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Why court discharged and acquitted Fani-Kayode of money laundering charges
Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, Wednesday, discharged and acquitted a former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, of money laundering charges.
While reading her judgment which lasted almost 50 minutes, Ms. Ofili-Ajumogobia said that the prosecution, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission presented “a feeble case” and failed to link Mr. Fani-Kayode with the charged offences.
”It is apparent that the prosecution’s case is feeble and has failed to establish that the accused person paid or accepted cash deposits exceeding the authorised limit and did not do so through a financial institution,” the judge said.
“The prosecution has therefore failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that an offence had been committed under Section 15(1) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act (2004).
“I am of the considered view that the accused person, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, in the absence of copious evidence connecting him to the offence charged ought to be discharged and acquitted of the two surviving counts of the amended charge and I so hold.”
The EFCC had arraigned Mr. Fani-Kayode before Ms. Ofili-Ajumogobia in 2013 on a 40 count amended charge of money laundering amounting to almost N100 million while he was the minister of aviation in 2006.
Last year, the judge struck out 38 of the 40 charges, leaving the prosecution with a two count charge of money laundering of N2.1 million.
The EFCC alleged that N1.1 million and N1 million – amounts exceeding the N500,000 threshold – were paid into the bank account of Mr. Fani-Kayode at the former minister’s behest.
The Commission said that the transactions were done without going through a financial institution.
In her judgment, Ms. Ofili-Ajumogobia said that the prosecution’s fourth witness gave an unreliable testimony.
”Taking cognisance of the fact that the oral testimony of PW4 before this court is at variance with his earlier voluntary submission before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, I find unreliable the testimony of PW4 that it was the accused person that gave him money to pay into the latter’s account,” the judge said.
“His testimony before this court seems to be an afterthought, in view of the fact that PW4 who was stated by the prosecution to be at large initially suddenly appeared to give testimony on behalf of the prosecution.
“The law is trite that where there are two or more conflicting testimonies by a witness, such testimony must be discarded by the court.”
The judge also said that the defence witnesses painted a “somewhat coherent but doubtful story” as to how the stated amounts ended up in Mr. Fani-Kayode’s bank account.
”The doubtfulness in the account of the defence lay in the fact that they failed to show that the same money that they referred to were the exact same money PW4 referred to in his testimony,” said the judge.
“I agree with Mr. Keyamo that it was a costly omission for the defence to have failed to cross examine PW4 with respect to the testimony of PW1 and PW2 in order to test the veracity of PW4’s testimony.
“However, I do not agree with Mr. Keyamo for the prosecution that evidence of deposits in the bank account of the accused person without proof is sufficient evidence to show that the latter received cash payments from unknown sources of sums above the statutory threshold of N500,000.
“The fallacy in such argument lies in the fact that it would remain unclear as to whether the accused person received the alleged sum in tranches of at least N500,000 in each case. Is it not possible that the accused person received the cash in lumps of N499,000 or even N300,000 in each case.
“This is so because no offence is committed when the amount received outside the financial institution is less than N500,000.
“There is no doubt, therefore, as widely canvassed by learned counsel for the defence that it is necessary for sufficient and unequivocal evidence to be put before the court as to how and in what manner the money were actually received.”
The judge further stated that since there is insufficient evidence linking the accused person with the ingredients of the offence charged, that the court must discharge him as a matter of law.
On the second element of whether the money was paid into Mr. Fani-Kayode’s bank account on his behest, the judge said that prosecution also failed to prove that he did so.
“It is apt to note that this second element is an offence not by provisions of the money laundering act but rather by the manner in which counts 25 and 26 are framed.
“It is important to make this point because the Money Laundering Act only criminalises financial transactions which are above the threshold when they are not done through a financial institution.
“Ordinarily, the crime would have been proven upon the successful establishment of the first element alone, but the prosecution had introduced the second element in it. And the law requires that the prosecution proves the offence of charge.”
The judge also stated that the confessional statement the prosecution purportedly obtained from Mr. Fani-Kayode is irrelevant as it failed to link him to the charged offences.
“By virtue of summation of the Evidence Act, confessional statements are only admissible when they are voluntary, relevant, direct, legal, unequivocal of the facts required to prove the offence.
“I think that the said confessional statement is too vague, general, and in no way links the accused person to the offence charged. It is irrelevant.
“I have established in the course of this judgment that it is settled fact that the sum of N1.1 million and N1 million were paid to the accused person on the 20th and 29th of September 2006 by PW4.
“What remains unclear is the source of the money and whether it was the accused person that instructed PW4 to make the payments. This is yet another element of doubt that must be resolved in favour of the accused person.”
