N38bn scam: FG appeals Bankole, Nafada's aquittal

THE Federal Government has appealed the judgment of the Abuja High Court, which freed former speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole and his erstwhile deputy, Usman Bayero Nafada, of any complicity in the controversial N38 billion loan taken by the lower chambers during their leadership.The notice of appeal was filed by the prosecutor, Festus Keyamo, pursuant to Section 241 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).In the first ground of the appeal, the appellant claimed that 'the learned trial judge erred in law when he held that the accused person had no case to answer in respect of counts two to 11 of the charge, which is in relation to criminal breach of trust.'Outlining the particulars of the said error, the appellant argued that 'though the accused person was not a signatory to the House of Representatives' Account, so long as he was an approving authority in respect of those accounts, then he was definitely entrusted with the accounts.'In the second ground of the appeal, the appellant said 'the learned trial judge erred when he held that the accused person had no case to answer in respect of counts 13 to 17 of the charge which is in relation to theft.'The appellant was asking for a reversal of the Justice Suleiman Be-lgore's no-case ruling entered for the duo and a remittance of the case to the lower court for retrial before another judge.
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