Court Discharges And Acquits Rashidi Ladoja In N4.7m EFCC Case

Court Pronounces Ladoja Not Guilty

A former governor of Oyo state, Chief Rashidi Ladoja has been discharged and acquited by the Federal High Court in Lagos in the N4.7m fraud case levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The court presided over by Justice Mohammed Idris also freed Mr Waheed Akanbi, who was the Oyo State Commissioner for Finance during Ladoja’s administration.

Explaining his decision, Justice Idris said the evidence brought before the court by the EFCC was “too low on credible evidence.”

Both Ladoja and Akanbi had pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to them in previous sittings of the court.

Naija News recalls the EFCC had in November 2018, in an amended charge, added that Ladoja allegedly “compelled” a broker to sell the state’s shares.

The prosecution alleged that the former governor did not remit N1.9 billion realised from the sale of the shares.

The commission told the court that the money allegedly went to Ladoja, his family and friends and was not refunded.

During trial, a prosecution’s witness, Mr Abubakar Madaki, an EFCC Investigator, had testified that the shares, worth N6.6billion, were sold without the state executive council’s resolution.