On the run lawmaker, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi has finally landed in prison.
The lawmaker representing Delta North in the National Assembly has been on the run for months after the Court of Appeal, Lagos, convicted and sentenced him to seven years imprisonment for money laundering.
However, Nwaoboshi was intercepted by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), at a hospital in Lagos on Monday February 6, 2023 and was finally remanded in Ikoyi prison, Lagos, Wednesday to serve his prison term.
The Court of Appeal had in a judgement on July 1, 2022, sentenced Nwaoboshi to prison after it convicted him on a two-count charge 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.
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But the lawmaker, who was not present in court at the time of the ruling, went underground and refused to present himself to the Prison Service. Instead, Nwaoboshi 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.
Justice Abubakar said; “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 appellate court convicted Nwaoboshi following 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 him and his companies.
Nwaoboshi and his companies were convicted for illegally acquiring a property named Guinea House, Marine Road, in Apapa, Lagos, for N805 million.
Part of the money paid for the property was transferred by Suiming Electrical Ltd on behalf of Nwaoboshi and Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd. The funds were believed to be proceeds of illicit activities of the convict.