Claims of persecution made by a former Director- General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA,  Mr. Raymond Temisan Omatseye against former Attorney- General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, in his trial at a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, were on Monday, June 1, 2015, faulted by the Economic And Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

Counsel to the EFCC, Mr. Godwin Obla, SAN, told the court,  presided over by Justice Rita- Ofili Ajumogobia that no petition was addressed to the EFCC by Adoke or his office against Omatseye. Besides Obla disclosed that the purported matter between NIMASA and the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas, NLNG, which Omatseye said was the basis for his prosecution, was erroneous as the case is still on-going in another court. 

It would be recalled that, Omatseye,  in his testimony-in-chief on May 19, 2015, told the court that  Adoke called him on phone to drop the case between NIMASA and NLNG,  a request he allegedly turned down and which formed the basis  of his arrest. However, in a cross- examination on Monday, Obla posed a questions to him:  "Would you be surprised to know that the NIMASA and NLNG matter is still ongoing and the current Director General of NIMASA is not on trial in any court for that? Did you see or were you told of any petition that was signed by the AGF against you?" Omatseye responded that he did not see any.

In another breath, Obla told the court that contrary to the claim of Omatseye that one Omorodion's report was the basis for his interrogation by the EFCC, there was no mention of such a report by the EFCC's witness that gave evidence in court. To buttress his position, Obla asked Omatseye:  " Was there any mention of any Omorodion report by the EFCC's witness who gave evidence in court? Omatseye again responded that there was no mention of the  report by the prosecution.

In another round of submission before the court, Obla stressed that a subsidiary legislation of 2010, made pursuant to the Public Procurement Act of 2007,  gave a Director General an approval threshold of less than N1 million. Besides, he faulted Omatseye's claim that he had two approval authorities, stressing that his approval authority was only limited to his authority as Director General while the other approval authority rested with the Chairman of the Board.

Obla also called for exhibits Pw16 a-y which were all award letters of various contracts for supplies. He raised several  issues contained in the exhibits: "Please look at those documents one after the other,  and tell the court if the body of those memos  made reference to 'install' or 'installation? And in any of these transactions, is there any report by a Quantity Surveyor, any architectural drawing or civil engineer's report? Any building, excavation, breaking of any wall, any demolition, repair or renovation of any building, site preparation, drilling, mapping or satellite photo?" Omatseye told the court that "there is no reference to installation my Lord, and the documents before me did not indicate any of those".

Justice Ajumogobia then adjourned the matter to June 2, 2015, for the continuation of cross- examination by the prosecution.

Media & Publicity
1st June, 2015