Dimeji Bankole Fights back

The embattled former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, fought back in court on Tuesday as he requested that the 16-count charge filed against him by the Economic and

Financial Crimes Commission be quashed.

He gave six reasons why Justice Donatus Okorowo of the Federal High Court in Abuja should heed his request.

Among them is the competence of Mr. Festus Keyamo to exercise prosecutorial powers of the Attorney-General of the Federation when as at the time he filed the charge sheet at the FHC, there was no AGF to give him the fiat to prosecute.

Bankole, who is facing trial over alleged contracts inflation totalling N894m, has already boosted his legal team with the services of four more Senior Advocates of Nigeria to ensure that the prosecution fails in its bid to get him convicted.

His lead counsel, Mr. Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), while addressing the court, said the allegations against the former speaker were dubious.

“The count of the charge which alleged conspiracy between the accused/applicant ‘and others now at large’ are dubious in that this honourable court is entitled to take judicial notice of the fact that no person who constituted the body of principal officers of the House is responsible for the approval of contracts in the House is presently at large,” he said.

Buttressing his argument that Keyamo lacked the competence to prosecute his client, Awomolo said, “The last AGF was Mohammed Adoke (SAN), who vacated officially on the dissolution of the Federal Executive Council on May 28, 2011.

“The AGF is the only officer that the constitution empowers to issue a fiat to private legal practitioners to institute or continue criminal proceedings in the high court.”

He noted that the allegations were filed on June 7, 2011 when no AGF was in office.

Awomolo added that at the time Bankole was Speaker, he (Bankole) was not a person answerable to any act or omission done pursuant to the provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007, the law he was accused of contravening.

According to him, the office of Speaker of the House Representatives which he occupied between 2007 and 2011 is not cognisable for the purpose of criminal responsibility or liability within the scope and intendment of the Public Procurement Act, 2007.

The lead counsel also pointed out that the proof of evidence did not connect his client with the items allegedly procured in contravention of the PPA.

Awomolo argued that Bankole was never by law or in practice, a staff of the National Assembly under Section 9 of the National Assembly Service Commission Act or in the Public Service of the Federation under the Act.

He further stated that the former speaker was neither the accounting officer nor the procurement officer of the House and wondered why he (Bankole) should be accused of inflating contract sums.

The lawyer claimed that Bankole was not likely to have a fair trial because he had been vilified, demonised and condemned unfairly in the public domain.

The former Speaker, who now has Michale Fashanu, Olawale Akoni, Dr. Awal Kalu and Prof. Charles Ilegbune in his defence team, is also facing a 17- count charge at a Federal Capital Territory High Court.

Justice Okorowo had on Monday granted him bail in the sum of N5m but he was immediately re-arrested by operatives of the EFCC.

He was thereafter driven to Apo Division of the FCT High Court where he was arraigned alongside his former deputy, Usman Nafada, on a 17- count charge of illegally obtaining loans of almost N40bn on behalf of the House .

Although they pleaded not guilty to the allegations, Justice Suleiman Belgore ordered that they be remanded in the EFCC custody till Thursday for hearing on their bail application.

In the FCT High Court, Bankole and Nafada, were accused of breaching public trust by approving the allowances and running cost of members of the House in violation of the approved Remuneration Package for Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission and the extant Revised Financial Regulations of the Federal Government of Nigeria, 2009.

They were also accused of obtaining various loans totaling about N40bn in contravention of the extant Revised Financial Regulations of the Federal Government of Nigeria, 2009 and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 311 of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (Abuja) 1990 and punishable under Section 315 of the same Penal Code Act.(punch Newspaper)