Nigeria: Ex-min. convicted of false assets declaration

By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) - Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency on Tuesday convicted a former government minister for false assets declaration.

“The prosecution proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Justice Umar Danladi, chairman of the anti-corruption Code of Conduct Tribunal, said in a ruling in Abuja.

“‎I hereby seize, on behalf of the government, the property known as plot 2057,” he added.

Godsdey Orubebe was minister of Niger Delta under the administration of then-President Goodluck Jonathan.

Last year he was arraigned on charges of not declaring the property before he assumed his ministerial office. Orubebe claimed to have sold the house, but the prosecution insisted he had not and should have declared it.

The ruling is subject to appeal up to the Supreme Court.

The tribunal is also due to rule tomorrow on an application by the president of the country's senate, Bukola Saraki, for Danladi to recuse himself from a 17-count false assets declaration indictment against the top lawmaker.