JUSTICE Hamza Muazu of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), sitting in Maitama, Abuja, on Thursday discharged a former Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, and her ex-aide, Gloria Odita, of the alleged N2.5 billion fraud charge brought against them by the Federal Government.
Oduah, who served as minister between July, 2012 and February, 2014 under the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, and Odita were arraigned before the court on December 10, 2025, by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (OAGF), on behalf of the Federal Government, on a five-count charge bordering on alleged fraud, obtaining by false pretence and criminal breach of trust.
The prosecution alleged that the defendants conspired in January, 2014 to obtain a total of N2,469,030,738.90 from the Federal Ministry of Aviation through Broad Waters Resources Nigeria Ltd and Global Offshore Marine Ltd under alleged fraudulent claims.
Oduah and Odita were further alleged to have “agreed amongst themselves to obtain a sum of N2,469,030,738.90 by false pretence, pretending that the said sum represented ‘Cost of Technical Supervision’ and ‘Security Integrated and Logistics Support Services’, which representation you knew to be false.”
The offence violates Sections 8(a) and 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud Act and is punishable under Section 1(3).
The government alleged, among others, that on January 13, 2014, the defendants “obtained the sum of N839,780,738.90 by falsely pretending that the said sum represented ‘Cost of Technical Supervision’.”
They, however, pleaded not guilty.
On February 12, when the prosecution was to open its case against the defendants, the prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo SAN, who doubles as the Director, Public Prosecution of the Federation, informed the court that the AGF and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN, had received an application from Oduah for discussions.
He added that the application was brought pursuant to Section 270 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015. The prosecutor then sought an adjournment to enable parties to hold discussions.
At the next adjourned date on March 5, the prosecutor informed the court that, in line with the plea bargain entered into by the defendant with the government, the former minister and her co-defendant had refunded the amount involved in the charge.
He, however, sought further adjournment to confirm if the draft used to refund the money had been received by the government.
Based on this, the court further adjourned the case to March 26 for report.
At yesterday’s proceedings, Oyedepo told the court that the prosecution was discontinuing the case against Oduah and Odita following their plea bargain with the Federal Government.
He added that based on the plea bargain talks, the prosecution had filed an amended charge against two firms linked to the ex-minister, Sobora International Limited and Global Offshore and Marine Limited, as defendants.
Following the prosecution’s desire to discontinue the charge against the former minister and her former aide, Justice Muazu discharged them from the charge preferred against them by the government.
When the issue of who would represent the firms arose, parties sought time to address it, which made the judge stand down proceedings in the case till later in the day.
In the amended two-count charge, Sobora International was accused of being unlawfully in possession of N838 million, while Global Offshore was alleged to have unlawfully possessed N1.629 billion.
When the case was later called, a guilty plea was entered for the two companies, following which the prosecutor urged the court to convict them and issue an order winding them up.
Oyedepo also urged the court to order that the N1.2 billion paid as restitution by the companies, as contained in a bank draft submitted to the court be forfeited to the Federal Government.
In addition, he urged the court to also issue an order directing that the N780 million recovered by investigators in the course of investigation be forfeited to the Federal Government.
Counsel to the defendants, Onyechi Ikpeazu SAN and Wale Balogun SAN, did not object to Oyedepo’s requests.
In his ruling, Justice Muazu convicted the two companies based on their guilty plea.
He issued an order winding them up and further ordered that the N1.2 billion paid as restitution and the N780 million recovered during investigation be forfeited to the Federal Government.
The judge equally issued an order striking out the earlier charge, dated October 13, 2025, which contained the names of Oduah and Odita and proceeded to discharge them.