The Federal High Court sitting in Jalingo on Wednesday ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to refund N228m it forcefully collected from the trio of APC governorship candidate, Sani Danladi, Senator Joel Ikenya and ex-Speaker of Taraba State House of Assembly, Mark Useni.
The order must be complied with within 72 hours, the court ordered,Punch reports .
The defendants were charged to court by the EFCC on allegations of conspiracy and misappropriating the sum of N450m presidential campaign funds in 2015.
Justice Stephen Pam delivered the judgement in a case filed by the EFCC against Ikenya, Useni and Danladi.
In the judgement which lasted for several hours, Justice Pam held that the EFCC failed to substantiate its claims against the defendants.
The court also held that the EFCC could not furnish the court with substantive evidence against the defendants and urged the Commission to desist from infringing on the rights of innocent citizens.
“The prosecution did not provide this court with concrete evidence to nail the defendants.
“The EFCC is hereby ordered to refund the sum of N228m which the Commission received from the defendants.”
Emeh Achanga,the CEO of the Miss Petite Nigeria Brand is a lawyer turned blogger. She is very passionate about writing, with several publications and awards to her credit .She is currently working on publishing a collection of short stories which are basically a memoir about her exciting true experiences.
