Stella Oduah’s prosecutor not mandated by us, EFCC alerts
Stella Oduah’s prosecutor transferred from EFCC in 2022
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Former Aviation Minister Stella Oduah is not being prosecuted for certificate forgery by the Economic and Financials Crimes Commission (EFCC), the graft buster has alerted, disowning Ibrahim Mohammed, the lawyer who filed the papers in court.
The EFCC on Tuesday told the Abuja Federal High Court it did not mandate Mohammed, a Superintendent of Police, to file any criminal charge against Oduah or prosecute her in any criminal matter.
EFCC counsel Helen Okonofun told Judge James Omotoso the police lawyer has been investigated by the EFCC as the Judge ordered last week.
Okonofun said the report of the investigation would be filed at the court registry and thereafter made available to the court.
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Mohammed transferred from EFCC in 2022
She explained Mohammed was initially with the EFCC but was redeployed to the police headquarters on 4 November 2022 and has had nothing to do with the EFCC since then, per reporting by The PUNCH.
Omotoso adjourned the hearing to 4 October 2023 for the EFCC to formally make the report of the investigation available to the court.
The Judge had last Tuesday ordered the EFCC to probe Mohammed and determine whether he was authorised to file charges against Oduah.
The eight-count charged he filed against Oduah involved forgery of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate.
Omotosho began to ask questions after noticing flaws in the court process and queried the lawyer whether he had the mandate of the EFCC to file the charges.
Mohammed admitted he errorneously filed the charges in the name of the EFCC.
Oduah’s lawyer James Onoja, SAN last week described the charge as strange as his client “has no proof of evidence bearing her statement as required by law.”