Lukman Olabiyi
After 10 years and two months of trial, the Federal High Court, Lagos on Friday declared former Governor of Oyo State, Rashidi Ladoja and a former Commissioner for Finance, Waheed Akanbi, not guilty of the N4.7 billion fraud charge preferred against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice Mohammed Idris, while delivering the judgment, held that EFCC did not provide enough evidence on the 11-count charge against Ladoja and his co-accused, the judge therefore, discharged and acquitted them.
Ladoja and Akanbi were first arraigned in November, 2008 before Justice Ramat Mohammed of the Federal High Court but they challenged the validity of the charges all the way to the Supreme Court over a period of seven years before the apex court in 2015 dismissed their appeal and sent them back to the high court to face their trial.