Court Fixes Jan. 20 For Final Written Addresses Adoption In Suswam’s Alleged N3.1bn Fraud Charge

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has adjourned till January 20, 2026 for adoption of final written addresses in the alleged N3.1 billion fraud charge filed against former Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam and his then Commissioner for Finance, Omodachi Okolobia by the Federal Government.

Justice Peter Lifu fixed the date after Suswam and his co-defendant closed their defense.

The judge gave the prosecution 14 days to file and serve their final written address and 14 days for the defendants to respond upon service and adjourned till January 20, 2026 for the adoption of final written addresses.

Suswam and his co-defendant are facing an 11-count amended charge over the alleged misappropriation of N3.1billion said to be part of proceeds from the sale of shares owned by the Benue State Government through the Benue Investment and Property Company Limited.

The transactions were allegedly carried out through Elixir Securities Limited and Elixir Investment Partners Limited.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), had closed its case after calling nine witnesses and instead of the defendants to open their defense, they opted for a no-case-submission as they argued that, they don’t have a case to answer on the alleged diversion of N3.1 billion of public funds.

Justice Lifu however, in a ruling on July 23, dismissed the no-case submission filed by Suswam and his co-defendant and ordered them to open their defence.

According to the court, the totality of evidence the anti-graft agency adduced before it established a prima facie case that warranted an explanation from the defendants.

It dismissed as lacking in merit a no-case-submission the defendants filed to be discharged and acquitted of the charge against them.

Suswam, who piloted the affairs of Benue State from 2007 to 2015, alongside his co-defendant, had in the application they anchored on sections 302 and 303 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015, prayed the court to terminate further proceedings on the case against them.

They contended that the EFCC failed, by way of credible evidence, to link them with allegations it raised in the charge before the court.

Their request was, however, opposed by the prosecution, which insisted that both documentary and oral evidence of witnesses that testified in the matter nailed the defendants to the alleged crime.

Delivering his ruling, Justice Lifu held that he found no merit in the defendants’ applications and accordingly dismissed them.

“Consequently, upon my conclusion on the above stated, the defendants’ no-case submission is hereby refused and dismissed. The defendants are hereby called upon to enter their various defences”, Justice Lifu held.

The EFCC had, in 2015, charged the erstwhile governor and his former Commissioner of Finance to court following an allegation that they looted proceeds of shares owned by the Benue State government and Benue Investment and Property Company Ltd.

EFCC alleged that the duo laundered about N3.1bn using two companies—Elixir Securities Limited and Elixir Investment Partners Limited—as their conduit pipes.

The defendants were subsequently re-arraigned before the court on November 2, 2020.

In the amended charge, the EFCC, among other things, alleged that the 2nd defendant, Okolobia, transacted a total sum of N578 million in four tranches, in excess of the threshold of cash transactions permitted by the money laundering law.

He was said to have committed the offences between December 2014 and January 2015.