N1.6m ‘bribe’: ICPC withdraws corruption case against rep

Adebukola Banjoko, judge of a federal capital high court sitting in Gudu, has discharged Johnson Oghuma, a member of the house of representatives, of bribe allegations.

Oghuma, who won the bye-election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2017 to represent Etsako east/west/central federal constituency, was arraigned on a four-count charge on October 23, 2020.

According to the ICPC, Oghuma was said to have collected N1.6 million from contractors for projects awarded in his constituency.

The commission said his actions amounted to receipt of gratification and abuse of office.

Oghuma was granted a bail of N20 million by the court after he pleaded not guilty to the charges.

However, at the resumed trial on Thursday, the ICPC notified the court of its decision to withdraw the charges.

Consequently, Banjoko discharged the accused person of all allegations.

When TheCable reached out to Azuka Ogugua, spokesperson of ICPC, to find out why the charges were dropped, she said she was in a meeting. However, she failed to answer subsequent calls and did not also reply a text message sent.