A former Director of Pension Accounts in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Sani Teidi, on Tuesday told a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, how a serving judge of the Federal High Court, Abuja, Justice Adeniyi Ademola kept him in prison custody for over a year due to his inability to pay a N25m bribe.
Taidi, a prosecution witness told the court that the judge who is standing trial alongside two others for charges bordering on gratification approached his wife through an agent simply identified as Kingsley O., who gave his wife two different account numbers where the N25m should be paid into.
The former Director was on trial before Justice Ademola between 2013 and 2014 over his alleged complicity in the illegal diversion of over N4.6billion pension fund.
Testifying as the sixth prosecution witness, the former Director said his ordeal started when he discovered that about N36m meant for payment of pension and gratuity was diverted into different personal accounts.
He said, “After we made the discovery I sent a petition to the EFCC and ONSA. Committee was set-up which verified my claim.”
Following the discovery, the witness said a committee set up by the Senate also directed that the matter be investigated and the funds recovered.
Stressing that he was surprised when he being a prinicipal witness at the Senate hearing on the missing pension funds was charged to court over the fraud he discovered.
Taidi said, “After the Senate report, I was charged to court. EFCC invited me and asked me to explain what happened to N4.5b and N7.5bn. I submitted to the EFCC the account that was used to remove the money and the mandate.
“One Charles Bonet, a Permanent Secretary (Establishment), was a signatory to one of the accounts. The money was moved from UBA to Union Bank where it disappeared.
“After the investigation, I was charged to court before Justice Adamu Bello of the Federal High Court in Abuja. The charges involved unlawful removal of pension funds totalling about N4.5bn.
“I was charged with others and I was granted bail with one surety in the sum of N10m who must be resident within FCT.
“I fulfilled the bail term by providing one surety that owned property worth N10m and submitted the C of O, as well as surrendered my international passport.
“The case started in 2011. By 2012, EFCC came in with an application of what they called proper case management and the case was withdrawn. The prosecutor in that case was Godwin Obla, SAN.
“While the case lasted, I never jumped bail neither was my bail revoked. The case was later transferred to Justice Adeniyi Ademola.
“We were two of us that were charged. Myself and one Omoefe Odugese. In April 2013, the investigator phoned me at about 9:30pm that the case was coming up before Justice Ademola the following day”.
According to the Director, he told the investigator that it would be impossible for him to make it to the court as scheduled because he was not resident in Abuja and the investigator promised to convey the situation to the court.
He added, “The next thing I knew, Justice Ademola issued a bench warrant for my arrest. There was no summon issued against me before then.
“When I discovered a bench warrant was issued against me, I went to the EFCC and challenged the investigator. He told me that he duly informed the court that he was aware of my movement.
“After I left EFCC, I went home and told my wife that a bench warrant has been issued on me and that I was going to honour it.
“I then took myself to the court and I was remanded. Later, we were arraigned and I was denied bail. After that, somebody pressurised my wife that unless she is able to pay the sum of N25m, that I will die in prison. That I was going to be remanded in prison forever.
“I now petitioned to the Chief Judge, Justice Auta, for transfer of my case to any other court.
“I came back to the court and his lordship, Justice Ademola, brought out the petition and asked if I was the author and I told him yes and he said whether I like it or not he was going to handle the case. He then sent me back to the prison and adjourned the matter sine-die (indefinitely).
“After pressure from my lawyer, he then granted me bail to the tune of N500m with two sureties. He said with the two of them the bail sum would amount to N1bn.
“I met the bail conditions. One of my sureties was Chief Oke and the second was Igbelimeta Farm Projects Ltd. Before then, the person that was acting for his lordship told my wife that unless she paid that money, that even if I perfect the conditions, I would not be released.
“After I perfected my bail, my counsel, Mr. S. I. Ameh, SAN, reminded Justice Ademola that we had an application before him and that the bail conditions have been met.
“Justice Ademola said he was aware. That my case is like that of Boko Haram, kidnapping and terrorism. Therefore he would take his time to study the file before appending his signature. Then the case was adjourned and I was taken back to the prison.
“The next time we met in court, he said sorry that rain fell on my file that there is no way he could look at it until the file dries up. I was taken back to prison custody.
“I was arraigned April 2013. I got to know why my bail was not approved around November. I heard that I would not be allowed to go out until I pay the money to Justice Ademola’s agent, one Kingsley O. who supplied an account number.
“I was told I would not go out because the account submitted by Kingsley O. was not credited. The agent always had foreknowledge of what will happen in court even before sitting. He would tell me that the case would be adjourned maybe from November to December, and when we got to court things usually happened exactly the way he said it would.
“The bail was never approved even when my surety Mr. Okey brought the C of O of his property. Justice Ademola gave him back his file. The surety came to meet me in the prison and told me the judge said he should take back his documents.
“Even when we applied for variation of the bail conditions he never approved it. We applied for variation after Okey withdrew his documents and we were left with only one surety who could not meet up with the N1bn condition.
“The appeal court ordered that the case should be heard by any other Judge of the Federal High Court apart from Justice Ademola”.
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