Business
Court indicts AGF Fagbemi on plot against Stan Ekeh
For the umpteenth time, an Abuja High court has struck out a case of fraud filed against the Chairman of Zinox Technologies, Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, his wife, Chioma Ekeh and 11 others.
The latest dismissal of the suit was by Justice Akpan Okon Ebong of the FCT High Court, who threw out the case filed by Mr. Femi Falana SAN, purportedly acting on a fiat given him by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, against the Chairman of Zinox Technologies, Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, and 12 others.
The other defendants are Mr. Chris Eze Ozims, Oyebode Folashade, Charles Adigwe, Obilo Onuoha, Agartha Ukoha, Anya O. Anya, Femi Dosumu, Nnenna Kalu, Admas Digital Technologies Limited, Technology Distributions Limited and Zinox Technologies Limited.
In the suit No. FCT/HC/CR/985/24 filed in November 2024, Falana on behalf of his client, Benjamin Joseph, the CEO of Citadel Oracle Concept Limited, an Ibadan-based computer company, filed charges against Ekeh, nine other individuals and three companies before the Federal High Court in Abuja for allegedly diverting N162,247,513.80 being payment for laptop supply contract at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Headquarters, which Technology Distribution Ltd (now TD Africa), the biggest tech equipment distributor in Sub Saharan Africa supplied on behalf of Citadel in 2012.
However, in the certified true copy of the judgment dated March 20, 2025, Justice Ebong ruled as follows: “It is my conclusion based on the foregoing that this charge (No. FCT/HC/CR/985/2024, Federal Republic of Nigeria v Leo Stan Ekeh and 12 ORS) constitutes a gross abuse of court process and is liable to dismissal. I, accordingly, hereby, dismiss it.”
Before reaching his judgment, which has put a final nail on the coffin of a case that other courts had dismissed in the past as dead on arrival, Justice Ebong had considered the outcome of previous cases and petitions filed by Mr. Joseph none of which was in his favor.
Justice Ebong said: “One intriguing aspect of this matter is that none of the law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation of the nominal complainant’s (Mr. Joseph) numerous petitions has found merit in any of his allegations against the defendants. When called upon before Senchi J. (Justice Danlami Z. Senchi) to prove his said allegations to the court, he failed to turn up in court. One then wonders on what premise he wants to maintain this campaign of persecution against the defendants.”
Previous judgments on the matter had established that rather than being the culprit, Ekeh and the 12 others were actually the victims of a failed money diversion scheme plotted by Mr. Joseph and Citadel.
Document from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has put a lie to the claim under oath by Benjamin Joseph, CEO of Citadel, that he was not aware of the contract executed by his company at FIRS
The lies
It would be recalled that Joseph had in his statement on oath in suit No:LD/4335/2014 in the High Court of Justice, Lagos State, dated 28 June, 2019 averred that his company, Citadel, did not execute any contract with FIRS and that he was not aware that a contract was awarded to Citadel.
In his deposition under oath, Joseph claimed that Citadel “did not at any time execute any contract for the FIRS and neither did the 2nd defendant (Princess O. Kama), who is its agent in respect of the contract it bided for with the FIRS deliver/release any documents to the Claimant (Citadel) indicating that the contract it bided for or any other contract was awarded to it by the FIRS or any other body.”
However, a letter from the FIRS addressed to the chamber of Afe Babalola & Co dated 11 February 2014 (FIRS/PD/GDS/2559) and signed by one Idrissa Kogo, Head Legal Department, stated: “Contrary to your client’s claim that they knew nothing about the execution of the contract awarded to them and that they did not receive any payment for the execution of the contract, our record reveals otherwise.
“Your client instructed FIRS through a letter dated 13th December 2012 to deal with Princess O. Kama (Your client’s agent) in relation to the contract. Through three separate letters dated 20th December 2012, your client instructed FIRS to pay to the client’s account with Access Bank Plc. Please note that FIRS acted in compliance with your client’s instruction and with due diligence,” the FIRS letter stated.
The FIRS letter was a response to inquiry by Afe Babalola Chamber, lawyers to Citadel Oracle Concept Ltd and its MD, Mr. Benjamin Joseph, at that time. At the time of this case, AGF Fagbemi, was a senior partner at Afe Babalola Chambers.
Spokesman for Zinox, Mr. Chimezie Orisakwe, had previously said that the document from FIRS was actually in response to inquiries by the Chamber of Afe Babalola SAN, who was Joseph’s first lawyer.
“Mr. Joseph had been presenting the story in a manner that portrays him as the victim in a business relationship, but it was obvious that he did not give full disclosure to the Chambers of Afe Babalola, who had to write the FIRS to get a proper brief on the matter. I want to believe that the disclosure from FIRS, which faults all the depositions of Joseph and exposed him as a perjurer must have informed the withdrawal of the highly respected Afe Babalola from the case. Interestingly, this letter is already filed in Suit No. LD/4335/2014, the civil case at the Lagos State High Court.
“More curious is that Mr. Benjamin Joseph, in his Witness Statement on Oath in the said civil case admitted that he gave the corporate documents of Citadel Oracle Concept Ltd and a letter of authorisation to Princess Kama, his staff, dated 13th December 2012, in respect of the FIRS contract. This, therefore, contradicts his present claim that his corporate documents were forged to open the bank account”, Mr. Orisakwe added.
The Zinox spokesman expressed shock that Femi Falana, SAN, would include Zinox in his purported fiat/charges, even when the company has nothing to do with the transaction or allegations.
