A Federal High Court on Thursday adjourned the electricity theft charges filed by the Federal Government against an Abuja property developer, and lawyer, Cecil Osakwe till April 16, 2024.
The case was before Justice Binta Nyako and was slated for hearing on Thursday, but it didn’t go on as the court did not sit.
Counsels in the matter, after agreeing, picked April 16 for continuation of trial in the case.
The News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) reports that the federal government charged Mr Osakwe with N11 million electricity theft.
The charge accuses Mr Osakwe of tampering with electricity meters which resulted in the loss of N11 million revenue to the government thereby, committing an offence contrary to Section 1(10) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act.
Mr Osakwe was said to have been caught by officials of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) for allegedly stealing electricity at various properties including his residence.
The defendant, however, challenged the legality of the task force that investigated the process leading to his arraignment.
He claimed that the said task force was unknown to the law.
He drew the attention of the court to a pending suit challenging the panel that carried out the investigation.
Last year, Mr Osakwe filed a civil suit against the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Director of Public Prosecution and the police investigating officers.
When the matter came up for hearing on October 30, 2023, and upon the objection of the Ministry of Justice, the name of the 1st and 2nd Defendants (AGF & DPP) were struck out from the suit, leaving the 3rd, 4th & 5th Defendants.
(NAN)
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