On Monday, May 20, 2024, contractor Olugbenga Obadina, who is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for receiving payments from the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) without a contractual agreement, testified before the Federal High Court in Abuja. Presided over by Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, Obadina stated that the payments made to his company, Almond Projects Limited, were not intended for the installation of a power plant or any other power project in Yobe State.
Obadina and Almond Projects Limited, the first and second defendants respectively, face an eight-count charge from the EFCC. The charges include conspiracy, official corruption, and money laundering involving N2,017,190,000 (Two Billion, Seventeen Million, One Hundred and Ninety Thousand Naira), a payment they allegedly received from the NSA office under Colonel Sambo Dasuki (Rtd) on November 28, 2015, without performing any work for the federal government.
During cross-examination, prosecution counsel Ibrahim Buba questioned Obadina about the specific project for which the payments were made. Obadina confirmed that the payments were not for installing a power plant or any power project in Yobe State.
“My lord, with reference to payments in the document that is written, particularly to the Almond project, no site was mentioned in all of the description. No location was mentioned in any of the descriptions my lord,” he said.
Prodded further by prosecution counsel to confirm if it would be right to say that no part of the payments was made for installation of solar or power plants in Yobe State, the defendant acquiesced, stating, “Yes, none of these payments was made for the installation of solar in the state.”
Citing the defendant’s extra- judicial statement, marked Exhibit GO1, 1-9, prosecution counsel pointed out that there was nowhere in the entirety of the defendant’s statement where he specifically mentioned a particular area in Yobe State where the project was to be executed and though the defendant contested the claim, saying that he mentioned a site outside Damataru, the state capital, but could not point to it in his statement when challenged by the prosecution counsel to do so.
There was no re-examination from the defence and Justice Dimgba adjourned the matter till May 30 and 31, 2024 for continuation of trial.
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