A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on February 9th , 2012, ruled that four former officials of the Nigerian Football Federation, NFF, who are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for corruption and defrauding the federal government to the tune of over 1.3 billion naira have a case to answer and therefore must face trial.

The Presiding Judge, Justice Donatus Okorowa said that the accused persons being public officers are liable to be prosecuted under the Nigerian Law. “There is a prima-facie case against them so they are liable to be tried. NFF is a public entity and individuals entrusted with responsibility therefore they are liable to be tried in order to make them accountable”. Quoting section 51(8) of the procurement Act, Justice Okorowa said the accused persons “are rightly charged as they are individuals on the board. Charges can be preferred against any entity and even individual representing such entities.”

The quartet of Sani Lulu Abdulahi , Amanze Uchegbulam, Dr. Bolaji Ojo-Oba and Taiwo Ogunjobi, all former members of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF who are being prosecuted by the EFCC for corruption, using their office to corruptly confer unfair advantage on themselves, defrauding the Federal government to the tune of over N1.3 billion naira {One billion, three hundred thousand naira and $2 million {two million dollars}.

They were arraigned on Tuesday, September 7th, 2010. The court also insisted that it had jurisdiction to hear the criminal case since the NFF is still a government entity under the supervision of NSC.

It would be recalled that the defence counsel entered a preliminary objection early in 2010 praying the court to quash the 10 count charges preferred against the accused on the grounds that the NFF was an autonomous and private association affiliated to FIFA which is governed by its own statutes therefore not subjected to government control and interference. The defence also argued that the accused are not public officers or a procurement entity, therefore cannot be liable under the procurement Act. The former NFF chiefs through their counsels also challenged the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the 10-count charge against them as they argued that it is only FIFA that has the jurisdiction to prosecute them.

But the EFCC, on Thursday January 20, 2011, challenged the application filed by the four officials praying the Court to quash the charges brought against them by the anti-graft agency. While delivering his ruling, Justice Donatus Okorowa said he took all the arguments from both the defence and prosecution into consideration.

Before adjourning the case to March 20, 2012, Justice Okorowa struck out counts 5 and count 10 of the 10 count charge as prayed by the second and third accused persons who argued that EFCC cannot charge them under the ICPC Act (2000) because it is a non-existent law which was voided by a court of law because due process was not followed in the enactment of the Act.

Media & Publicity Unit
9th February, 2012