Court Grants Obasanjo’s In-Law, John Abebe Bail Over Alleged Forgery
John Abebe, a younger brother of the late former First Lady, Stella Obasanjo was on Thursday granted bail by Justice Mojisola Dada of the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja, Lagos.
The businessman, who is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for forgery, is to produce a surety who must be gainfully employed and own a landed property in a choice area in Lagos.
The accused person was also ordered by the judge to deposit his passport in the custody of the court pending the conclusion of the trial.
EFCC had last week arraigned Abebe on a four count charge of forgery and fraud.
The commission had alleged that Abebe “knowingly forged” a November 30, 1995 letter written by BP Exploration Nigeria Limited to Inducon (Nigeria) Ltd.
While arguing his bail application on Thursday, Kanu Agabi (SAN ), urged the court to grant his client bail on liberal terms.
Agabi, who led three other Senior Advocates of Nigeria, also informed the court that the accused person had no record of crime, adding that a man of his calibre would not jump bail.
He said, “My Lord, the fact that the defendant has taken the trouble to hire the services of the calibre of counsel here shows that he is not interested in jumping bail.
“He is anxious because his reputation is at stake, the granting of bail is in your discretion and it is not at all a formality.
“Lastly, My Lord, there is a principle that applies during sentencing particularly when Your Lordship wants to apply a fine in terms of imprisonment.
“This applies to bail, the bail should be affordable, if not the bail would be an illusion. Merely looking at the defendant, you will see he is a man of rank and position.
“Our law permits bail to the defendant and that provision will be useless if he cannot avail himself of the bail,” Agabi submitted.
In his opposition to the application, the EFCC counsel, Babatunde Sonoiki, insisted that Abebe should face justice irrespective of his status.
Sonoiki also stated, “Every citizen of Nigeria is being called before the law and before the law there is no high profile or low profile person, justice is blind.
“If the court is minded to give bail, we want the bail to be such that it would compel his attendance in court as these are serious allegations against him.”
After listening to the lawyers, Justice Dada noted that documents before her revealed that investigations had been concluded in the case, adding that the chances of interference in the proceedings from the defendant were low.
“In view of the facts before the court, I hereby grant the defendant bail upon the submission of his international passport to the court registrar with one substantial surety,” the judge held.
Justice Dada adjourned the case until October 23 for trial.
The EFCC had maintained in the charge that the businessman illegally inserted into page 2 of the said letter “the following words: Also note that the ‘Buy-Out Option’ only applies to the pre-production stage of the NPIA. The $4m buy-out is thus irrelevant from production of Oil in any of our fields.”
The anti-graft agency further claimed that the accused persons also attempted to pervert the course of justice by tendering the allegedly forged November 30, 1995 letter “as a fabricated evidence” in court, in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/224/2010 between Dr. John Abebe, Inducon Nigeria Limited and Statoil Nigeria Limited.
The commission also accused the Lagos based businessman of making an attempt to mislead the court by using fabricated evidence contrary to Section 120 (2) of the Criminal Code Cap C17, Law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2003.
The EFCC counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo told the court that accused person offences violated Section 126 (2) of the Criminal Code Cap C17 and Section 467 of the Criminal Code Cap C17, Law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2003.
He, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
