N38B LOAN SCAM: Court Frees Bankole, Nafada.

An Abuja High Court presided over by Justice
Suleiman Belgore on Tuesday absolved the
embattled former Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Dimeji Bankole and his
erstwhile Deputy, Bayero Nafada, of any
crime by obtaining N38 billion loan from
UBA for the payment of an enhanced
package and running cost for members of
the House of Representatives.
Bankole’s lawyers led by Chief Adegboyega
Awomolo, a senior advocate of Nigeria, in an
application brought before the court on
behalf of the former Speaker and his Deputy
for the quashing of the charges slammed
against them by the Economic and
Financoial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had
argued that an account number issued by a
bank cannot be said to be a property to be
owned or entrusted as alleged in the charge
for which Bankole and Nafada are being
tried.
He stated that an account number cannot be
subject to ownership.
In quashing the charge, Justice Belgore
noted that the record increment in
members’ allowance by obtaining the N38
billion loan was immoral, wrong and
condemnable, especially given the abject
poverty to which a great majority of
Nigerians have been forced to exist under,
but went on to hold that Bankole and
Nafada had committed no crime.
The court further held that the the House of
Representatives has power to use its funds
in ways it deemed fit whether as running
costs or enhancement of welfare package
and that such discretion exercised by the
House over its funds does not amount to a
crime.
Justice Belgore also maintained that
constitutionally, the Speaker had nothing to
do with the accounts of the House of
Representatives and rapped the Clerk of the
House whose function it is to manage the
Accounts of the House for allowing the
Speaker to usurp the powers of his office.
He further noted that it is the Clerk, not
Bankole and Nafada, who should be
charged with securing and disbursing the
loans.