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Nigeria: Iyabogate - Court Frees Obikoya of Attempted Murder Charge
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Vanguard (Lagos)
9 May 2008
Posted to the web 9 May 2008
Ise-Oluwa Ige
Lagos
Chief Judge of the Abuja high court, Justice Lawal Gummi yesterday dismissed a one count charge of attempted murder preferred against a Director of M Schneider GMbH , Austria , Mr Olu Obikoya, by the police.
Specifically, Obikoya was accused by the police of attempting to poison a business partner, Chief Albert Awofisayo.
But the trial high court judge, Justice Gumi, who threw out the charge yesterday held that there was nothing in the proof of evidence filed by the prosecutor to warrant bringing the accused to court.
He specifically held yesterday that the police failed woefully to establish a prima facie case against Obikoya and allowing him to go through the rigour of trial would occasion unquantifiable injustice on him.
The accused lawyer, Mr Wemimo Ogunde had earlier told the court that the charge was not only spurious but ridiculous.
He urged the court to discountenance the petition filed by Prince Albert Awofisayo who is a business partner of the accused because it lacked merit and offended common sense.
The Nigeria Police had filed an amended charge against Olu Obikoya and was arraigned by the Police in February at an Abuja High Court presided over by the Chief judge of FCT, Justice Lawal Gummi.
The accused was charged with alleged attempt to poison one Prince Albert Awofisayo, the principal director of M. Schneider.
But the accused said that the whole charge had shown that the police was confused about what charge to prefer against him.
Obikoya who spoke with newsmen said that knowing that the first charge about "an attempt to poison their sponsor cannot stand in the face of law had to take another brief to amend the charge.
The amended charge listed an additional count of alleged "deliberate attempt to poison with intent to hurt" punishable under Section 95 of the Penal Code.
The charge followed a petition by Awofisayo to the Inspector General of Police, on July 21, 2006, on alleged plan by the accused to assassinate him.
The petitioner had said that the attempt by the accused to take his life was borne out of a sour business relationship on the multi-billion power project won by their company during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
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It is the same power project that has become the subject of controversy before the probe at the National Assembly that caused the misunderstanding between Olu Obikoya and Prince Albert Awofisayo.
Obikoya had once been arrested during the administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo on the allegation by prince Awofisayo for allegedly conniving with M. Schneider to dupe the Nigerian government.
He was eventually released by the EFCC and the latest charge was a fall-out of the same business deal on the power contract which pitched the Nigerian and the Austrian firms against each other.
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