Why Bode George, Dabo, Tafida, others cannot be ex-convicts

On August 8, 2008, Bode George, a former military governor and chairman of the NPA board of directors, NPA Managing Director Arch Aminu Dabo, Engr. Sule Aliu, Captain Oluwasegun Abidoye, Abdullahi Aminu Tafida  and Alhaji Zanna Mai Daribe were arraigned on 163-count charge in a High Court presided by Justice Joseph Olubunmi Oyewole and they […]

On August 8, 2008, Bode George, a former military governor and chairman of the NPA board of directors, NPA Managing Director Arch Aminu Dabo, Engr. Sule Aliu, Captain Oluwasegun Abidoye, Abdullahi Aminu Tafida  and Alhaji Zanna Mai Daribe were arraigned on 163-count charge in a High Court presided by Justice Joseph Olubunmi Oyewole and they all pleaded not guilty to all the counts which were later amended and pruned down to 68 by the  Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke.
They were alleged to have exceeded the limit set of their authority to award contracts and contrived to bring the contracts sums to within their limits by splitting them while also inflating their prices. They were further alleged to have disobeyed lawful order issued by a constituted authority, in this case a circular – (a Federal Executive Council guideline which forbids splitting of contract of works, purchases, procurement or services in order to circumvent the circular) and abused their offices.  
They denied all the charges, including collusion among themselves to split or inflate any contract brought before the board for approval by the management as well as denied that they conspired to disobey lawful orders.
Throughout his trial before the Lagos High Court and later during his imprisonment at the Kirikiri prisons, Chief Olabode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  was celebrated. And, now, the social and psychological impact as well as social stigma of being an ex-convict have been removed by the Supreme Court judgment.
Bode George and others appealed against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division delivered January 21, 2011 where their conviction and sentence by the High Court of Lagos State, Ikeja Division of October 26, 2009 was affirmed.
Bode George was  the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Nigerian Ports Authority from 2001 – 2003. He was charged along with five other members of the board who were available as well as others said to be at large.
Justice John Afolabi Fabiyi, a justice of the supreme Court (JSC)in his decision noted that disobedience of the circular is nowhere penalized in a written law.
Any conduct that must be sanctioned must be expressly stated in a written law and such conduct should not be left to conjecture.
The Supreme Court held that section 203 of the criminal code was not in tune with section 36 (12) of the 1999 Constitution.
According to the apex court, acts said to have constituted arbitrary acts resulting in abuse of office are splitting of contracts which were not offences known to law at the material time. The alleged conduct of “splitting of contract” was not only outside any written law but in fact, not an offence at the material time. The same goes for conspiracy to split contract.
 “It occurs to me that the entire proceedings ran afoul of the provisions of section 36 (8) of the 1999 Constitution which provides that:- “No person shall be held to be guilty of a criminal offence on account of any act or omission that did not, at the time it took place, constitute such an offence, and no penalty shall be imposed for any criminal offence heavier than the penalty in force at the time the offence was committed.
 “In view of the constitutional infraction the entire trial, conviction and sentence remain a nullity and must be set aside,” Justice Fabiyi said.
While faulting the decision of the lower court that the appellants had intention to defraud, Justice Fabiyi said that Bode George and others were not shown to have benefited from any contract awarded and none of the companies to which contracts were awarded belonged to any of the board members.
According to Justice John Fabiyi, the case against the appellants rested on a shifting sand. “The charges framed against the appellants in respect of splitting contracts and disobedience of guideline circular is unknown to any written law at the material time. They rest on nothing in the face of the provisions of section 36 (8) and (12) of the 1999 Constitution. They cannot stand as they fall flat. And to cap it, the prosecution laced the extant charges with intention to defraud, an extra element of the charge which was not proved beyond reasonable doubt. It was a complete mistrial by the lower courts.”
In a swift reaction immediately after the judgment, Bode George said, “I am now out of the darkness and shadows of evil.”
He said he bore no grudges or haboured any grievances against any man.
In his reaction to the apex Court’s ruling, Bode George said: “I am strengthened in the firmness of the integrity of our judiciary. I am proud that this nation still has men and women who will never serve the hour to mangle the truth, who will stand for the purity of justice no matter the transient tempting of the moment,” Mr. George.
The Executive Chairman, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) Debo Adeniran however described the upturn of Chief Bode George’s conviction, as a slap on the integrity of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
He posited that the EFCC was losing grip of its anti-corruption cases and urged the commission to always gather enough evidence before dragging suspects to court.
Continuing, he said: “Now that the conviction has been quashed, it is left for the management of the Nigeria Ports Authority and the EFCC of prove if actually N100bn got missing”.