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No Case Submission: Court Frees Fayose of EFCC’s N6.9bn Money Laundering Charges
The Federal High Court in Lagos has discharged the former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, on charges of money laundering and theft amounting to ₦6.9 billion.
Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke discharged the former governor after upholding his no-case submission filed to challenge his trial by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The court held that the EFCC had not been able to link Fayose to the crime, nor was a prima facie made case against him to warrant further defence.
On May 20, the court had reserved its decision after hearing arguments from counsel to Fayose (the 1st defendant) Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Kanu Agabi, Senior Advocate of Nigeria,Olalekan Ojo, representing the 2nd defendant (Spotless Investment Limited); and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Rotimi Jacobs, who represented the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Fayose was initially arraigned in 2018 before Justice Mojisola Olatoregun, but the EFCC later secured a transfer of the case to Justice Aneke.
According to the charge, Fayose allegedly took possession of ₦1.2 billion for his 2014 gubernatorial campaign and received $5 million in cash from Obanikoro, bypassing financial institutions.
He was also accused of laundering various sums, retaining and using over ₦1.6 billion to acquire properties through proxies and companies such as De Privateer Ltd and Still Earth Ltd., in violation of several provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011.
Fayose and his company, Spotless Investment Ltd were re-arraigned before Justice Aneke on an 11-count charge bordering on money laundering and theft.
The alleged offences took place during Fayose’s tenure as governor and involved funds allegedly linked to the office of the former National Security Adviser.
Chief Agabi, adopting his client’s no-case submission dated July 16, 2024, argued that the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case.
He noted that Abiodun Agbele, who was allegedly involved in the offences, was not jointly tried, weakening the prosecution’s case.
“With due respect, the predicate offences on which these charges are based do not hold water. Criminal breach of trust and conspiracy are distinct, and no co-conspirator was charged alongside the defendant,” Agabi submitted.
He urged the court to hold that Fayose has no case to answer.
Former Kano State governor, and presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in the 2023 elections, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has criticised the President Bola Tinubu administration for what he described as the neglect of the northern region of Nigeria and the concentration of the nation’s resources on developing the southern part of the country where the president comes from.
“Let me advise the Federal government on the distribution of federal resources,” the former Kano governor said on Thursday at the Kano State Stakeholders’ Dialogue on the 2025 Constitutional Amendment.
“From the information available to us, it’s like most of the national budget is now tilting in one direction in this country.”
Kwankwaso, the 2023 presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of lopsided allocation of scarce resources between the two regions of the country.
He said: “Let me advise those who are struggling by all means to take everything to remember that some of the issues that we have in this part of the country today have to do with the lack of enough resources and mismanagement of the little that comes in.
“That is why we have insecurity; we have poverty and so on. It is happening here mainly, but like a desert, it would go everywhere.”
Kwankwaso said most roads in the northern region remained in deplorable condition, whilst the APC government continued to allocate lump budgetary allocations for infrastructural development in the southern region.
“Yesterday, I was to come by air, but unfortunately, my airline decided to shift our takeoff from 3pm to 8pm. I had to come by road. From Abuja to Kaduna to Kano was a hell. Terrible; very bad road. This is a road started many years ago, right from the beginning of the leadership of the APC.
“Now, we are told that there is a road from the South to the East. We support infrastructure anywhere in this country…and any other thing that is good for the masses but a situation where government is taking our resources and dumping it in one part of the country and other parts of the country are left just like that, I don’t believe that is the right thing to do by the government itself.”
He urged the Tinubu administration to change for the better and ensure the equitable distribution of scarce resources for the development of all parts of the country.
“This is the time for the government to change, to convince our people that the government is not just on one side of the country,” he said.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has settled on a new national chairman, with Professor Nentawe Yilwatda emerging as the consensus nominee to lead Nigeria’s ruling party.
According to a Premium Times report, Yilwatda, the present Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and a former university don, was nominated to replace Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who recently resigned from the position citing health concerns.
His emergence followed a late-night meeting in Abuja between President Bola Tinubu and governors elected on the platform of the APC, sources familiar with the development told PREMIUM TIMES. The party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) is expected to ratify his appointment at a meeting scheduled for later this Thursday.
Mr Yilwatda, 56, hails from Plateau State and was the APC’s gubernatorial candidate in the state during the 2023 general elections. His nomination aligns with the party’s zoning arrangement, which allocated the national chairmanship to the North-Central geopolitical zone comprising Benue, Kwara, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, and Plateau states.
Multiple party insiders said his Christian faith also worked in his favour. With both the President and Vice President being Muslims, APC leaders reportedly reasoned that appointing a Christian chairman would help the party project inclusivity and appeal more broadly to voters of other faiths.
“He is young, suave, well-educated, and doesn’t carry the usual political baggage.
“We believe he can give the party a new face and restore credibility ahead of future elections,” says a senior party official.
Source: Premium Times
The West African Examinations Council, Nigeria, has firmly dismissed a viral press statement alleging the cancellation of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination, branding the information as false, misleading, and the handiwork of “mischief-makers.”
The purported statement, widely circulated across social media platforms on Saturday, July 19, 2025, claimed that the Federal Ministry of Education, in collaboration with WAEC, had cancelled the entire 2025 WASSCE due to massive exam malpractice, coordinated leakage of question papers, and unauthorised digital dissemination of exam materials.
In a swift rebuttal issued on Sunday, July 20, 2025, and signed by the Acting Head of Public Affairs, Moyosola Adesina, WAEC described the report as spurious and categorically denied issuing such a notice.
“The said examination has not been cancelled.
“Though the source of the information cannot be ascertained, the Council is certain that the false claim is being peddled by mischief-makers who are bent on bringing the Council to disrepute and causing confusion and panic among candidates who sat the examination,” the statement partly read.
WAEC added that marking of scripts has just been concluded and assured the public that results would be released on or before Thursday, August 4, 2025.
The Council emphasised that all its official announcements are made via its verified social media platforms, accredited national media outlets, and the Public Affairs Department.
“We therefore urge our stakeholders and the general public to disregard the said publication,” the statement concluded.