He said: “Zinox has never been invited by any investigative agency, including the police and the EFCC, on the so-called allegations. There is no report either by the police or the EFCC or any investigative agency where the name of Zinox was mentioned as a suspect. There is no judgment or ruling of any court where Zinox was mentioned as having anything to do, whatsoever, with the transaction or the allegations, the basis of the fiat/charges. Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, the Chairman of Zinox, has never made any statement to the police in the course of any investigations and has never been mentioned in any court proceedings or judgment as part of any investigations relating to these allegations.”
Orisakwe cited instances in which Mr. Joseph lost the case and its allied suits. In a petition/case Mr. Joseph reported since 2013 and for which the Inspector General of Police charged him for false information in charge no.CR/216/16, the Zinox spokesman said Mr. Joseph was unable to prove his case.
He recalled that in another case filed by the EFCC at his instance against his partner, Princess O. Kama, in charge no. FCT/HC/CR/244/2018, Honorable Justice Danlami Z. Senchi of the FCT High Court (as he then was), dismissed as false all the allegations made by Benjamin Joseph, and imposed the sum of N20 million as damages against him for false petitioning in relation to these same allegations.
The Zinox spokesman alleged that the current charges filed by Falana on the basis of a fiat from the Attorney General was the third in a row as he had earlier filed charge no.CR/469/2022, which was struck out by Honourable Justice C. O. Oba of the FCT High Court, by an order dated 8th November 2022.
“He filed the same charges before Honorable Justice A. S. Adepoju of the FCT High Court, and the charges were, once more, struck out by the Honourable Court on 19th March 2024, with Honorable Justice Adepoju holding that: “This matter was brought in dead, extinct and should be confined into the dustbin of history…I hold that the instant suit is an abuse of the process of court and it is hereby struck out accordingly,” Orisakwe said.
The true story
One of the defendants, Mr. Chris Eze Ozims, a lawyer, said: “This ruling truly reflects our consistent position on the allegations, and it is good that we have been vindicated, once more, by a competent High Court.
He noted that the judgment of Justice Ebong was consistent with the position of the defendants and in line with the ruling of other Judges, who had earlier adjudicated on the same matter in the past.
Chief counsel to the defendants, Mr. Matthew Burkaa SAN, described the judgment as victory for integrity and the rule of law.
Court papers gleaned by Business Hallmark showed that Falana’s suit was based on the same claims, which various courts had in the past dismissed as false and baseless. The case arose from a contract between Citadel and Technology Distributions Limited over the supply of computers to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), a project fully funded by Technology Distributions and has no bearing whatsoever with Zinox and its promoter, Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh.
It will be recalled that Mr. Joseph had lost the case and its adjunct suits at different courts in the past. In his petition to the police in 2013, it was discovered by police authorities that Mr. Joseph provided false information to the police, prompting the Inspector General of Police to charge him for false information in charge No.CR/216/16.
In another case filed by the EFCC at his instance against his partner, Princess Kama, in charge No. FCT/HC/CR/244/2018, Honorable Justice Danlami Z. Senchi of the FCT High Court (as he then was), dismissed as false all the allegations made by Benjamin Joseph and imposed the sum of N20 million as damages against him for false petitioning in relation to these same allegations.
Earlier court papers showed that Joseph had in his statement on oath in suit No:LD/4335/2014 in the High Court of Justice, Lagos State, dated 28 June, 2019 averred that his company, Citadel, did not execute any contract with FIRS and that he was not aware that a contract was awarded to Citadel.
In his deposition under oath, Joseph claimed that Citadel “did not at any time execute any contract for the FIRS and neither did the 2nd defendant (Princess O. Kama), who is its agent in respect of the contract it bidded for with the FIRS deliver/release any documents to the Claimant (Citadel) indicating that the contract it bided for or any other contract was awarded to it by the FIRS or any other body.”
However, a letter from the FIRS addressed to the Chambers of Afe Babalola & Co dated 11 February 2014 (FIRS/PD/GDS/2559) and signed by one Idrissa Kogo, Head Legal Department, stated: “Contrary to your client’s claim that they knew nothing about the execution of the contract awarded to them and that they did not receive any payment for the execution of the contract, our record reveals otherwise.
“Your client instructed FIRS through a letter dated 13th December 2012 to deal with Princess O. Kama (Your client’s agent) in relation to the contract. Through three separate letters dated 20th December 2012, your client instructed FIRS to pay to the client’s account with Access Bank Plc. Please note that FIRS acted in compliance with your client’s instruction and with due diligence,” the FIRS letter stated.
The FIRS letter was a response to an inquiry by Afe Babalola Chamber, lawyers to Citadel Oracle Concept Ltd and its MD, Mr. Benjamin Joseph, at that time.
The current charges filed by Falana on the basis of a fiat from the Attorney General is the third in a row as Mr. Joseph had earlier filed charge No.CR/469/2022, which was struck out by Honorable Justice C. O. Oba of the FCT High Court, by an order dated 8th November 2022.
Determined to push through his case, Mr. Joseph filed the same charges before Honorable Justice A. S. Adepoju of the FCT High Court, and the charges were, once again, struck out by the Honorable Court on 19th March 2024, with Honorable Justice Adepoju holding that: “This matter was brought in dead, extinct and should be confined into the dustbin of history…I hold that the instant suit is an abuse of the process of court and it is hereby struck out accordingly.”
Reacting, Job Leke, SAN, told Business Hallmark “I was surprised that Mr. Femi Falana took the brief given the history of the brief, already dismissed for lack of merit, a brief withdrawn from by legal luminary, Chief Afe Babalola.
