Supreme Court dismisses FG’s appeal against Orubebe

The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal filed by the federal government against the reversal of the conviction of former Niger Delta Minister, Godsday Orubebe, on allegation of breach of Code of Conduct for Public Officers.

In a judgment on Friday, a five-member panel of the apex court held that the appeal by the federal government was incompetent.

In the lead judgment prepared by Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba, but read on Friday by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the court found that the appellant failed to obtain the prior leave of the court before filing the appeal, which was based on grounds of mixed law and facts.

The court held that since the prior leave of court was not obtained as required, the appeal was incompetent and proceeded to dismiss it.

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The federal government appeal, marked: SC/680/2017 was against the June 14, 2017 judgment of the Court of Appeal, Abuja which set aside Orubebe’s conviction on October 4, 2016 by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for breach of Code of Conduct for public officers.

The federal government had, in a single-count charge, accused him of failing to declare a property at Plot 2057, Asokoro District, Abuja, in any of the asset declaration forms which he submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) while serving as a minister.

Orubebe denied the allegation, claiming to have sold the property before becoming a minister and therefore found no need to declare it.