Court vacation stalls Bode George's trial

The trial of Bode George and five other former members of the board of directors of the Nigerian Ports Authority, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, was on Monday adjourned to September 15 for adoption of final written address.

Although, all the defendants, family, friends and counsels were present at the resumed hearing of the trial at the Ikeja High Court, proceeding could not continue due to the commencement of long vacation by the Lagos State judiciary, which also marks the end of the 2008/2009 legal year.

Justice Olubunmi Oyewole, had on June 24, fixed July 20, for the adoption of the final written addresses but he, however, sent words to the parties that due to the commencement of the vacation, the matter would not be heard.

Although all parties have filed their written addresses, a new date of September 15, was agreed upon for adoption of the addresses.

History

The six defendants; Olabode George, Aminu Dabo, O. Abidoye, Abdullahi Aminu Tafida, Zanna Maidaribe, and Sule Aliyu; who were members of the board of directors of the Nigeria Ports Authority, from 2001 to 2003 are in court on a 68-count-charge of splitting and inflating contracts at the authority in 2003.

They are also being tried by the EFCC for not following the rules and regulations guiding the award of contracts, by exceeding the approval limit allowed for members of the board.

The 68-count-charge is divided into; 11-count-charge of alleged splitting of contracts, 8-count-charge of inflation of contracts, 49-count-charge of disobedience to lawful order and one-count-charge of conspiracy.

At the trial which started on October 28, 2008, ten witnesses testified for the prosecution while one witness; Bode George testified for all the defendants. The counsels to the defendants adopted the testimony of Mr. George as their testimony and they closed their case.

The prosecution maintained that due process was not followed in the award of contracts since the board did not follow the financial guidelines as stated in the 2001 circular which allows the board to approve a maximum of ₦700,000.

The defendants maintained that on assumption of office as members of the NPA board, the secretary and legal representative of the board, Mrs Fregene gave them three documents which were to be used as guidelines for operation by the board.

"She gave us the Act that established NPA, operating procedure of the board and the financial operating levels as approved by the government," Mr. George said.

In the financial operating level given to the board by Mrs. Fregence; a 1999 circular allows the board to approve a maximum of ₦60 million.

They also maintained that these documents were relied upon by them for all their operations; they held that contracts were neither split nor inflated at the board level as all contracts originated from the user department.

"Emphatically no, we never split any contracts; We never, never inflated any contracts brought before the board; Contracts were awarded following the guidelines in the ‘NPA act' and the 1999 financial operating level circular which was signed by Mrs B.O Williams for the ministry of transport," he said "We did not split; it did not appear to us that it was split by the management, we only acted in the best interest of the country."

Mr. George maintained that all the activities of the board were in the best interest of the country and that the board served the country diligently.

"As far as I am concerned, we served the country diligently and I was given an award for this meritorious service. After serving as NPA board chairman, I was given the national honour, Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON)," Mr. George said.