‘Justice Ngwuta uses two international passports, birth dates’

A witness in the trial of Supreme Court Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, Tanko Nuhu Kutana, yesterday told a Federal High Court in Abuja that the accused used two valid diplomatic passports on foreign trips.

Kutana, an immigration officer attached to the Benue State Command, was the third prosecution witness in the trial. The Federal Government had arraigned Ngwuta over allegation of money laundering and illegal possession of two passports.

He was led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Olufemi Fatunde, who also informed the court that the defendant used two different years, 1951 and 1952 as his date of birth to procure the passports.

He told the court, presided over by Justice John Tsoho, that it was against the law for Ngwuta to use the two passports. According to him, Ngwuta had on April 5, 2016, written to the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) through the Supreme Court, to report the loss of his passport and was issued a replacement on May 13, 2016.

“When he was issued the 64-page passport in 2014, he continued to use the 64 pages of the new passport interchangeably, he did not return it for cancellation,” he said.

The trial judge adjourned the case till October 6 for him to cross-examine the witness.