OLUSEGUN AGBANIMU v. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA

The facts leading to the charges against the Appellant are as follows: A committee was set up by the Federal Government of Nigeria comprising of some Federal Ministries and parastatals including the Economic and Financial crimes commission (EFCC), with a view to pay the pensions and gratuities of persons thereunder. The mandate of EFCC on the committee was to ensure that the right beneficiaries were paid their entitlements upon presentation of the correct prescribed documents, which documents included Letters of Administration, where necessary. In the course of screening, one Abayomi Adeoti and one Gbenga Ogunronbi presented Letters of Administration in respect of their deceased parents which were found to be forged. They both said they obtained the documents from the Appellant.
Under cover, the Appellant was approached to prepare Letters of Administration and he was also asked if he knew Abayomi Adeoti and Gbenga Ogunronbi. When he responded in the affirmative and confirmed that he had prepared the Letters of Administration for them, he was arrested. The Appellant was then charged on six counts for offences of obtaining Money by False pretences, contrary to Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006, Forgery, contrary to Section 467 (4d) of the Criminal Code Cap C.17 Vol. 2 Laws of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2003 and uttering, contrary to Section 468 of the Criminal Code Cap C.17 Vol. 2 Laws of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2003, pages 199-201 of the Record of Appeal.
In proof of its case against the Appellant, the Respondent called two witnesses, PW1, who tendered Exhibits A _ G; and Pw2, who tendered Exhibits H – J33. The Appellant, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, testified in his defence as DWI and tendered Exhibits K L. At the conclusion of the trial, the Appellant was convicted on each of the counts and sentenced to seven years imprisonment with the sentences running concurrently at the Kirikiri Maximum security prison. Aggrieved by the said judgment, the Appellant lodged the instant appeal by Notice of Appeal filed on 3/10/2013 on ten grounds, pages 391- 396 of the Record of Appeal.
The Appellant’s Brief was filed on 15/2/2016. The Respondent filed no Brief of Argument in response. On 25/4/2017, this Court granted an application on notice by the Appellant to have the appeal heard on the Appellant’s Brief alone. Notwithstanding, the records of the Court reveal that on 6/12/2017, the matter was adjourned to 25/1/2018 at the instance of the Respondent’s counsel. However, the hearing date was subsequently administratively brought forward to 8/1/2018. On 21/12/2017, the Respondent was served with Hearing Notice for the new date for hearing of this appeal through Rotimi Oyedepo, Esq., of EFCC. The Appellant’s counsel, Wole Ajayi, Esq., was also served on 21/12/2017 with Hearing Notice for the hearing of this appeal for the said hearing date of 8/1/2018. However, on 8/1/2018, neither counsel for the Appellant nor counsel for the Respondent was present and there was no explanation for their absence. There was still no Brief of Argument filed by the Respondent. The Court thereupon deemed the Appellant’s Brief adopted and argued, pursuant to Sections 5(1)and 5(9) of the Court of Appeal Practice Directions, 2014.
Out of ten grounds of appeal, the Appellant distilled four issues for determination as follows:
1. Whether in the face of inadequacy of the evidence of PW1 and the non-committal evidence of PW2, the Learned trial Judge was right in law in holding the evidence of the Appellant suspect without proper evaluation and holding same to corroborate the evidence of the real victims of the offences who were not called as witnesses?
2. Whether the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt to warrant the conviction and

…………………….B…………………….