Court discharges ex-SGF Babachir Lawal, others of N544m grass-cutting scam

The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on Friday, discharged a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, and five others of the N544 million grass-cutting contract fraud charges.

The judge, Charlies Abgaza, dismissed the charges in a ruling on a no-case submission filed by Mr Lawal and his co-defendants.

Mr Agbaza upheld the no-case submission, ruling that the prosecution – the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) – failed to establish a prima facie case against the defendants.

Mr Lawal was charged alongside his younger brother, Hamidu, and others. The rest of the defendants are: Suleiman Abubakar, Apeh Monday and two companies – Rholavision Engineering Limited and Josmon Technologies Limited.

The EFCC had called 11 prosecution witnesses to prove the 10 amended charges it preferred against the defendants.

In the 10 counts, the prosecution accused Mr Lawal of criminal conspiracy, fraud, and diversion of over N544 million through the award of a grass-cutting contract awarded by the Presidential Initiative for North East (PINE) under Mr Lawal as the then SGF.

The ex-SGF and his co-defendants co-defendants were accused of fraudulently converting the N544 million proceeds of the grass-cutting contracts which Mr Lawal, as then SGF, allegedly awarded to the companies in which he had interests.

Mr Lawal, the first SGF appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari in his first term in office in 2015, was removed from office because of the scandal in 2017.

He and other defendants had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

After the EFCC closed its case with 11 witnesses and documentary exhibits, the defendants filed a no-case submission, arguing that the evidence led by the prosecution failed to link them to any crime.

They urged the court to dismiss the charges in the absence of any prima facie evidence against them. There was no need for them to open their defence, they urged the judge to declare so.

Agreeing with the defendants in his ruling, the judge held that EFCC did not establish that Mr Lawal was either a member of PINE that awarded the contract or a member of the Ministerial Tenders Board that vetted and gave approval to the disputed contract.

The judge held that EFCC also failed to link Mr Lawal with the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) that issued a certificate of no objection to the contract before it was awarded.

Mr Agbaza therefore discharged all the defendants of the 10 charges against them for want of evidence to link them with the purported offence.

The defendants were first arraigned on 13 February 2019 before another judge of the FCT High Court, Jude Okeke.

EFCC had presented some witnesses and tendered documentary exhibits before Mr Okeke died on 4 August 2020.

The case was reassigned to Mr Agbaza following Mr Okeke’s death.

The trial began afresh before Mr Agbaza, before whom the case start afresh.

The EFCC alleged that Lawal, while he was the SGF, converted and awarded cumulative proceeds of grass cutting contracts worth over N544 million to companies he had interests in.

They again pleaded not guilty to the charges as they did before the first judge.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, said the commission would challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal.

“The EFCC has given indication that it will obtain a copy of the judgment for urgent review and challenge its validity at the appellate court,” Mr Uwujaren said in a statement on Friday.