Afro soul singer and instrumentalist, Aramide, is set to hold an autograph session of her debut album “Suitcase” at Jabi Lake Mall, Abuja on Saturday.

Known for her soul soothing voice, the Ibadan-born songstress who is signed to Baseline Music, previously held autograph signing sessions in Lagos and Ibadan.

The sessions were to promote her recently released album and connect more with fans across the country.

In a post on her Facebook page, the singer said that free autographed copies of the album will be shared at the event on Saturday.

The singer said that during the Lagos version of the event, an ardent fan presented a lovely portrait of her in appreciation of her music.

Aramide won the Best Vocal Performance (Female) Headies 2015 and the Alternative Artiste of the Year in the Nigerian Entertainment Awards (NEA) 2016.

She was also nominated in the coveted Headies Next rated award category amongst many other nominations.

A Nigerian billionaire, Walter Wagbatsoma, has been convicted of fraud by a Lagos court.

Adaoha Ugo-Nnadi, convicted alongside Mr. Wagbatsoma for fuel subsidy fraud, fainted in the dock Friday as the judge began to read the sentence for her conviction forcing the proceedings to be rescheduled to Monday.

Mrs. Ugo-Nnadi, Mr. Wagbatsoma, and their company, Ontario Oil and Gas, were convicted on an eight-count amended charge of fuel subsidy fraud before the Ikeja Division of the Lagos High Court.

The minimum sentence for the crime is seven years while the maximum is 20 years.

Mr. Wagbatsoma, the first convict, is currently under house arrest in the United Kingdom where he is accused of money laundering.

Justice Lateefat Okunnu, however, discharged and acquitted the third defendant, Babafemi Fakuade, an employee of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency.

“The case of the prosecution against the first, second, and fourth defendants has been proved beyond reasonable doubt and they are convicted on each of the eight counts,” the judge said.

As soon as Mrs. Okunnu returned after a 30-minute recess to read her sentencing, Mrs. Ugo-Nnadi, who was seated in the dock, collapsed in a heap leaving her relatives scrambling for water to resuscitate her.

The judge directed that a medical doctor be summoned and announced she would read her final judgment on Monday.

The convict, crying and retching on the floor inside the dock, was carried into her waiting Sports Utility Vehicle, and rushed to a hospital.

It was a dramatic end to a day that began with the suspects strolling around the courtroom in an ebullient mood before the judge’s arrival around 9.20 a.m. Mrs. Ugo-Nnadi, decked in an immaculate blue attire, slapped the arm of a friend telling her to “cheer up,” and a few moments later laughed at a seemingly hilarious joke shared by her lawyer.

The defendants were first arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in 2012 for fraud, forgery, and conspiracy amounting to N1.9 billion in the fuel subsidy scheme.

They were later re-arraigned in 2013 after the trial judge was elevated to the Court of Appeal, and then again in 2016 on an eight-count amended charge.

They had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

SUBSIDY FRAUD

The judge said the prosecution had accused Mr. Wagbatsoma, Mrs. Ugo-Nnadi, and Ontario Oil and Gas of collecting N942 billion as subsidy payment instead of N602 million.

Mr. Wagbatsoma is the chairman of the company while Mrs. Ugo-Nnadi is the managing director.

The judge also said the prosecution gave evidence that the convicts discharged “a much lesser quantity” of petrol in their transaction with the government and presented a forged shore tank certificate.

“The fourth defendant defrauded the federal government of N340 million,” she said.

A prosecution witness gave evidence that, in the first transaction, Ontario Oil paid N37 million for 12 million litres of fuel in a throughput agreement with Integrated oil and Gas, but later collected subsidy for 19 million litres.

In the second transaction, the company collected subsidy for 19 million litres while they paid a throughput agreement with Obat Oil worth N28 million for 10 million litres of fuel.

“Both the first and second defendants signed the cheque for the throughput agreement,” the judge quoted the witness as saying.

Another prosecution witness, Obinna Ukonu, a store officer at Integrated Oil and Gas, gave evidence that Ontario brought in 12 million litres of fuel via a mother vessel, MT Pacific, and then a daughter vessel, MT Union Brave. The same quantity was “trucked out” by the company.

“I find that there is credible, concrete evidence that the quantity of petrol discharged was 12 million litres,” said the judge.

