The Senator representing Delta North in the National Assembly, Peter Nwaoboshi, has been remanded to the ikoyi prison.
The law maker has been on the run for about seven months since the Court of Appeal Lagos Division convicted and sentenced him to seven years imprisonment for money laundering.
According to a statement signed by the Head, Media and Publicity of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Wilson Uwujaren, the lawmaker was picked up by EFCC operatives at a hospital in Lagos on Monday, and finally remanded in Ikoyi Custodial Centre on Wednesday to commence his prison term.
“We must make it very, very clear to all Nigerians that nobody is above the law. The government and the governed are subject to the rule of law. And, we must ensure that there is respect for the rule of law,” he said.
The Court of Appeal judgement that convicted Nwaoboshi followed an appeal by the EFCC against the judgment of Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of a Federal High Court in Lagos, which had on June 18, 2021, discharged and acquitted the lawmaker and his companies.
Nwaoboshi and his company was charged for illegally acquiring a property named Guinea House, Marine Road, in Apapa, Lagos, for N805 million.
Part of the money paid for the property was transferred by Suiming Electrical Ltd on behalf of Nwaoboshi and Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd. The funds are believed to be proceeds of illicit activities of the convict.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Peter Nwaoboshi and Golden Touch Construction Projects Limited, between May and June, 2014, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did acquire a property described as Guinea House, Marina Road, Apapa, Lagos, for the sum of N805million, when you reasonably ought to have known that the sum of N322 million out of the purchase price transferred to the vendors by order of Suinming Electricals Limited formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful activity of fraud and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 15(2) (d) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act of 2011(as amended) and punishable under Section (15)(3) of the same Act.”
