Supreme Court Affirms Seven-year Conviction of Ex-Akwa Ibom Commissioner

The supreme court has affirmed the decisions of the trial court and court of appeal that convicted and sentenced Albert Bassey, former Akwa Ibom finance commissioner, to seven years in prison for fraud.

The five-man panel of the apex court led by Stephen Adah delivered the ruling on Friday, following a review of Bassey’s appeal.

The panel upheld the court of appeal’s decision but restored the order of restitution originally made by the high court, which the court of appeal had previously ignored.

“The order of this court is that the conviction and sentencing imposed by the lower court on the 23 day of June 2023 on the appellant is hereby affirmed but the order of the lower court avoiding the order of restitution given by the trial court did not follow the law, so it is revised and the right order is to nullify same and thereby the restitution of sum of N204 million made by the trial court is restored,” Adah said.

BACKGROUND

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had, in 2019, arraigned Bassey on a seven-count charge for allegedly taking possession of six vehicles worth N204 million as bribes while serving as finance commissioner in Akwa Ibom.

Bassey reportedly collected one of the vehicles from Jide Omokore, an associate of Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum resources.

Omokore reportedly had dealings with Akwa Ibom state government when he offered the vehicle to the former commissioner.

On December 1, 2022, Bassey was convicted on all the seven-count charges against him and sentenced to seven years in prison for each charge, totalling 42 years.

However, he approached the appellate court where a three-man panel led by Rapheal Agbo upheld the conviction but with an option of fine.

The apex court later struck out parts of the appellate court judgement.