The senator representing Delta North in the National Assembly, Peter Nwaoboshi, who has been on the run months after the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division convicted and sentenced him to seven years imprisonment for money laundering, is finally in prison custody.
The lawmaker, who was intercepted by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, at a Hospital in Lagos on Monday, February 6, was remanded in Ikoyi Custodial Centre on Wednesday, February 8, 2023, to commence his prison term.
The EFCC disclosed this in a statement on its website on Wednesday.
The Court of Appeal had in a judgement delivered on July 1, 2022, sentenced Nwaoboshi to prison aftoer it convicted him of a two-count of money laundering and also ordered the winding up of his two companies, Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd and Suiming Electrical Ltd, in line with the provision of Section 22 of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2021, and their properties forfeited to the Federal Government.
But the lawmaker who was not present in court at the time of the ruling went underground and refused to present himself to the Nigerian Correctional Service.
Instead, he proceeded to the Supreme Court, praying the apex court to not only set it aside the judgment of the appeal court but grant him bail, pending the determination of his appeal.
But in a unanimous decision on January 27, 2023, the apex court dismissed the application.
In the lead judgement by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the apex court wondered why Nwaoboshi, who refused to submit himself to the law, would seek the indulgence of the law.
Justice Tijani Abubakar, in his contribution, upbraided the appellant for filing the bail application while on the run.
“We must make it very, very clear to all Nigerians that nobody is above the law. The government and the governed are subject to the rule of law. And, we must ensure that there is respect for the rule of law”. The judge said.
The Court of Appeal judgement that convicted Nwaoboshi followed an appeal by the EFCC against the judgment of Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of a Federal High Court in Lagos, which had on June 18, 2021, discharged and acquitted the lawmaker and his companies.
