A former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mohammed Adoke, and six others have been discharged by a High Court in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Jabi.
They were charged with alleged fraudulent conduct in the controversial Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 245, commonly called the Malabu Oil deal.
The other defendants were businessmen Aliyu Abubakar, Rasky Gbinigie, Malabu Oil and Gas Limited, Nigeria Agip Exploration Limited, Shell Nigeria Extra Deep Limited, and Shell Nigeria Exploration Production Company Limited.
Justice Abubakar Kutigi upheld the no-case submissions made by the defendants and discharged them, ruling that the prosecuting agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), had failed to establish a prima facie case against them.
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He also held that the prosecution had not provided sufficient evidence to prove the essential elements of the offences charged.
Furthermore, the judge warned the prosecuting counsel to refrain from filing poorly drafted charges in the future.
He stated that the case against the defendants would inflict undue hardship and injustice on them and that they should not have stood trial in the first place.
The legal consequence of a successful no-case submission is that the discharge is equivalent to an acquittal, and the charge is dismissed on its merit.
Consequently, the defendants have been discharged of the entirety of the charge preferred against them.
