By Adamu Sani, Public Affairs commentator
A horrifying legal incident played out on Thursday, 20th June 2024, before Honourable Justice Peter Kekemeke of the FCT High Court, Abuja, wherein the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, in utter disobedience of a subsisting court order given on 14th June 2024 by Honourable Justice Ekwo of the Federal High Court Abuja in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/376/2024), withdrew and discontinued the prosecution of a certain Mr. Benjamin Joseph, the MD of Citadel Oracle Concepts Limited, whom the Inspector General of Police has been prosecuting since 2016 in Charge No. CR/216/2016 for giving false information to the Police. Interestingly, the said Mr. Benjamin Jospeh has refused to give evidence in various cases in court relating to the petition he filed both to the Police and the EFCC He has rather been approaching successive Attorneys General of the Federation to discontinue the criminal proceedings the Police brought against him for false information.
As a journalist, I have followed this case dispassionately with an objective interest for more than 8 years, following investigations that started in 2013. I am highly bewildered how a simple case of one-count charge would linger for such a long time with unnecessary interventions from the government establishment, especially the revered Office of the Honourable Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federation.
On Friday, 14 June 2024, a certain new case (Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/376/2024), came up before Honourable Justice Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, sitting in Court 5. It was a case brought by a certain Chief Onny Igbokwe and Princess Kama (as Plaintiffs) against the Attorney General of the Federation and Inspector General of Police (as Defendants), boldly challenging the directive given by the Attorney General to the Police to withdraw and discontinue the criminal proceedings against one Mr. Benjamin Joseph pending before Honourable Justice Peter Kekemeke of the FCT High Court in Charge No. CR/216/2016.
From the papers filed in court which I have seen, the grouse of the said Plaintiffs can be summarized as follows:
(1) Sometime in November 2013, Mr. Benjamin Joseph and his company, Citadel Oracle Concepts Limited, lodged a petition at the Police Special Fraud Unit (SFU), Ikoyi, Lagos that the company’s papers and its board resolution were forged by the Plaintiffs and some officers of Technology Distributions Limited, and Access Bank to carry out a contract with the FIRS without their knowledge. They followed it up with another petition in early 2014 to the Nigeria Police Headquarters (Force CID) Abuja. However, both the SFU and Police Headquarters found the allegations to be false after due investigations and charged Mr. Benjamin Joseph to court in Charge No. CR/216/2016, before Honourable Justice Peter Kekemeke of the FCT High Court, Abuja.
(2) Mr. Bejamin Joseph is currently facing the said criminal proceedings since 2016 instituted by the Inspector General of Police against him for giving false information to them in 2013/2014. The Prosecution has since closed its case in 2018 but Benjamin Joseph has used all manner of reasons to delay the fair trial of the case. This is the case the Honourable AGF wants to stop at the instigation of the defendant – Benjamin Joseph, and whereupon the two Plaintiffs have brought the present suit to stop him.
(3) The said Mr. Benjamin Joseph, in 2016, also wrote another petition (on the same set of facts) against the Plaintiffs and some officers of Technology Distributions Limited (now TD Africa Limited) to the then Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who endorsed the case to the EFCC for investigation and prosecution. The EFCC subjected the duo of Chief Igbokwe and Princess Kama to trial in Charge No.CR/244/2018, that lasted for three years and at the end of which they were discharged and acquitted by Honourable Justice Senchi of the FCT High Court (as he then was).
(4) In the said judgment, Honourable Justice Senchi held that Benjamin Joseph, as the nominal complainant, gave false information to the Vice President and the EFCC and imposed a N20million damages against him for false petitioning and to serve as a deterrent to others. The EFCC did not appeal that judgment, which is still valid and subsisting. This corroborates and vindicates the Police in prosecuting Mr. Benjamin Jospeh in the said Charge No. CR/216/2016 before Justice Kekemeke. Indeed, the previous Attorneys General of the Federation in the past administrations had on three occasions, after reviewing the case file, written the Inspector General of Police and instructed him to prosecute Benjamin Joseph to a logical conclusion. These instructions are contained in letters dated 10th February 2017, 7th May 2018, and 6th June 2022.
(5) Upon the resumption into office by the new Attorney General, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, Mr. Benjamin Joseph approached his revered office to intervene, withdraw, and discontinue the criminal case filed by the Police against him. Whereupon, the Attorney General, relying on his powers under Section 174 of the Constitution, wrote to the Inspector General of Police to withdraw and discontinue the criminal case against Benjamin Joseph, so as to pave the way for the Attorney General to possibly grant a fiat to the lawyers of Benjamin Joseph for another round of prosecution of Chief Igbokwe, Princess Kama and other persons. The said two Plaintiffs averred that the Attorney General never heard from them or even from the Police Prosecutor handling the case, Mr. Simon Lough SAN, before giving the instruction on a one-sided story from Mr. Benjamin Joseph.
(6) It was for the reasons above, that the two Plaintiffs, through their lawyer, Ishaka Dikko SAN, brought this suit by way of Originating Summons to seek interpretation of the exercise of the power of the Attorney General in the above circumstances; if that complies with the constitutional conditions for the exercise of that power by the AG especially in the light of the subsisting judgment of Honourable Justice Senchi that had already considered the facts and discharged and acquitted the two Plaintiffs and rather held that Mr. Benjamin Joseph gave false information and hung a damage of N20million on him.
