Mohammed Adeyemi Oke V. Federal Republic Of Nigeria (2016)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report – COURT OF APPEAL

HARUNA SIMON TSAMMANI, J.C.A. (Delivering the Leading Judgment)

This appeal is against the judgment of the Ogun State High Court, sitting at Ijebu-Igbo in charge No. AB/ICPC/01/2009 delivered by A. O. Jibodu; J on the 24th of July, 2013.

The Appellant in this case, was arraigned along with one Gboyega Bakare on a 15 counts charge of conspiracy to confer corrupt advantage on a public officer and conferring corrupt advantage on oneself, and which acts are offences contrary to Section 26(1)(c) and punishable under Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.

Aside the counts of conspiracy, the Appellant was charged alone on counts 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, and 15 for conferring corrupt advantage upon oneself and for making false returns, which are offences punishable under Sections 19 and 16 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 hereinafter to be called (“The Act”) in this judgment.

?The facts of the case as disclosed by the record of appeal are that the Appellant who was the 2nd accused person before the trial High Court, was the Administrative Officer 1 of the Ogun

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Waterside Local Government Area of Ogun State, while his co-accused was the Chairman of the said Ogun Waterside Local Government. The facts reveal that sometimes in October, 2005, there was a dispute between the Ayetumara Community in Ogun Waterside Local Government of Ogun State and Adewo Community in Ondo State, which led to violence and resultant lose of lives and properties. That to restore peace in the area, some Mobile Policemen were drafted to the area. The Chairman of Ogun Waterside Local Government who was the 1st accused before the trial High Court, proposed and the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand naira (N250,000.00) per week was approved by the Finance and General Purpose Committee of the Local Government for the upkeep of the Mobile Policemen drafted to the area. It was alleged that the peace keeping operation lasted for only three weeks, but the Appellant applied for and collected monies from October, 2005 ? February, 2006. Furthermore, that the weekly sums of money collected by the Appellant was never used for the upkeep of the policemen or the monies paid to them. That to cover his deeds, the Appellant made false returns in respect

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of the amounts collected.

At the trial, the prosecution called two (2) witnesses while the Appellant and his co-accused testified in their own defence, and called a total of seven (7) witnesses. Several documents were tendered and admitted in evidence by the prosecution, and marked as Exhibits P-P24 respectively, while the defence tendered two documents which were marked as Exhibits D and D1 respectively. At the close of evidence, Written Addresses were filed and served by respective counsel, and in a considered judgment delivered on the 24th of July, 2013, the learned trial Judge found the Appellant and his co-accused guilty on all counts and convicted them accordingly. The Appellant being aggrieved by that decision has now filed this appeal.

?The Notice of Appeal which is at pages 214-216 of the Record of Appeal was undated filed on 5/8/2013 but deemed filed on the 15/9/2015. It consists of three Grounds of Appeal, which without their particulars, are hereby reproduced below:-

“1. The learned trial Judge erred in law when he held that the Appellant was properly charged under the provisions of Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act,

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2000 and thereby wrongly assumed jurisdiction and convicted the Appellant under a non-existent law and thereby occasioned miscarriage of justice.