The Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has written a letter, admitting that it filed inaccurate processes in court in a case involving the governor-elect of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, and hence absolved Mbah of the ex-convict claim before the Federal High Court, Abuja.
In the letter cited by Sahara Reporters and dated 28th April 2023, titled “Re: Wilful Mischief by Officers of the Federal Ministry of Justice in FHC/ABJ/CS/2257/2022: FELIX OGWU V. PETER MBAH & Others”, the Minister of Justice admitted that the processes filed by his office were wrong, and stated that Mbah was not convicted at any time.
Mbah contested the last general elections as governorship candidate under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State and was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Six indigenes of the state led by Mr Felix Ugwu, who are plaintiffs before the court had in December 2022 sued Mbah, former governor, Chimaroke Nnamani, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the AGF, seeking an order to declare that Nnamani and Mbah had been tried and convicted in charge No. FHC/L/09/ 2007.
But the response of the AGF, who is the 4th respondent in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2257/2022, stated that Mba and Nnamani were not convicted at any time.
Apart from Ugwu, other plaintiffs in the suit are; Jonathan Ndubusi, Okechukwu Eze, Agbachi Ude, Chris Ugwu and Emeka Aroh.
They had prayed the court to declare that by the provisions of Section 270 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, the finding of plea of guilty entered on behalf of 1st and 2nd defendants (Mba and Nnamani) by Justice Yunusa of a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, is a conviction in law and binding on all the defendants.
They were also seeking a declaration that by the express provisions of Section 182(1(e) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), Mbah was ineligible to contest any election to the office of Governor of a State within a period of less than ten years from 7th day of July 2015.
Ugwu stated in his affidavit in support of the originating summons that he derived his facts from Mr. George Ogara, a senior lawyer and deputy governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Enugu 2023 election.
It was, however, discovered that an officer in the Federal Ministry of Justice filed a process that was false and a misrepresentation of facts.
For instance, court documents obtained showed that Mbah never entered into any charge or plea bargain in the Charge No. FHC/L/09C/2007, as he was discharged over two years before the plea bargain was entered.
By a ruling of the Federal High Court Lagos delivered by Justice M.N. Yunusa on 7th March, 2013 in Charge No. FHC/L/09C/2007: Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Nnamani Chimaroke & 11 Ors., Mr. Peter Mbah (the 2nd accused person in the charge) with two other accused persons, were discharged from all the charges filed in Charge No. FHC/L/09C/2007: Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Nnamani Chimaroke & 11 Ors at the instance of the EFCC counsel.
Mbah’s lawyers therefore petitioned the Minister of Justice and AGF over the “mischief and gross misconduct.”
Meanwhile, in a letter dated 28th April 2023 and titled “Re: Wilful Mischief by Officers of the Federal Ministry of Justice in FHC/ABJ/CS/2257/2022: FELIX OGWU V. PETER MBAH & Others”, the Minister of Justice admitted that the processes filed by his office were wrong, as Mbah was never convicted at any time.
The letter addressed to Mbah’s legal counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu, and signed by Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Beatrice Jedy-Agba, on behalf of the AGF, read, “I refer to your letter dated 2nd March 2023 conveying your reservation about a process filed on behalf of the Hon. Attorney-General of the Federation in the above matter.
“This Office has reviewed all the processes filed and notes the inadvertence leading to the inaccurate presentation of facts on behalf of the Hon. Attorney-General of the Federation in this case. A review of the originating processes and accompanying documents do not show that the 1st and 2nd Defendants were convicted at any time. Consequently, the matter is being addressed through our internal procedures while we are in the process of filing proper processes before the court.”
Meanwhile, when the matter came up before Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja on Thursday, counsel to the plaintiffs, Barrister C. Izunobi, told the court that she would not be able to because defendant’s counsel, Abdukarim Aliyu, just served her with a motion, which she was unable to respond to.
She prayed the court for a short adjournment to enable her file a response to the motion, a prayer the court granted.
Meanwhile, it would be recalled that Mbah had also in January petitioned the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) against George Ogara and the plaintiffs’ counsel, Ejike Obumneme, for filing and promoting a suit, which he said they knew or reasonably ought to know was false and intended to mislead the court and maliciously injure his person.
This, he said, was a gross violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners and therefore punishable by the rules.