“Evidence by the prosecution is that the product was discharged into one tank which cannot contain more than 16.5 million litres because of an inbuilt floating roof that takes about two million litres.”

An exhibit that the judge described as “very damaging” to the defendants’ case was Exhibit D1, a calibrated report which showed that the tank in question cannot contain more than 18 million litres of fuel.

CONVICTED IN ABSENTIA

In 2012, when the convicts were first arraigned, Mr. Wagbatsoma was absent.

Rotimi Jacobs, the EFCC counsel, told the then judge, Habeeb Abiru, that he had fled to the U.S. to avoid trial.

When he eventually returned to face trial, the judge imposed a N450 million bail on him.

In July last year, despite the court holding his international passport and other travel documents, Mr. Wagbatsoma was arrested in Germany and extradited to the UK to face money laundering charges.

He is currently under house arrest in the UK.

On Friday, the judge said Mr. Wagbatsoma during his testimony tried to distance himself from the running of Ontario Oil and Gas.

“The first defendant while testifying laboured to convince the court that he was not involved in the day to day running of the fourth defendant, but he signs the cheques,” Mrs. Okunnu said.

“He is of sound, literate mind. Over and over again, he informed the court he sits on the board of 27 companies. He knew what he was doing when he signed those cheques, and there is evidence that he used the money from the subsidy payment.”

For Mrs. Ugo-Nnadi, the judge described her as the “operating mind and the alter ego” of the company.

“She had full knowledge of the entire exercise.”

The judge also said she had no doubt that the company forged shore tank certificate, used for the subsidy payment.

“I find the first, second, and fourth defendants guilty of forgery. All three of them conspired as there was a meeting of minds,” she said.

The case against Mr. Fakuade, who was discharged and acquitted, was that he signed and embossed the PPPRA stamp on a forged document, the judge said.

“There is nothing that shows that he was aware of the real document that showed the actual amount of fuel discharged. It was simply gross negligence on his part.”

BEG FOR MERCY

Before she began reading the sentencing for the crimes, the defence lawyers said they would make a “plea allocotus” – to beg the judge to temper justice with mercy.

The lawyer said Mrs. Ugo-Nnadi had been having “very serious health challenges” but has managed to be attending all the trial proceedings.

“It is our humble plea that a custodial sentence will do serious damage to her health as a result of the crowding in the prison and three or four doctors to hundreds of inmates,” the lawyer said.

He said his client is a mother of “very young children” and a prison stay would deprive her children of her “mother and father” roles.

He also said the embarrassment and loss of businesses the second defendant had suffered is enough restitution for her crime.

“The second defendant throughout the trial has suffered psychologically. She has been the butt of publications online, written press, television. She has suffered so much.”

But Mr. Jacobs said anything short of sending the convict to prison would make a mockery of the fight against corruption.

“It will send a wrong signal that custodial sentence is the preserve of the poor and the rich cannot go to jail,” said Mr. Jacobs, a senior advocate of Nigeria.

“The purpose of our criminal law is to ensure that those who contravene the law do not escape the consequences of the law.”

Giyan Joshua-Ndom, the Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre, Keffi, Nasarawa State, has confirmed that a patient at the centre was suffering from a disease suspected to be Lassa fever.

Mr. Joshua-Ndom told the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday that the centre had reported the matter to the Ministry of Health as well as the Centre for Diseases Control, Abuja.

“It is true that a suspected case of Lassa fever had been discovered at the centre with a male patient being its victim.

“But, I want to use this medium to appeal to patients and members of the public to remain calm as necessary steps had been taken to avert the spread of the virus.

“The patient with the suspected case of Lassa fever had been separated from other patients and we are on top of the situation to curtail the spread of the disease,” he said

The medical director reaffirmed the commitment of the centre to continue with projects that had direct bearing on the lives of doctors, other staff and Nigerians at large.

(NAN)

Pedagogy of the Oppressed
By Paulo Freire,
The Continuum Publishing Company,
1970.

When Paulo Freire wrote Pedagogy of the Oppressed, the world was in the middle of a fierce ideological war. The iron curtain was firmly shut, and the fire of anti-colonial struggle was burning wildly in the countries of Africa and Latin America. Nine years earlier, the Americans had invaded the Bay of Pigs, and Frantz Fanon had published The Wretched of the Earth, shortly before his death. It is therefore a telling commentary on the enduring nature of the work carried out that Pedagogy of the Oppressed continues to gain resonance and relevance today, especially outside its (apparent) immediate constituency of political philosophy and activism, to the world of the theory and practice of education.

