REPRIEVE yesterday came the way of a former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, when Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia of the Federal High Court, Lagos discharged and acquitted him of charges of money laundering filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
To show his gratitude, Fani-Kayode, in a statement said: “As a mark of honour and respect for the Lord and as an everlasting testimony of my love for and dedication to Him, I wish to make it known to the Nigerian public that as from today my name will be changed.
“It will no longer be David Oluwafemi Fani-Kayode but instead, it shall be David Oluwafemi Olukayode. Olukayode means ‘the Lord has brought me joy’ and today, he has done precisely that.”
In a little above an hour judgment, delivered yesterday, the court held that the prosecution did not prove beyond reasonable doubt that the former minister was guilty as charged.
Describing EFCC’s case as ‘feeble’, Ofili-Ajumogobia said that the testimony of the fourth prosecution witness (PW4), Supo Agbaje, that Fani-Kayode gave him cash to pay into his account, was not reliable.
According to her, PW4’s testimony was contradictory, even as the prosecution did not show proof that Fani-Kayode received the money in cash. She said that any doubt must be resolved in favour of the accused person.
“The solitary issue for determination is whether the prosecution has been able to prove beyond reasonable doubt the elements of the offence committed. The giver of the money to PW4 remains unclear. The oral testimony of PW4 before this court is at variance with his earlier voluntary submission before the EFCC.
“I find unreliable the testimony of PW4 that it was the accused person that gave him the sums of money to pay into his account. His testimony before this court seems to be an afterthought by the fact that PW4 who was stated by the prosecution to be at large initially, suddenly resurfaced to give testimony on behalf of the prosecution.
“The law is trite that where there are two or more conflicting testimonies by a witness, such testimonies must be discarded by the court,” the judge ruled.
One of Fani-Kayode’s witnesses had claimed that the monies were proceeds of rent paid by those living in the former minister’s estate.
Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia said even though the claim was also doubtful, the source and motive of receiving the money is irrelevant since the issue was about cash transactions exceeding N500,000 without going through a financial institution.
“I do not agree with the prosecution that evidence of deposits in the bank account of the accused person is sufficient evidence to show that the latter received cash payments from unknown sources of sums above the statutory threshold of N500,000.
“The fallacy in such argument lies in the fact that it would remain unclear as to whether the accused person received the alleged sums in tranches,” the trial judge ruled.
She said that the EFCC failed to provide sufficient and unequivocal evidence before the court as to how and in what manner the monies were actually received.
“By the fact that the giver and source of the monies are hazy and unproven, it remains the law that where there are doubts or insufficient evidence linking the accused person with the elements and ingredients of the offence, a court must discharge him as a matter of law.
“It is apparent that the prosecution’s case is feeble and has failed to establish that the accused person made or accepted cash deposits exceeding the authorised limits and did not do so through a financial institution.
“The prosecution has therefore failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that an offence has been committed under Section 15 (1) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2004.
“I am of the considered view that the accused person, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, in the absence of copious evidence before the court, ought to be discharged and acquitted of the two surviving counts of the amended charge and I so hold,” the judge held.
He praised prosecution counsel Festus Keyamo for his activism and dexterity in swiftly prosecuting the case, saying if other prosecutors were like him, several pending criminal cases would have been decided.
Fani-Kayode, who was director of Media and Publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign in this year’s general elections, was accused of making a transaction exceeding N500,000 on September 20, 2006, which was not done through a financial institution.
He was said to have accepted N2.1 million in cash, which was paid into his personal bank account by his aide, Supo Agbaje, while he served as Minister of Culture and Tourism.
Ofili-Ajumogobia had, last November 17, dropped 38 of the 40-count charge, saying he has to defend two of them.
Keyamo said the EFCC may appeal against the judgment after they have sat at the corporate level and taken a decision.
In a statement issued after the judgment, Fani-Kayode expressed delight with the court verdict, thanking God that his innocence of all the allegations levelled against him, has at last been confirmed.
He said: “I am delighted, humbled and relieved by this verdict. In the last seven years, I have been subjected to the most malicious, vicious, sinister, well-orchestrated, insidious and devastating form of political persecution and wickedness.
“The whole process almost destroyed my life, my family, my reputation, my health and my career. I thank God for his goodness, his mercy and for the fact that today, the whole nightmare has finally come to an end.”
Elated by the judgment, Fani-Kayode announced that he had changed his name in honour of God who he said had seen him through his travails.
He said: “As a mark of honour and respect for the Lord and as an everlasting testimony of my love for and dedication to Him, I wish to make it known to the Nigerian public that as from today my name will be changed.
“It will no longer be David Oluwafemi Fani-Kayode but instead, it shall be David Oluwafemi Olukayode. Olukayode means ‘the Lord has brought me joy’ and today, he has done precisely that.”
Narrating his experiences as the case lasted, he said: “When the ordeal began, the Lord ministered that it would last for seven years but that in the end, I would be declared innocent, I would be vindicated and I would be delivered.
“Again, he honoured his word because the whole nightmare started on 1st of July 2008 when I was arrested in the premises of the Nigerian Senate after the public hearing on the N19.5 billion Aviation Intervention Fund.
“I was cleared of any wrong doing in the administration of that fund by the Senate Committee on Aviation yet despite that, immediately after the sitting before the Committee, I was abducted and arrested in an unceremonious and shameful fashion and locked up by the Farida Waziri-led EFCC for 10 days and charged to a magistrate court in Abuja.
“Today, the 1st of July 2015, seven years to the day from that day when I was first arrested and first put into detention, I have been discharged and acquitted of all remaining charges by the courts.
“Initially, I was accused of stealing N19.5 billion of public funds when I was Minister of Aviation. It was thrown out by the courts. Then I was accused of stealing N6.5 billion. It was thrown out by the courts. Then I was accused of laundering N200 million. It was thrown out by the courts.
“Then I was accused of laundering N99 million. It was thrown out by the courts. Finally, I was accused of laundering N1 million and N1.1 million respectively, and today, both of these charges have also been thrown out by the courts.
“I give thanks to God for today’s verdict. It is the doing of the Lord and it is marvelous in our sight. Once again, he has proved that he is faithful and true and that he always honours his word.
“I wish to thank my family members, leaders of the Body of Christ, intercessors, pastors, political associates and friends who never doubted my innocence and who stood by me through thick and thin. I wish to thank my lawyers, who worked so hard and so diligently over the last seven years throughout this case.
“I wish to thank the Nigerian judiciary for dispensing justice in an honest and God-fearing way and for refusing to be intimidated by anyone or guided by anything other than the evidence presented before them in this case.
“They dispensed justice with candor and fairness, and throughout the proceedings, they were fair to all, honest, courageous, professional and true.”
“I thank them for refusing to send an innocent man to jail and for refusing to allow themselves to be used as tools for personal and vindictive vendettas or political persecution.
“This gruesome ordeal started seven years ago and throughout that period, it was grueling and difficult. They took seven years from me but they couldn’t break me or end my life.
“It was a very difficult period for both me and my family which came with enormous and unimaginable challenges, yet from day one I never doubted that I would be vindicated because God had assured me of it and I know the God that I serve. He never lies and He never fails.
“He said, through his Holy Spirit, that my innocence would speak for me and that He would fight this battle for me and He did. He said that He is the author and the finisher of my faith, my shield, my glory and the lifter of my head and He was.”
