed out of time.
The court granted the applications and adjourned the matter to September 26, 2013 to allow parties time to file applications for consolidation of the six different appeals, as well as hear the matter.
On the grounds of appeal, George is asking the apex court to review and upturn the judgment of the trial court, which sentenced him to two years jail term.
George is contending that the appellate court erred in law when it failed to upturn the jail term passed on him by the trial court, even as he is contesting that the prosecution counsel, Festus Keyamo, did not get a fiat to prosecute him.
He also alleged said the trial court erred in law when it convicted him for not obeying administrative directive, which had been in existence before he came on board of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, as chairman.
Source: Daily Independent

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