The book itself is organised into four chapters. In the first chapter, the author explores the nature of the historical struggle between the oppressed and the oppressor, making the case for a pedagogy of the oppressed. In chapter two, he analyses what he calls the “banking model” of education, which is cast as the favourite method of the oppressor, by which they seek to “deposit” knowledge, define the reality of the oppressed and contain their ambition for freedom. This is contrasted with the “problem-posing model”, in which both the teacher and the student are recognised as co-creators of knowledge. The next chapter then explores in greater detail the “dialogic” method used in “problem-posing” education, and the various stages of investigation. In the final chapter four, Freire examines at length the struggle between mutually opposing dialogic and anti-dialogic model; the former an instrument of liberation, the latter an instrument of oppression.

Freire sets out the fundamental principle that “concern for humanisation leads at once to the recognition of dehumanisation, not only as an ontological possibility but as an historical reality”. Both humanisation and dehumanisation are real alternatives for people, the latter being a negation of the former. In a classical collision of opposites, dehumanisation affirms and validates humanisation by negating it. Dehumanisation is therefore a “distortion of the vocation of being more fully human”. In the noble struggle to regain their humanity, the oppressed cannot afford to become like the oppressor, but rather the liberator of both the oppressor and the oppressed. The oppressor is himself “dehumanised because he dehumanises others”, but it is only the oppressed, and not the oppressor, that is capable of liberating himself and others. This, then, is the historical task to which the oppressed must commit.

Turning his attention now to the Teacher-Student relationship, Freire says that the prevailing model of education is one in which the teacher is cast in the role of the narrator in an act akin to depositing in a bank. The student, on the other hand is cast as “container” and “receptacle”, uncritically absorbing, and then regurgitating, the teacher’s deposit of knowledge.

To succeed in this task, the oppressed need a critical pedagogy, by which they can objectify the oppressor and the world of oppression in order to transform them. This praxis – this combination of critical reflection and action – must begin with a process of self-discovery, first as members of the oppressed class, but also as bearers of the “image of the oppressor” which they have internalised as a model of being. For it is this duality which makes the oppressed yearn for freedom, yet fear it. It is this internal contradiction that summons the oppressed to liberty, yet tempts them to become like their oppressors. The conflict for the oppressed, says Freire, “lies in the choice between being wholly themselves or being divided; between ejecting the oppressor within or not ejecting them; between human solidarity or alienation; between following prescriptions or having choices; between being spectators or actors; between acting or having the illusion of acting through the action of the oppressors; between speaking out or being silent, castrated in their power to create and re-create, in their power to transform the world.”

Given that the task of transforming the situation of oppression involves struggle and resistance, is violence inevitable? To this Freire offered that violence has already begun with the establishment of “the relationship of oppression”. Even when it is sweetened by false generosity, “any situation in which “A” objectively exploits ‘B’ or hinders his or her pursuit of self-affirmation as a responsible person is one of oppression, and in itself constitutes violence”. For good measure, “any situation in which some individuals prevent others from engaging in the process of inquiry is one of violence”. Violence as such “is initiated by those who oppress, who exploit, who fail to recognise others as persons—not by those who are oppressed, exploited, and unrecognised. It is not the unloved who initiate disaffection, but those who cannot love because they love only them- selves…”

Turning his attention now to the Teacher-Student relationship, Freire says that the prevailing model of education is one in which the teacher is cast in the role of the narrator in an act akin to depositing in a bank. The student, on the other hand is cast as “container” and “receptacle”, uncritically absorbing, and then regurgitating, the teacher’s deposit of knowledge. In this model, “the teacher presents himself to his students as their necessary opposite; by considering their ignorance absolute, he justifies his own existence”. The students, submerged in this reality, calmly accept their fate as justifiers of the teacher’s existence. This type of “education” is therefore an instrument of the oppressor to make the oppressed accept and adapt to the situation of oppression.

Admittedly, this is an introductory, exploratory book, but there will be ongoing debates about whether or not “problem-posing” education can accommodate some “banking” elements, especially in the initial stages, say with respect to summative assessment of students.

