The Chief Executive Officer of First Nation Airways Limited, Mr. Kayode Odukoya, has been discharged and acquitted of all fraud-related charges by the Lagos State Special Offences High Court after a six-year trial.
Delivering judgment, Justice Mojisola Dada ruled that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, describing the prosecution’s evidence—including a disputed “Memorandum of Loss of Certificate of Occupancy”—as inconsistent and unreliable.
“The totality of the prosecution’s case rests on quicksand,” the judge declared, dismissing all charges of fraud, forgery, stealing, and use of falsified documents against Odukoya and his company. She noted that the EFCC’s case, which relied largely on uncertified photocopies and documents lacking proof of receipt by any bank, had “collapsed like a pack of cards.”
Reacting to the verdict, First Nation Airways accused the EFCC of weaponising a commercial dispute with Polaris Bank into a criminal prosecution. The airline alleged that the bank instigated a malicious petition after inflating its loan records, even though a forensic audit by a Big Four accounting firm, jointly appointed with the bank, had cleared its position.
“This episode is a stark reminder of the dangers of conflating civil disputes with criminal conduct,” the company said in a statement, adding that the case amounted to a “misuse of regulatory power.”
Odukoya, who lamented the reputational damage caused by what he called an “intense media trial,” said the judgment affirmed that there was never a basis for the allegations. He also criticised the EFCC for failing to update its website months after his acquittal.
The airline urged the Attorney-General of the Federation, regulators, and industry stakeholders to institute reforms that would prevent contractual disagreements from being escalated into criminal trials.
