A former Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, was arraigned yesterday at a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) sitting in Maitama for alleged N5 billion fraud.

She was arraigned on a five-count charge in which she is accused, among others, of misappropriating the money said to be public funds. Oduah was arraigned along with one of her ex-aides, Gloria Odita, on the charge filed on October 14 by the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation (OAGF).

The ex-minister and her co-defendant were alleged to have committed the offences, contained in the charge, between January and February 2014 while she was in office.

The two defendants pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to them.

Shortly after their arraignment, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), who appeared for the ex-minister, and Wale Balogun (SAN), for the second defendant, applied for bail.

The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), who led the prosecuting team, did not oppose the defendants’ bail applications.

Fagbemi urged the court to order the defendants to deposit their travel documents with the court to ensure that they are available for trial.

Ruling, Justice Hamza Muazu granted both defendants bail on self-recognition and ordered Oduah to submit her international passport, which she must only retrieve with the permission of the court.

Justice Muazu said since Odita’s passport was being held by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over another case, the document should not be released under the conclusion of that case, following which it should be transferred to his court.

The judge adjourned till January 12 and 13 for trial.

One of the counts in the charge reads: “That you, Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah and Gloria Odita, sometime in January 2014 in Abuja, agreed amongst yourselves to act to commit and unlawful act, to wit: obtaining the whooping sum of N2,459,030,733.5 through Broad Waters Resource Nigeria Limited and Global Offshore Marine Limited by false from the Federal Ministry of Aviation by falsely pretending that the said sum represented “cost of technical supervision” and “security integrated and logistic support services,” which representation you knew to be false, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to sections 8(a) and 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”

Source; The Nation News