Amb Igali Not Involved In N27Bn PHCN Scam – Court

Former Permanent Secretary, former Nigerian envoy to the Scandinavian region and accomplished writer,  Ambassador Godknows Igali, has been absolved of involvement or complicity in the 27 Billion Naira PHCN sales proceed scandal. The trial judge therefore ordered that the seasoned administrator’s name be removed from the concerned list.

A Federal High Court in Abuja in suit no FHC/ABJ/CS/1203/2017, which made the ruling in favour of Igali held that he be excluded from the case brought against him by the EFCC alongside other senior officials of the Goodluck Jonathan administration including Chief of Staff – Brig. Gen Arogbofa (rtd), Accountant General of the Federation, Jonah Otunla. According to the EFCC, Igali was “probably” connected with some of the 12 properties it had confiscated and obtained an interim forfeiture order on.

In the ruling, as exclusively reported by The Nation Newspaper, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court, Abuja granted the uncontested motion by Igali’s lawyer, Maxwell Aleto Esq of Udah and Co Chambers and ordered that the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Power and Ministry of Water Resources be excluded from the case and that there should be no further mention of his name as there exists no evidence against him.

Dr. Igali had insisted that he had no case to answer as funds for the privatisation never came to the Ministry of which he was Permanent Secretary. He also maintained his innocence in the whole matter. He insisted on his robust and unblemished Civil Service track record across different MDAS and his global acclaim.

Recall that the former Ambassador had challenged the inclusion of his name in a controversial Looters list released by Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed. He has however  maintained total silence since the recent ruling.