The Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja, on Thursday, discharged former Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, following the restitution of funds to the Federal Government.
The trial judge, Justice Hamza Muazu, struck out the charge against Oduah and her co-defendant, Gloria Odita, after the prosecution confirmed recovery of the alleged proceeds.
Muazu held, “The charge dated October 13, 2025, is hereby struck out, and the defendants are accordingly discharged.”
The Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), told the court that he had the instruction of the Attorney-General of the Federation to confirm that the government had received the value of the subject matter of the charge.
“I have the instruction of the Attorney-General of the Federation to inform your lordship that the state confirms receipt of the value of the subject matter of this charge,” Oyedepo said.
Following the development, the prosecution amended the charge to reflect only two companies — Sobora International Limited and Global Offshore Marine Limited — effectively removing Oduah and Odita as defendants.
Counsel for Oduah, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), and counsel for Odita, Wale Balogun (SAN), urged the court to withdraw the charges against their clients.
However, Oyedepo maintained that the former defendants could still stand as representatives of the companies for the purpose of taking the plea.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the judge clarified that the court record would not reflect any conviction against Oduah and Odita, noting that they only appeared as representatives of the companies.
The matter was briefly stood down to allow parties to resolve disagreements on the mode of representation.
Upon resumption, both prosecution and defence agreed that only the companies would be reflected in the charge, with representatives appearing on their behalf.
The Federal Government subsequently arraigned the companies on two counts bordering on fraud.
According to the charge, Sobora International Limited, in 2015, had in its possession the sum of N838m, reasonably suspected to have been illegally obtained from the Ministry of Aviation through a security firm, ISEC Security Maintenance Limited.
Similarly, Global Offshore Marine Limited was alleged to have had in its possession N1.629bn from the same source.
Oduah, who stood as a representative of the companies, pleaded guilty to the amended charges.
Consequently, the court convicted the companies and ordered the restitution of N1.2bn to the Federal Government, as well as the forfeiture of N780m recovered during the investigation.
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