Olabode George and former board members of the Nigeria Ports Authority, NPA, first appeared before a Lagos state High Court on a 163-count charge on August 8, 2008 but the charges were later amended to 68 counts on October 24, 2008, with all the defendants pleading not guilty.
Mr. George was appointed chairman of the NPA Board 1999, while in October 2003, the senior management and the board were dismissed. The newly appointed managing director, Adebayo Sarumi, hired auditors to review major existing contracts.
The audit review found irregularities and passed its report to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission under Nuhu Ribadu, which started investigations in 2005.
The EFCC under Mr. Ribadu also indicted the NPA board under Mr. George’s leadership, but President Olusegun Obasanjo’s influence ensured that he was not prosecuted then.
The EFCC report issued on April 1, 2005 stated that the NPA board members, should be held responsible for deliberate and flagrant violations of government rules and regulations governing the award of contracts, and should be sanctioned for contract splitting and inflation of contract price, in utter disregard of laid-down government rules and regulations. Mr. Obasanjo dismissed the findings as inconclusive and ordered another investigation, the result of which cleared Bode George of fraudulent practices.
In August 2008, the EFCC under its new head, Farida Waziri, arrested Mr. George in Lagos and arraigned him and four others on a 163 count-charge of conspiracy, disobedience to lawful order, abuse of office and illegal award of contracts worth N84 billion while he was chairman of the NPA.
In January 2009, the EFCC reduced the charges to 63 counts and in October 2009, Mr. George and four others: Aminu Dabo, Olusegun Abidoye, Abdullahi Aminu Tafida, Zanna Maidaribe and Sule Aliyu.
Justice Olubunmi Oyewole sentenced Mr. George and four other former board members of the NPA to two years each on a seven-count charge and another six months each on a 28-count charge.