Appeal Court frees ex-NIMASA DG Akpobolokemi
The Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal Friday discharged and acquitted a former Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Patrick Akpobolokemi, who was charged with an alleged fraud of N2.6 billion. Delivering a lead judgment in a three-judge panel, Yargatta Nimpar, said they unanimously upheld the no-case submission filed by Mr Akpolokemi in response to the criminal charges. The Appeal Court overruled the decision of Ibrahim Buba, a judge of the Federal High Court in Lagos, who, on October 16, 2017, dismissed the NIMASA boss’s no-case submission. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on December 4, 2015, arraigned Mr Akpobolokemi alongside five others for allegedly diverting N2.6 billion from the coffers of NIMASA between December 2013 and May 2014. The funds, the EFCC claimed, were approved by former President Goodluck Jonathan for the implementation of a security project tagged, “International Ship and Ports Security Code in Nigerian