Problem posing education is entirely opposite. In this model, both the teacher and the student are seen as co-creators of knowledge, learned as well as learning. Here, “the teacher’s thinking is authenticated by the authenticity of students’ thinking”. The student is therefore not merely subordinated to the teacher, but both the teacher and the student are jointly responsible for the process of learning and creating knowledge. While the teacher may have attained a higher level of consciousness of themselves and of the world, they can only help raise the consciousness of others in an ongoing process of dialogue, not by “depositing” knowledge in the student.

This dialogic process is in clear contradiction to the anti-dialogical method of the “banking” model. The one entails a practice of freedom; the other, of domination. “Banking education resists dialogue; problem-posing education regards dialogue as in-dispensable to the act of cognition which unveils reality. Banking education treats students as objects of assistance; problem-posing education makes them critical thinkers. Banking education inhibits creativity and domesticates (although it cannot completely destroy) the intentionality of consciousness by isolating consciousness from the world, thereby denying people their ontological and historical vocation of becoming more fully human.” In the dialogic process of problem-posing education there are “neither utter ignoramuses nor perfect sages. Only learners.

Paulo Freire says nothing in this book about which methods of assessment and examination is suitable for the “problem-posing” model, or indeed about how the dialogic method can justify the role of the examiner. Moreover, what is the place of authority and discipline in the student-teacher relationship? It is a curious thing, in this respect, that communist countries like China seem to discourage challenge to authority, emphasising instead discipline and memorisation, compared with the apparently more liberal approach of western countries. Admittedly, this is an introductory, exploratory book, but there will be ongoing debates about whether or not “problem-posing” education can accommodate some “banking” elements, especially in the initial stages, say with respect to summative assessment of students. Nevertheless his central thesis is highly stimulating and thought-provoking, even if it is, in many respects, a re-invention of the ancient method of Socratic dialectics.

Seun Kolade is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for African Entrepreneurship and Leadership, University of Wolverhampton, UK.

Image credit (Paulo Freire): Writingcities.com.

Aviation unions on Tuesday shut down the operations of Arik Air, leaving hundreds of the airline’s passengers stranded across the country.

The strike was embarked upon by the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), the Air Transport Senior Staff Services Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) and the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the unions embarked on the joint strike following the airline’s failure to pay seven months’ salary arrears and other alleged anti-labour practices.

The unions said the industrial action would continue indefinitely until their demands are met by the management of Arik Air.

They shut down Arik Air’s flight operations at both the local and international wings of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos and also barricaded the airline’s corporate headquarters within the airport premises.

As early as 6:00 a.m, the aggrieved workers stormed the airport chanting solidarity songs and carrying placards with various inscriptions, denouncing the actions of Arik Air’s management.

Addressing the protesters, Olayinka Abioye, General Secretary, NUATE,  said the unions decided to ground Arik Air for safety reasons.

Mr. Abioye said: “Arik Air has refused to pay workers’ salaries for seven months and we know that a disgruntled worker is an accident waiting to happen.

“The airline has been defaulting in taxes and other statutory deductions from workers remunerations.

“The management has refused to allow total unionisation of its employees, in compliance with extant labour laws and with respect to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

He also demanded for the immediate reinstatement of five of the airline’s employees who were sacked for their involvement in unionism.

Mr. Abioye further alleged that Arik Air was owing about N13 billion and N6 billion to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), respectively.

According to him, the airline was also indebted to its aviation fuel suppliers and ground handlers and should therefore be declared insolvent by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

Also speaking, Frances Akinjole, General Secretary, ATSSSAN, said the unions were prepared to embark on the strike for as long as possible.

“Things cannot be business as usual for Arik. A pilot who is disgruntled can crash an aircraft deliberately. An engineer who is being owed salaries can sabotage the aircraft.

“So we need to ground Arik Air until the management shows that they are responsible,” Mr. Akinjole added.

NAN reports that some of Arik Air’s passengers at the General Aviation Terminal resorted to changing their travel plans as there was no staff to attend to them at the airline’s counter.

One of the passengers, Tomisin Olukare, told NAN that she bought a one-way ticket from Lagos to Abuja at N42, 000 three days ago.

“I came this morning and there is nobody to attend to me and my flight is supposed to leave by 10:00 a.m., so I am really confused,” she said.

Another passenger, Chika Emmanuel, said an agent assisted her in buying an Air Peace ticket for Abuja immediately she sensed that there was going to be a disruption on Arik Air operations.

