The Supreme Court on Friday upturned the seven years jail term conviction of Senator Peter Nwaoboshi for offences bothering on fraud and money laundering.
In a four-to-one split judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the apex court ordered Nwaoboshi’s immediate release from Ikoyi prisons in Lagos, where he is currently being held.
The court held that Nwaobishi was unjustly and maliciously prosecuted by the EFCC for committing no offences known to law, and subjected him to criminal trial in relation to civil transaction, needlessly.
Recall that the Court of Appeal in Lagos had in a judgement it delivered on July 1, 2022, sentenced Nwaoboshi to prison after it convicted him on a two-count charge the EFCC brought against him.
The EFCC had alleged that Nwaoboshi and his companies illegally acquired a property named Guinea House on Marine Road, in Apapa, Lagos, for N805 million, which belonged to the Delta State government.
However, the supreme court, in its ruling on Friday, upheld the initial verdict of the Federal High Court in Lagos State, which discharged and acquitted the embattled former lawmaker of the charge against him, and equally upturned the appellate court’s decision against Nwaoboshi’s companies.