Mr. Fani-Kayode’s trial saw three judges and four re-arraignment since 2008 when he was first brought before Justice Ramat Mohammed on a 47 count of money laundering.
In 2012, following Mr. Mohammed’s transfer out of the Lagos Judicial Division, Binta Nyako took over the case.
Judge Nyako was also moved out of the Lagos Division in 2013, and the trial re-assigned to Mrs. Ofili-Ajumogobia.
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Ex-APC Deputy Guber flag bearer, Joshua MacIver backs Tinubu, express fears over implosion in Bayelsa APC
….congratulates new State Party Chairman, Warman Ogoriba
APC Deputy Governorship Candidate in the 2023 general elections in Bayelsa State, Great Joshua MacIver has declared his total commitment to the re-election of President Bola Tinubu come 2027, declaring that the Tinubu re-election project is non-negotiable.
Great Joshua MacIver, in his statement titled ” BAYELSA APC CONGRESSES: GOING FORWARD, A CALL TO LOOK INWARDS” and made available to newsmen in Yenagoa, warned APC leaders in the state to look Inward and take note of certain factors which may hinder or cut short our victory.
According to Great Joshua MacIver, such noticeable pitfalls include the imbalance in the united front being put up by the State Governor,Senator Douye Diri among various political blocs in the state.
In the statement issued at the weekend. Great Joshua MacIver stated that “First, before His Excellency, Senator Douye Diri, joined the APC in the state, there were clearly two political blocs that made up the party, with the approximate population ratios of the blocs standing at 95% to 5%.”
“After the entrance of His Excellency, Senator Douye Diri, ONLY THE SMALLER BLOC IS BEING CARRIED ALONG IN THE AFFAIRS OF THE PARTY, leaving the greater percentage to their fate, and this situation has the potential to build anger and dissatisfaction in our dear party.”
” The consequence of this has been the high level defection we have witnessed in the party recently and we believe more may likely follow, if we do not put our house in order.”
” If we do not pull together as a party, we may witness a situation where we will lose key stakeholders, especially after the State and National Assembly Primaries as well the Gubernatorial Primaries.”
“Finally, while it is very clear that we are the party to beat in the 2027 elections and that our loyalty to Mr. President IS NON-NEGOTIABLE, we must make haste to say that we cannot afford to create situations or loopholes in our unity which will be exploited by other political interests in the state. We cannot afford to under-rate anyone.”
“Our core interest remains the re-election of Mr. President, a project to which we have committed our all. We also pledge our total loyalty to the party as we have no alternative to the APC. However, our concern is that we must, as a party, look inwards and ensure that we do not create loopholes that can impede our common goal.”
Great Joshua MacIver, however congratulated the newly elected State Executives of the APC in Bayelsà State led by Hon. Warman Ogoriba, saying their emergence is welcomed at this critical time in our national history.
At least 23 people were killed in a series of suspected suicide bombings, police in Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri said on Tuesday.
https://www.stanbicibtcbank.com/nigeriabank/personal/products-and-services/all-loans/stanbic-ibtc-mreif-home-loans
More than 100 other people were injured in the blasts that took place on Monday evening in the capital of Nigeria’s restive Borno state.
No group has claimed responsibility for the suspected attacks.
The deadly blasts come after a military post was attacked overnight Sunday to Monday, which authorities blamed on suspected Islamist militants.
This sad incident is coming barely two weeks after Primate Elijah Ayodele, the Leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church specifically warned against attacks in some states. He mentioned these states while calling on security operatives to pay close attention to them.
These were his words:
“Another attack is coming up in these following states where the military must watch carefully and intelligently; Kano, Kaduna, Zamfara, Kebbi, Niger, Borno, Kwara and Kogi state. They want to do a deadly attack, it’s preventable but it depends on how they will handle it. I have told you about the danger coming up.”
@primateayodele
Unfortunately, some of our military agencies don’t believe spiritual intelligence can save the country from so much danger hence, their neglect of this prophetic warning but now, it has been fulfilled with the miliary losing credibility by the day while Primate Ayodele continues to gain momentum.
Likewise, At least 26 passengers and crew sustained varying degrees of injuries on Monday following an accident involving the Kaduna–Abuja train, according to the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).
Opeifa explained that the train departed Rigasa in Kaduna at 7:15 a.m. and was approaching Asham station around 9:16 a.m. when a loud bang was heard after the power car and trailing locomotive collided with one of the passenger coaches.
In July 2025, Primate Ayodele asked nigerians to pray not to see train mishap on the Kaduna-Abuja route.
@primateayodele #nigeriantiktok🇳🇬 #fulfillment #train #abuja #primateayodele
“Let’s pray not to see train mishap in Abuja-Kaduna, Kaduna-Abuja route.”