Emmanuel said she would be demanding for a refund of her ticket from Arik Air when she returns from her trip.

When contacted, the Corporate Communications Manager of Arik Air, Ola Adebanji, said the airline would soon issue a statement explaining their position on the situation.

(NAN)

Aviation unions on Tuesday shut down the operations of Arik Air, leaving hundreds of the airline’s passengers stranded across the country.

The strike was embarked upon by the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), the Air Transport Senior Staff Services Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) and the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the unions embarked on the joint strike following the airline’s failure to pay seven months’ salary arrears and other alleged anti-labour practices.

The unions said the industrial action would continue indefinitely until their demands are met by the management of Arik Air.

They shut down Arik Air’s flight operations at both the local and international wings of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos and also barricaded the airline’s corporate headquarters within the airport premises.

As early as 6:00 a.m, the aggrieved workers stormed the airport chanting solidarity songs and carrying placards with various inscriptions, denouncing the actions of Arik Air’s management.

Addressing the protesters, Olayinka Abioye, General Secretary, NUATE,  said the unions decided to ground Arik Air for safety reasons.

Mr. Abioye said: “Arik Air has refused to pay workers’ salaries for seven months and we know that a disgruntled worker is an accident waiting to happen.

“The airline has been defaulting in taxes and other statutory deductions from workers remunerations.

“The management has refused to allow total unionisation of its employees, in compliance with extant labour laws and with respect to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

He also demanded for the immediate reinstatement of five of the airline’s employees who were sacked for their involvement in unionism.

Mr. Abioye further alleged that Arik Air was owing about N13 billion and N6 billion to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), respectively.

According to him, the airline was also indebted to its aviation fuel suppliers and ground handlers and should therefore be declared insolvent by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

Also speaking, Frances Akinjole, General Secretary, ATSSSAN, said the unions were prepared to embark on the strike for as long as possible.

“Things cannot be business as usual for Arik. A pilot who is disgruntled can crash an aircraft deliberately. An engineer who is being owed salaries can sabotage the aircraft.

“So we need to ground Arik Air until the management shows that they are responsible,” Mr. Akinjole added.

NAN reports that some of Arik Air’s passengers at the General Aviation Terminal resorted to changing their travel plans as there was no staff to attend to them at the airline’s counter.

One of the passengers, Tomisin Olukare, told NAN that she bought a one-way ticket from Lagos to Abuja at N42, 000 three days ago.

“I came this morning and there is nobody to attend to me and my flight is supposed to leave by 10:00 a.m., so I am really confused,” she said.

Another passenger, Chika Emmanuel, said an agent assisted her in buying an Air Peace ticket for Abuja immediately she sensed that there was going to be a disruption on Arik Air operations.

Emmanuel said she would be demanding for a refund of her ticket from Arik Air when she returns from her trip.

When contacted, the Corporate Communications Manager of Arik Air, Ola Adebanji, said the airline would soon issue a statement explaining their position on the situation.

(NAN)

Aviation unions on Tuesday shut down the operations of Arik Air, leaving hundreds of the airline’s passengers stranded across the country.

The strike was embarked upon by the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), the Air Transport Senior Staff Services Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) and the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the unions embarked on the joint strike following the airline’s failure to pay seven months’ salary arrears and other alleged anti-labour practices.

The unions said the industrial action would continue indefinitely until their demands are met by the management of Arik Air.

They shut down Arik Air’s flight operations at both the local and international wings of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos and also barricaded the airline’s corporate headquarters within the airport premises.

As early as 6:00 a.m, the aggrieved workers stormed the airport chanting solidarity songs and carrying placards with various inscriptions, denouncing the actions of Arik Air’s management.

Addressing the protesters, Olayinka Abioye, General Secretary, NUATE,  said the unions decided to ground Arik Air for safety reasons.

Mr. Abioye said: “Arik Air has refused to pay workers’ salaries for seven months and we know that a disgruntled worker is an accident waiting to happen.

“The airline has been defaulting in taxes and other statutory deductions from workers remunerations.

“The management has refused to allow total unionisation of its employees, in compliance with extant labour laws and with respect to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

He also demanded for the immediate reinstatement of five of the airline’s employees who were sacked for their involvement in unionism.

Mr. Abioye further alleged that Arik Air was owing about N13 billion and N6 billion to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), respectively.

