Abuja court discharges ex-Baptist pastor, 5 others as prosecutor fails to respond to counter-affidavit
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Former Pastor of the First Baptist Church, Garki, Abuja, Israel Akanji, and five others have been discharged of alleged N620 million fraud levelled against them by the church.
The other defendants are Thomas Ekugbene Takpatore, Babatunde Adebayo, Adenike Adebayo, Oladele Afolabi, and Gloria Olotu.
A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja discharged all the defendants arraigned in charge number M/CR/1045/2025.
The ruling by Judge J. A. Aina was based a motion filed by the defendants urging the court to quash a five-count charge of alleged forgery filed against them by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) at the behest of the church.
The Judge:
- Ruled that perusal of the exhibits attached to the motion, which the prosecution did not challenge, did not disclose a prima facie case against the defendants.
- Agreed with the submissions of lead defence counsel Niyi Akintola SAN, that an unchallenged or uncontroverted affidavit is deemed an admission in law.
- Considered that the motion had been served on the prosecution since February 13 yet refused to respond to both the motion and supporting affidavit.
- Noted that the defendants’ motion equally challenged the court’s jurisdiction to adjudicate the matter.
- Said since jurisdiction is the live wire and foundation of any case, the court could not proceed without first dealing with that issue.
- Said since the prosecution did not respond to the motion by a counter-affidavit, the court was legally unable to proceed, as any decision taken without jurisdiction would be declared null.
- Granted all the prayers in the motion and discharged all the defendants.
The prosecution counsel was not present in court.
Bassey Effiong, who stood in for Akintola for the defendants, commended the court for “an erudite and well-researched judgment.”
The charge sheet had alleged that:
- The defendants conspired in 2021 to commit a felony, violating Section 97 of the Penal Code.
- Between 2012 and 2021, the defendants forged an amended version of the constitution of the church and falsely attributed forgery to one late Akin Aina, who was the Legal Adviser and Board of Trustees (BoT) Secretary of the church.
Defence counsel Akintola countered the allegations in a motion brought pursuant to Sections 6(6); 36 (5) of the Nigerian Constitution and section 277 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.
He asked the for “an order quashing all the five counts contained in the criminal charges dated December 13, 2024 and filed on December 20, 2024, preferred against the defendants/applicants in charge No M/CR/1045/2025 and accordingly discharge the defendants.”
The motion, supported by a 60-paragraph affidavit, six exhibits, and a written address, attacked the credibility and competence of the charges.
In her response, prosecution counsel Veronica Visan apologised to the court for her inability to file a counter-affidavit and asked for more time to do so, insisting that the defendants had a case to answer based on police investigation.
Visan’s request was opposed by Akintola who urged the court to recognise that the matter had suffered several adjournments at the prosecution’s instance.
He stressed that, in law, an unchallenged counter-affidavit is deemed an admission of facts.
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