Court Remands Legal Head Over Alleged Defamation

Ridwan Abdulwahab, the Northern Region Head of Legal Department of ECO Bank, a commercial financial institution, has been remanded at Kuje prison in Abuja following his arraignment on perjury and defamation of character.

He was remanded on Thursday by Chief Magistrate Musa Sadiq, where he was put on trial by the Inspector General of Police IGP for giving false information on oath and defaming the character of Justice Charles Agbaza of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.

The banker, a lawyer by training, was accused by the IGP of deposing to an affidavit in which he gave false information in a bid to block his bank from releasing the N228.4M judgment debt awarded against the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to the judgment creditor.

In his deposition, the accused alleged that the writ of execution used to implement Garnishee Absolute against Eco Bank and order the release of the money to the owner was an unsigned document by Justice Charles Agbaza.

The ECOWAS was ordered by the High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court in Abuja to pay the N228M to a judgment creditor, Vision Kam Jay, an indigenous company for a job executed for the Regional body.

In the First Information Report, FIR, the ECO Bank, in compliance with the court orders, made the payment into the judgment creditor’s account in 2020. Still, the bank immediately placed a “Post No Debt” (PND) on the same account, making it impossible for the fund owner to access it.

Following a Direct Complaint lodged against the banker by the judgment creditor for giving false evidence, Chief Magistrate Farida Ibrahim referred the matter to the Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, Zone 7, for investigation and report.

In its report, the AIG Zone 7 found that, contrary to the accused person’s claim, Justice Charles Agbaza duly signed the writ of execution for garnishee absolute before the court order was enforced.

The writ used to pay the judgment debt against ECOWAS was found to have been signed by Justice Charles Agbaza of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in compliance with court orders.

The accused person was said to have made the false deposition in sympathy with ECOWAS and as a ploy to block the judgment creditor from accessing the fund.

He was subsequently charged with perjury contrary to sections 158 and 392 of the Penal Code, laws of Northern Nigeria.

However, when the charge was read, the accused pleaded not guilty.

His lawyer, Mr Kalat Jatu, made concerted efforts to abort the arraignment because the FIR was defective.  Magistrate Musa Sadiq turned down these efforts, ruling that section 396 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA did not permit granting such a request.

Although the defence lawyer requested that bail be granted to the accused person, the Prosecutor, Bale Nimnan, vehemently opposed it, claiming that it took a lot of effort before the accused person honoured the police invitation.

In his brief ruling, Magistrate Musa Sadiq rejected the oral bail application and ordered the accused to put it in writing and serve the prosecution as required by law.

The Judge subsequently ordered that the accused person be remanded at Kuje prison pending the court’s decision on the bail application.