Joseph Benjamin Onyebuchi, CEO of Citadel Oracle Concept Limited, has criticised Leo Stan Ekeh, Chairman of Zinox Group, for his persistent media attacks on the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana.
Benjamin advised Ekeh to focus on preparing his defence in court rather than engaging in “shadow boxing” through media publications.
In a statement on Tuesday, obtained by SaharaReporters, Benjamin accused Ekeh of distracting the public from the serious charges against him concerning a fraudulent N170.3 million contract with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
Benjamin, whose company, Citadel Oracle Concept Ltd, identified himself as a victim of fraudulent activities tied to the contract, stating that rather than attacking the AGF and Falana, Ekeh should be preparing to face the charges in court.
The Federal Government has charged Ekeh, his wife, staff, and others with executing a fraudulent contract using the name of Benjamin’s company, resulting in financial losses.
Benjamin criticised Ekeh’s efforts to deflect attention from the legal proceedings, stating that if anyone was engaging in a “media trial,” it was Ekeh himself, who has used his media influence to spread falsehoods.
He stressed that if Ekeh has new evidence to challenge the fraud allegations, he should present them in court during the trial set to begin on January 9, 2025.
He urged Ekeh to stop undermining the legal process and focus on presenting his defence in court, rather than continuing his attacks against those performing their constitutional duties in the pursuit of justice.
The statement reads, “Fagbemi, in his capacity as the Minister and Chief Law Officer of the Federation, after diligent review of the case file had rescinded a controversial revocation of Fiat earlier granted Falana by his predecessor, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to handle the trial of the suspects in the crime on behalf of the Federal Government.
“Pursuant to the reinstated Fiat, Falana, on November 28, 2024 filed charge No. FCT/HC/CR/985/24 before the court, listing as co-defendants the former Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Prof. Anya O. Anya, who is the Chairman of the Board of TD Africa as at the time the fraud was committed, along with the Legal Adviser/Company Secretary, Zinox Group and TD Africa, Chris Eze Ozims.
“Also, listed other defendants to include a one-time director in TD Africa, Folashade Oyebode; an Accountant with TD Africa, Charles Adigwe, and Obilo Onucha and Agartha Ukoha, both staff of Access Bank PLC, as well as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Ad’mas Technologies Limited and Pirovic Engineering Services Limited, Onny Igbokwe, along with Femi Dosunmu and Nnenna Kalu. Zinox Technologies Ltd, Ad’mas Digital Technologies Ltd and TD Africa were corporate entities that are beneficiaries of the fraud who are also listed as co-defendants in the case.”
According to Benjamin, the Fiat authorising Falana to handle the prosecution of the suspects was first granted by Malami on May 10, 2022, but later revoked and withdrawn on October 28, 2022 in controversial circumstances.
He explained that following a judicial review of the case file by Fagbemi on assumption of office, and circumstances that precipitated Malami’s controversial decision, the revocation of the Fiat to Falana was reversed and the prosecutorial powers reinstated to Falana was duly executed since 20th December 2023.
“The AGF said the powers to review the decision of his predecessor and reinstate the Fiat to Falana to handle the prosecution was based on the provisions of Section 174(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), which empowers the AGF to intervene, institute and terminate any case at any time if, in his judgment, based on his review of the trial, there are reasons for him to suspect the possibility of a miscarriage of justice against the accused.
“I am compelled to react following observed series of blistering attacks in various media publications sponsored by Ekeh and his allies against both the AGF and Mr. Falana about their roles in the matter.”
Benjamin said, “In one of those publications, Ekeh was quoted as waving off the pending trial processes against him, his wife, companies and staff ‘as empty forum shopping’ by Falana on behalf of his client.
“In the publication in which Ekeh accused Falana of engaging in ‘media trial;, if there was anyone that deserved to be so accused, it should be the Zinox Group Chairman whom, he said, has continued to deploy his connections in the media to spew falsehood and distorted facts to mislead the public.
“Ordinarily, I would not bother to waste time in reacting to most of the spurious half-truths and distorted facts contained in several of the publications by Ekeh, as I have already addressed them in the text of my press briefing since 2022 and it has repeatedly reported by Premium Times Newspaper, Sahara Reporters, Punch Newspaper, Mediatracnet, People’s Gazette and many media outfit in Nigeria.
