Ex-NNPC GMD, Andrew Yakubu discharged, aquitted of $9.8m corruption charges
A Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday discharged and acquitted a former Group Managing Director, GMD, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Andrew Yakubu from the $9.8 million corruption charges brought against him by the Federal Government.
The court, in a judgement that was delivered by Justice Ahmed Mohammed, held that the anti-graft agency failed to prove its case against the erstwhile NNPC boss.
The court ordered that monies the EFCC seized from Yakubu who was GMD of the NNPC between 2012 and 2014, should be returned to him. Recall that the EFCC had on the strength of a tip-off by a whistleblower, raided Yakubu’s guest house situated at Sabon Tasha, Kaduna State in 2017 and discovered the sum of $9.7million and £74,000 which he hid in a fireproof safe inside the house.
Subsequently, the Federal High Court in Kano, on February 13, 2017, granted interim order forfeiting the recovered monies to the federal government.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Kaduna equally upheld the forfeiture order in 2018.
However, Defendant, who was released on bail in the sum of N300million, insisted that the seized monies were part of monetary gifts he received on various occasions. He told the court that people gave him monetary gifts on occasions such as birthdays, thanksgiving services, and other celebrations he hosted after he left service.
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