Following his conviction by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), the former minister of Niger Delta affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe has responded by going to the Court of Appeal.
Orubebe asked the court of appeal which was sitting in Abuja, to overturn the conviction by the CCT, which was passed on October 4, 2016.
The CCT trial headed by Justice Danladi Umar had found Orubebe guilty of false asset declaration in 2007. One of his crimes according to the tribunal was that he did not reveal that he owned a piece of land at Plot 2057 Asokoro District, Abuja.
The CCT therefore ordered that he forfeit the property. However, through his lawyer, Mr Selekeowei Larry, SAN, Orubebe appealed the ruling.
While appealing the ruling he raised three points under which he expected the appeal court to overturn the CCT ruling.
First, he said that the two-man panel tribunal misdirected itself in reaching its decision that was not supported by evidence led by the prosecution.
According to Orubebe, he was convicted “without any proof of the offence, thereby occasioning gross miscarriage of justice.”
He said that Plot 2057 was not acquired corruptly nor even purchased by him, that it was “a piece of empty land in the bush,” which the federal government gave him as a gift as part of his entitlements as a minister.
He also argued that he had credible evidence to prove that he had already sold the controversial property to a company called Divention Properties Limited, and that the company’s managing director, Akinwumi Ajibola, had even testified during the trial at the CCT.
When the ruling was delivered by the CCT, Orubebe had said: “I decided to give it out to my landlord, Barr. Ajibola to settle for my two years house rent.
“This is because my lord in this country, so many people do not know that the annual salary of a Minister, accommodation, transportation and inclusive of everything, per month in 2007, was N1.3m, by 2008, it came down to N990, 000.
“So my lord, the annual salary of a Minister from that time and even today cannot pay rent for him in befitting places like Maitama, Asokoro, Mabushi or Wuse 2.
“All Ministers in the FEC were given offer letters. Therefore when I got the offer letter for the land, I saw it as an opportunity to settle my house rent.
“My lord I never saw the land and the C of O. The same day it was given to me was the same day I parted with it for N10m for two years house rent of N5m each.”
