Edozie Njoku, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), has been cleared of all forgery allegations brought against him by the Nigeria Police.
The police had accused Njoku and APGA’s Youth leader, Chukwuemeka Nwoga, of conspiring to alter a Supreme Court judgment originally delivered by Justice Mary Peter Odili (retired).
In his judgment on Tuesday, Justice Mohammed Madugu of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Bwari rejected all 14 counts brought against Njoku, effectively clearing him of the charges.
The court held that due to “lack of sufficient and credible evidence, the prosecution has failed woefully to prove its case against the defendants.
“I find the 1st defendant, Chief Edozie Njoku and the 2nd defendant, Chukwuma Nwoga not guilty as charged, and therefore they have been discharged and acquitted.”
The defence counsel had urged the court to discharge and acquit the defendants because the police had failed woefully to discharge the burden of proof solely placed on them by law.
The court adopted the issue formulated by the defence counsel to determine whether the prosecution had proven its case against the defendants beyond reasonable doubt.
By section 138 of the Evidence Act, the court noted that the prosecution is expected to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Justice Madugu in his judgement stated that “it is crystal clear that internal disputes in APGA had played a significant role in causing the complexity of the case.”
In the 1st count, the court noted that being an allegation of criminal conspiracy, it must be proven by the prosecution with circumstantial evidence.
However, the court held that the prosecution witness did not produce any evidence linking the defendants with an agreement or conspiracy to commit the alleged offence.
