Judge withdraws from Babalakin’s case against AGF

Paul Dada |

The trial judge, Justice John Tsoho of the Lagos Division has announced his withdrawal from the case the Chairman of Bi-Courtney Limited, Dr. Wale Babalakinon against Attorney General of the Federation.

This followed  a petition  by Babalakin through his lawyers, Wale Akoni and Abiodun Layonu, both Senior Advocates of Nigeria requesting the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, to re-assign a fundamental rights enforcement suit which he filed against the Attorney General of the Federation.

Babalakin had filed the suit before Justice John Tsoho of the Lagos Division of the court seeking an order to stop the respondents from giving effect to a proposed move to arraign him on criminal charges before the Ikeja Division of the Lagos State High Court.

His grievance, in the petition dated June 19,  2015, was that Tsoho vacated his own interim injuction of April 29, 2015 barring the respondents from proceeding with the proposed arraignment of Babalakin pending the determination of the fundamental rights enforcement suit.

The applicant’s lawyers claimed that the judge discharged the order “without a formal application from the respondents.”

They had therefore urged Chief Judge Auta to withdraw the case file from Tsoho and to re-assign it to another judge.

Babalakin had, in April, rushed to court after getting the winds of the move by the AGF and the EFCC to freshly arraign him in relation to an alleged fraud of N4.7bn from which he had been discharged by the Lagos State High Court in February this year.

Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo, who discharged Babalakin, his two companies, Bi-Courtney Limited and Stabilini Visinoni Limited; along with one Alex Okoh, and his company, Renix Nigeria, described the 27-count filed against them as being “incurably bad.”

Lawal-Akapo had held that none of the 27 counts filed by the EFCC against Babalakin and the others constituted an offence under the laws of Nigeria.

But the EFCC rather than appeal the judgment, went on to file fresh charges.

Babalakin, in his application before the Federal High Court, is seeking a judicial review of the action of the AGF and the EFCC and an order quashing the fresh charges.

He prayed for an order “restraining EFCC and the Attorney General of the Federation from taking any steps to arraign or proceed with the arraignment or trial of the applicant on the same or similar charge or under the same or similar law or similar subject matter, which charge ID/239/C/2012 was instituted by the respondent and quashed by the High Court of Lagos State pending the hearing and determination of the application.”

The 27 counts that Lawal-Akapo quashed bordered on conspiracy, retention of proceeds of criminal conduct and corruptly conferring benefit on account of public action.

The EFCC claimed that Babalakin and the others allegedly aided a former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori, who is now serving a jail term in the United Kingdom, to transfer public funds amounting to about N4.7bn into the bank account of one Erin Aviation in Mauritius for the purpose of purchasing an aircraft for Ibori.

Following the withdrawal of Tsoho from Babalakin’s case on Monday, counsel for the EFCC, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), expressed great displeasure over the development saying he was never served with the said petition.

Though Jacobs had urged the court to grant him a brief stand down to verify the petition, Tsoho however declined and withdrew from the case.