(7) Having undergone an excruciating trial conducted by the EFCC that lasted for about three years at the instance of Mr. Benjamin Joseph, the duo of Chief Onny Igbokwe and Princess Kama are aghast as to why the current Attorney General would be shielding Benjamin Joseph from standing his own trial that began since 2016. They wonder if he is more Nigerian than themselves.
(8) The Plaintiff are of the view that for the Attorney General to stop the trial of Benjamin is akin to him sitting as an appellate court and overriding the judgment of Justice Senchi. This, they contend is beyond his powers under Section 174 of the Constitution. To override or set aside that judgment should be the prerogative of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
(9) What is bewildering in the proceedings of all the cases is that in the said Charge No.CR/244/2018 filed by the EFCC at his instance against Chief Igbokwe and Princess Kama, before Honourable Justice Senchi, Mr. Benjamin Joseph, as the nominal complainant, refused to mount the witness box to prove his allegations, despite the fact that he was present in court and despite persuasions from the EFCC prosecutor. Also, in the pending criminal case against him by the Police before Honourable Justice Kekemeke (Charge No. CR/216/2016), he employed all delay tactics for the Prosecution not to cross-examine him, which accounts for why he asked the Attorney General to instruct the Police to stop the case. One would expect that a complainant would be glad to have his day in court and publicly express his case against his suspects.
(10) What is more bewildering in the whole scenario is that Mr. Benjamin Joseph, since 2014, intensified a media campaign that saw the name of the Chairman of Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh, repeatedly included in a series of publications in the online media. The paradox is neither Zinox nor its Chairman was involved with the transaction. Indeed, in the course of all the investigations, reports, and judgments, there was nowhere Zinox was mentioned. Yet, all publications orchestrated by Mr. Benjamin Jospeh bear ‘Zinox’ as its title with the photograph of its chairman, Leo Stan Ekeh, prominently featured. I understand that Zinox and its Chairman have taken separate court actions against Mr. Benjamin Joseph and the publishers of the offending articles.
At the court proceedings of Friday, 14 June 2024, all lawyers to the parties were in court, including two lawyers from the Ministry of Justice led by Maimuna Shiru (Mrs.) on behalf of the Attorney General, and the lawyers representing Mr. Bejamin Joseph and his company, Citadel Oracle Concepts Limited, who had applied to be joined in the case. In view of the fact that Charge No. CR/216/2016 before Honourable Justice Kekemeke, would be coming up shortly on 20th June 2024, before delivery of substantive judgment in the present case, Honourable Justice Ekpo was constrained into making an order for all parties to maintain the status quo and not to do anything to destroy the pending case before Honourable Justice Kekemeke, until judgment in the present case is given. The case was adjourned to 23rd July 2024.
However, in utter disbelief of all lawyers involved in the cases, when the other Charge No. CR/216/2016, came up before Honourable Justice Peter Kekemeke on Thursday, 20 June 2024, a lawyer from the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Barrister F. N. Umorh, Assistant Chief State Counsel, announced appearance for the Prosecution and said she had the instruction of the Attorney General to withdraw and discontinue the case. This is despite the fact that the Order of the Honourable Justice Ekwo was made in the presence of the lawyers from the Office of the Attorney General, and it was brought to the attention of Honourable Justice Kekemeke in the course of the proceedings on 20 June 2024. In the circumstance, Honourable Justice Kekemeke was constrained into making a ruling striking out Charge No. CR/216/2016, discharging and acquitting Benjamin Joseph.
Yet, some questions hang in the air: why would the respected Attorney General, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, a seasoned and accomplished lawyer, choose to disobey the subsisting order of a competent court? What was the hurry to discontinue the case on 20 June 2014, and not wait to see the outcome of the case before Justice Ekwo that was adjourned to 23 July 2024? Why would he not allow the case (CR/216/2016) against Mr. Benjamon Joseph to proceed to a conclusion? Why wouldn’t he allow the court under Justice Peter Kekemeke to conclude the trial and give a judgment one way or the other in the said Charge No. CR/216/2016? If Benjamin Joseph is innocent or is being unjustly or maliciously prosecuted by the Police, is it not for the court to so hold and not for the Attorney General to decide from his office, with all due respect? Why override the judgment of Honourable Justice Senchi that found Bejamin Jospeh guilty of false petitioning and asked him to pay damages of N20million? Why would the current Attorney General override the previous positions of the past Attorneys General contained in 3 separate letters mandating the Inspector General of Police to prosecute Benjamin Joseph to a logical conclusion? The logical answer is that Mr, Benjamin Joseph knows that a fair trial of Charge No. CR/216/2016 would expose him and possibly land him in jail. Hence, his desperation for the current Attorney General to bail him out by withdrawing the charges against him, having failed with previous Attorneys General. Sadly, he succeeded this time.
This, to say the least, is the lowest point to which the justice system in Nigeria can sink when the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federation, who is the chief legal officer of the Federation, would utterly and flagrantly disobey a subsisting court order of a competent court given in the presence of his lawyers, within one week of the order.
By Adamu Sani is a Public Affairs commentator