“I believe discerning members of the public are aware of the truth. The people know who is lying in the matter. But my sincere advice to Ekeh is, if he has fresh facts of the fraud he wants to use to defend himself, he should prepare to present them in court when hearing on the charges lied by Attorney General of the Federation commences on January 9, 2025.”
“Ekeh should save his energy, and desist from shadow boxing and meaningless attacks against the AGF and Falana, who are doing their constitutional jobs towards serving equity, truth and justice,” Benjamin stated.
The CEO further explained that the Police Special Fraud Unit Lagos investigated the fraud and indicted seven suspects comprising members of Zinox groups, Access Bank’s staff and others.
He accused Mr Ekeh of using his connection to suppress legal advice on the case and transferring the case to Abuja where he felt he had connection.
He said, “On specific allegations made against him about a pending appeal at the Court of Appeal over a judgment by Justice Danlami Senchi of the FCT High Court in Charge No. FCT/HC/CR/244/2018, in which N20m fine was allegedly imposed on my humble self are one of those half-truths being spread by Ekeh and his allies to deceive the public.
“This is the first time in the history of the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) that a complainant and star witness was restricted from giving evidence in court in his own case, while the defendants bought themselves the positions of prosecuting witnesses and the defendants witness in order to strangle justice.
“I was not a party to the EFCC case, the prosecutor shut me out from testifying in my own case, all my pleas to the Honourable Justice Senchi could not of course yield any results as the Prosecutor, Mr Jude Obozuwa Esq, has been completely compromised.
“It was on the orders of the then Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, to the EFCC to investigate the facts contained in the petition I submitted against the former IGP, Solomon Arase, that a fake Board Resolution of my company, Citadel Oracle Concept Ltd, dated December 18, 2012 was used by the fraudsters as authority to open the fictitious account at Access Bank used in committing the fraud.”
Benjamin stated that at the end of the investigation, the EFCC confirmed the facts that I gave as true and appropriately indicted the suspects as culpable of the crime against my company.
He said rather than arraign all the eight suspects indicted by its findings, the EFCC investigator, Jude Oboruwa Esq, chose to charge only two of the suspects to court.
He said, “Mr Obozuwa Esq based the charge on an unfounded information not contained in my petition, that the fake Board Resolution used to open the account was dated December 14 2012 when he knew that the forged Board Resolution of my company used to open the fictitious account was dated 18 December 2012.
“Based on the deliberately injected discrepancy in the two dates, the Judge not only relied on the conflict to dismiss EFCC’s case against the suspects, but went ahead to impose a N20m against my company without giving us the opportunity to be heard which has now forcefully made us a judgement party to file an appeal which is pending in the Appeal Court.”
“If I had ignorantly testified in the case, I would have blindly tied a noose around my neck and pave my way to prison over an issue that was so clear it was a set up to entrap me,” Onyebuchi added.
On December 24, SaharaReporters reported that the Nigerian government had taken legal action against the Chairman of Zinox Group, Ekeh, his wife, Chioma and 8 other individuals and 3 companies, charging them before the Federal High Court in Abuja for allegedly diverting N162,247,513.80 intended for a laptop supply contract at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Headquarters.
The funds, domiciled in account number 0059202675 with Access Bank Plc, were reportedly misappropriated by the defendants under the guise of payment to Citadel Oracle Concept Limited.
The Complainant – the Federal Government of Nigeria – alleges that the accused knowingly used the account to receive and launder proceeds from the contract, despite being aware of its illicit nature.
The charge sheet, filed under case number FCT/HC/CR/985/24, lists individuals and entities, including Leo Stan Ekeh, Chioma Ekeh, Mr. Chris Eze Ozims, Oyebode Folashade, Charles Adigwe, Obilo Onuoha, Agartha Ukoha, Anya O. Anya, Femi Dosumu, and Nnenna Kalu as the Defendants.
The companies involved are Admas Digital Technologies Limited, Technology Distributions Limited, and Zinox Technologies Ltd.
The 15 counts filed on November 26, 2024 and signed by the high court on November 28, 2024, were signed by Falana (SAN) on behalf of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).