According to him, the airline was also indebted to its aviation fuel suppliers and ground handlers and should therefore be declared insolvent by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

Also speaking, Frances Akinjole, General Secretary, ATSSSAN, said the unions were prepared to embark on the strike for as long as possible.

“Things cannot be business as usual for Arik. A pilot who is disgruntled can crash an aircraft deliberately. An engineer who is being owed salaries can sabotage the aircraft.

“So we need to ground Arik Air until the management shows that they are responsible,” Mr. Akinjole added.

NAN reports that some of Arik Air’s passengers at the General Aviation Terminal resorted to changing their travel plans as there was no staff to attend to them at the airline’s counter.

One of the passengers, Tomisin Olukare, told NAN that she bought a one-way ticket from Lagos to Abuja at N42, 000 three days ago.

“I came this morning and there is nobody to attend to me and my flight is supposed to leave by 10:00 a.m., so I am really confused,” she said.

Another passenger, Chika Emmanuel, said an agent assisted her in buying an Air Peace ticket for Abuja immediately she sensed that there was going to be a disruption on Arik Air operations.

Emmanuel said she would be demanding for a refund of her ticket from Arik Air when she returns from her trip.

When contacted, the Corporate Communications Manager of Arik Air, Ola Adebanji, said the airline would soon issue a statement explaining their position on the situation.

(NAN)

Afro soul singer and instrumentalist, Aramide, is set to hold an autograph session of her debut album “Suitcase” at Jabi Lake Mall, Abuja on Saturday.

Known for her soul soothing voice, the Ibadan-born songstress who is signed to Baseline Music, previously held autograph signing sessions in Lagos and Ibadan.

The sessions were to promote her recently released album and connect more with fans across the country.

In a post on her Facebook page, the singer said that free autographed copies of the album will be shared at the event on Saturday.

The singer said that during the Lagos version of the event, an ardent fan presented a lovely portrait of her in appreciation of her music.

Aramide won the Best Vocal Performance (Female) Headies 2015 and the Alternative Artiste of the Year in the Nigerian Entertainment Awards (NEA) 2016.

She was also nominated in the coveted Headies Next rated award category amongst many other nominations.

A Nigerian billionaire, Walter Wagbatsoma, has been convicted of fraud by a Lagos court.

Adaoha Ugo-Nnadi, convicted alongside Mr. Wagbatsoma for fuel subsidy fraud, fainted in the dock Friday as the judge began to read the sentence for her conviction forcing the proceedings to be rescheduled to Monday.

Mrs. Ugo-Nnadi, Mr. Wagbatsoma, and their company, Ontario Oil and Gas, were convicted on an eight-count amended charge of fuel subsidy fraud before the Ikeja Division of the Lagos High Court.

The minimum sentence for the crime is seven years while the maximum is 20 years.

Mr. Wagbatsoma, the first convict, is currently under house arrest in the United Kingdom where he is accused of money laundering.

Justice Lateefat Okunnu, however, discharged and acquitted the third defendant, Babafemi Fakuade, an employee of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency.

“The case of the prosecution against the first, second, and fourth defendants has been proved beyond reasonable doubt and they are convicted on each of the eight counts,” the judge said.

As soon as Mrs. Okunnu returned after a 30-minute recess to read her sentencing, Mrs. Ugo-Nnadi, who was seated in the dock, collapsed in a heap leaving her relatives scrambling for water to resuscitate her.

The judge directed that a medical doctor be summoned and announced she would read her final judgment on Monday.

The convict, crying and retching on the floor inside the dock, was carried into her waiting Sports Utility Vehicle, and rushed to a hospital.

It was a dramatic end to a day that began with the suspects strolling around the courtroom in an ebullient mood before the judge’s arrival around 9.20 a.m. Mrs. Ugo-Nnadi, decked in an immaculate blue attire, slapped the arm of a friend telling her to “cheer up,” and a few moments later laughed at a seemingly hilarious joke shared by her lawyer.

The defendants were first arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in 2012 for fraud, forgery, and conspiracy amounting to N1.9 billion in the fuel subsidy scheme.

They were later re-arraigned in 2013 after the trial judge was elevated to the Court of Appeal, and then again in 2016 on an eight-count amended charge.