This has also been fulfilled.
The project ends decades search for investors, boosts Nigeria’s blue economy
By Prince Adeyemi Shonibare
Nigeria’s maritime sector is set for a major transformation following a landmark agreement involving the world’s largest container shipping company, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), which has secured a 45-year concession to build, manage and operate a modern container terminal at Snake Island Port in Lagos.
The project, to be developed in partnership with Nigerdock, marks one of the most significant private sector investments in Nigeria’s port infrastructure in recent decades and is expected to strengthen the country’s role as a major maritime gateway in West and Central Africa.
For Nigeria, the agreement brings to close decades of efforts to attract large-scale investors to develop Snake Island Port, a strategically located maritime asset in Lagos.
Long-standing concession history
Snake Island’s maritime facilities date back several decades. In 1992, the Federal Government granted a 99-year concession for the island’s port and industrial facilities to Nigerdock, a major maritime engineering and logistics company.
Nigerdock was later privatised and is currently operated by the Jagal Group owned by Nigerian industrialist Maher Jarmakani.
Over the years, the Island Container Terminal fell into disrepair, requiring major rehabilitation and modernization to meet modern global shipping standards.
The new partnership with MSC is expected to transform the port into a state-of-the-art container handling facility capable of attracting larger vessels and increasing Nigeria’s cargo throughput capacity.
Buhari administration approved the project.
The investment framework for the Snake Island development was approved in May 2023 by the Federal Executive Council under then President Muhammadu Buhari.
The approval authorised total private investment of approximately $974.1 million for the project under a Public-Private Partnership structure, including the 45-year concession period.
At the same time, the Federal Government also approved two other major maritime infrastructure projects:
• Development of the Ondo Multipurpose Port in Ilaje, Ondo State, with $1.48 billion in private investment and a 50-year concession.
• Expansion and development of the Burutu Sea Port in Delta State, involving $1.2 billion in private investment and a 40-year concession.
These projects form part of Nigeria’s broader effort to develop its blue economy and expand maritime trade capacity.
Construction partners
Engineering and construction of the Snake Island container terminal will be handled by:
• ITB Nigeria Limited
• DEME Group
ITB Nigeria Limited is part of the Chagoury Group and owned by the Chagoury family, while DEME Group is a globally recognised Belgian marine engineering and dredging company with extensive experience in port construction.
MSC profile
Founded in 1970 by Italian shipping entrepreneur Gianluigi Aponte and his wife Rafaela Aponte-Diamant, MSC has grown from a single cargo vessel into the largest container shipping company in the world.
Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the company operates in more than 155 countries and serves over 500 ports worldwide, with a fleet of roughly 900 container ships and over 200,000 employees globally.
The MSC Group also operates major logistics and maritime businesses including inland logistics through Medlog, cruise tourism through MSC Cruises, and port terminal operations across several continents.
According to Forbes, the estimated net worth of MSC founder Gianluigi Aponte is about $43.9 billion as of February 2026, placing him among the world’s richest shipping magnates. The company remains privately owned by the Aponte family, with both founders holding equal ownership stakes.
Management comments
Speaking on the development, MSC Group President Diego Aponte said the company is committed to strengthening its operations in Nigeria and across Africa.
“We are proud to expand our presence in Nigeria through this important infrastructure project. The Snake Island terminal will enhance service delivery and improve port efficiency for our customers and partners in the region,”
Chief Executive Officer of Nigerdock, Maher Jarmakani, described the agreement as a major milestone for the Nigerian maritime sector.
“We are delighted to partner with MSC in developing a world-class container terminal that will enhance Nigeria’s logistics capabilities and support economic growth,” he said.
Economic impact
Industry analysts say the project could significantly strengthen Nigeria’s maritime economy by expanding cargo handling capacity, reducing congestion at Lagos ports and attracting additional international shipping traffic.
The development is also expected to create thousands of direct and indirect jobs across maritime operations, logistics, transport services and port-related commercial activities.
Infrastructure expansion
Beyond the port development, plans are also underway for Nigeria’s first underwater tunnel, linking Ahmadu Bello Way in Victoria Island through Snake Island and connecting the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway with the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway corridor through Badagry.
The tunnel project is expected to significantly improve freight movement and road connectivity between Lagos ports and national transport networks.
Strategic milestone
With the entry of MSC into the Snake Island development, industry observers say Nigeria is taking a significant step toward modernizing its maritime infrastructure and positioning itself as a regional hub for global shipping and trade.
For a project that has waited for decades for major international investors, the Snake Island concession represents a turning point in Nigeria’s port development strategy and a strong signal of global confidence in the country’s maritime future.
By Prince Adeyemi Shonibare
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