- Safiu Kehinde
An Ikeja Special Offences Court Sitting in Lagos has ordered the Economic Crimes and Financial Commission (EFCC) to return the $20,000 bribe money collected by its officers in 2019 from one Olalekan Abdul.
The presiding judge, Justice Mojisola Dada (Mrs, gave the orders on April 30, 2025 with the true copy of the ruling reading; “An Order granting delivery and/or restoration to the Defendant of the sum of USD$20,000:00 (Twenty Thousand United States Dollars) property of the Defendant (Olalekan Abdul) tendered and admitted as Exhibit B at the trial proceeding of 8/3/2023 and ordered to be held and kept in escrow Domiciliary Account in Polaris Bank, Ikeja in the name of the Chief Registrar of the High Court of Lagos State in pending completion of this case (now – concluded) be and is hereby granted.”
The court, according to a statement made available to NPO Reports on Sunday, also ordered the release of Abdul’s N10 million held in his account as condition for his bail (as per the Ruling of this Honourable Court dated 31″ day of January 2020) pending completion of his trial on the charge.
As recalled in the statement, the Ikeja Special Offenses Court had on March 5, 2025 discharged and acquitted Abdul, who is the Managing Director/CEO of Cleanserve, and Azubuike Ishiekwene, the company’s Chairman, of the case of fraud and forgery made against them by a nominal complainant.
The EFCC had initially arraigned the defendants on a 26-count charge bordering on conspiracy, forgery, using false documents without authority, possessing fraudulent documents, stealing and making documents without authority.
The commission had acted at the behest of a nominal complainant, a certain Mr. Chris Ndulue, who claimed he was a director in the private company but was not in the file of the Corporate Affairs Commission and had no valid proxy.
Ishiekwene and Abdul, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge following their arraignment on January 30, 2020.
During the pendency of the charge, which started five years ago with suit number ID/11126C/2019, the prosecution had called nine witnesses, while the defence had called four witnesses.
Mr. Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika (SAN) appeared for the first defendant, Abdul, and Dr. Muiz Banire (SAN) appeared for Ishiekwene, the second defendant.
Following a series of applications, one of which challenged the EFCC’s use of a fiat by Lagos State in a case in which the defence counsel argued that a $20,000 bribe had compromised an operative and that the prosecution was on a mission of “persecution,” the office of the Attorney-General of Lagos State, Mr. Lawal Pedro (SAN), stepped in and took over the matter after a review.
Before the Lagos State AG stepped in, the court had ordered the recovery of the $20,000 from the custody of the EFCC and admitted the same as an exhibit.
During the investigation, an EFCC operative demanded a bribe in 2019 to “kill the matter” because, according to him, the facts suggested that Ndulue had no case.
A report of the demand was made through Mr. Ola Olukoyede (then the Secretary of the Commission), who ordered a sting operation in Lagos, during which other EFCC operatives apprehended the operative.
When the report reached the then-chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, he squashed it, redeployed the operative who had demanded a bribe, and turned the case against the defendants who had reported the operative.