They had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

SUBSIDY FRAUD

The judge said the prosecution had accused Mr. Wagbatsoma, Mrs. Ugo-Nnadi, and Ontario Oil and Gas of collecting N942 billion as subsidy payment instead of N602 million.

Mr. Wagbatsoma is the chairman of the company while Mrs. Ugo-Nnadi is the managing director.

The judge also said the prosecution gave evidence that the convicts discharged “a much lesser quantity” of petrol in their transaction with the government and presented a forged shore tank certificate.

“The fourth defendant defrauded the federal government of N340 million,” she said.

A prosecution witness gave evidence that, in the first transaction, Ontario Oil paid N37 million for 12 million litres of fuel in a throughput agreement with Integrated oil and Gas, but later collected subsidy for 19 million litres.

In the second transaction, the company collected subsidy for 19 million litres while they paid a throughput agreement with Obat Oil worth N28 million for 10 million litres of fuel.

“Both the first and second defendants signed the cheque for the throughput agreement,” the judge quoted the witness as saying.

Another prosecution witness, Obinna Ukonu, a store officer at Integrated Oil and Gas, gave evidence that Ontario brought in 12 million litres of fuel via a mother vessel, MT Pacific, and then a daughter vessel, MT Union Brave. The same quantity was “trucked out” by the company.

“I find that there is credible, concrete evidence that the quantity of petrol discharged was 12 million litres,” said the judge.

“Evidence by the prosecution is that the product was discharged into one tank which cannot contain more than 16.5 million litres because of an inbuilt floating roof that takes about two million litres.”

An exhibit that the judge described as “very damaging” to the defendants’ case was Exhibit D1, a calibrated report which showed that the tank in question cannot contain more than 18 million litres of fuel.

CONVICTED IN ABSENTIA

In 2012, when the convicts were first arraigned, Mr. Wagbatsoma was absent.

Rotimi Jacobs, the EFCC counsel, told the then judge, Habeeb Abiru, that he had fled to the U.S. to avoid trial.

When he eventually returned to face trial, the judge imposed a N450 million bail on him.

In July last year, despite the court holding his international passport and other travel documents, Mr. Wagbatsoma was arrested in Germany and extradited to the UK to face money laundering charges.

He is currently under house arrest in the UK.

On Friday, the judge said Mr. Wagbatsoma during his testimony tried to distance himself from the running of Ontario Oil and Gas.

“The first defendant while testifying laboured to convince the court that he was not involved in the day to day running of the fourth defendant, but he signs the cheques,” Mrs. Okunnu said.

“He is of sound, literate mind. Over and over again, he informed the court he sits on the board of 27 companies. He knew what he was doing when he signed those cheques, and there is evidence that he used the money from the subsidy payment.”

For Mrs. Ugo-Nnadi, the judge described her as the “operating mind and the alter ego” of the company.

“She had full knowledge of the entire exercise.”

The judge also said she had no doubt that the company forged shore tank certificate, used for the subsidy payment.

“I find the first, second, and fourth defendants guilty of forgery. All three of them conspired as there was a meeting of minds,” she said.

The case against Mr. Fakuade, who was discharged and acquitted, was that he signed and embossed the PPPRA stamp on a forged document, the judge said.

“There is nothing that shows that he was aware of the real document that showed the actual amount of fuel discharged. It was simply gross negligence on his part.”

BEG FOR MERCY

Before she began reading the sentencing for the crimes, the defence lawyers said they would make a “plea allocotus” – to beg the judge to temper justice with mercy.

The lawyer said Mrs. Ugo-Nnadi had been having “very serious health challenges” but has managed to be attending all the trial proceedings.

“It is our humble plea that a custodial sentence will do serious damage to her health as a result of the crowding in the prison and three or four doctors to hundreds of inmates,” the lawyer said.

He said his client is a mother of “very young children” and a prison stay would deprive her children of her “mother and father” roles.

He also said the embarrassment and loss of businesses the second defendant had suffered is enough restitution for her crime.

“The second defendant throughout the trial has suffered psychologically. She has been the butt of publications online, written press, television. She has suffered so much.”

But Mr. Jacobs said anything short of sending the convict to prison would make a mockery of the fight against corruption.

“It will send a wrong signal that custodial sentence is the preserve of the poor and the rich cannot go to jail,” said Mr. Jacobs, a senior advocate of Nigeria.

“The purpose of our criminal law is to ensure that those who contravene the law do not escape the consequences of the law.”