Court dismisses EFCC’s application against former NNPC boss

The federal high court in Abuja has dismissed an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to cross-examine former group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu.

Justice Ahmed Mohammed, in a ruling, sustained the objection raised by Ahmed Raji (SAN), counsel to Yakubu.

Reports say that Raji had, on July 22, disagreed with the EFCC’s lawyer, Mohammed Abubakar, on his plan to cross-examine his client, who is the first defence witness based on exhibit available.

The exhibit is on a case with the suit instituted by the anti-graft agency in 2016 before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba when Yakubu was GMD of NNPC.

The case, which is still ongoing, involves an oil company, Atlantic Energy Brass Development Limited, in which Yakubu was initially the seventh defendant in the suit and was later dropped to become the first prosecution witness, in the matter bordering on illegal lifting of crude oil.