FirstNation Airways has accused the EFCC of damaging its reputation through what it called an unjust “media trial”, two years after a Lagos court acquitted Kayode Odukoya, its chief executive officer, of fraud charges.
In a statement, the airline said that despite a December 2023 judgment by the Lagos State Special Offences Court, which discharged Odukoya and his companies of all allegations, the EFCC has yet to update its records to reflect the verdict.
“The deliberate, intense media trial by EFCC (curious that EFCC is yet to update its website with the fact that we are acquitted on all counts, since December 2023) and the high-profile nature of the trial imposed an unjust stigma on our reputation,” the company said.
Odukoya and FirstNation were first arraigned alongside Bellview Airlines Limited on a seven-count charge bordering on fraud, forgery, stealing and perjury in 2018. The EFCC alleged that the defendants forged documents and misrepresented facts in securing credit facilities worth about N1.7 billion.
The trial, which spanned nearly six years, centred on a contractual dispute between the airline and Polaris Bank, formerly known as Skye Bank.
The prosecution had called four witnesses and tendered several documents before closing its case in 2020.
The defendants had filed a no-case submission, which was dismissed by Mojisola Dada, presiding judge, on October 22, 2021.
The defendants, however, appealed the ruling on the no-case submission. They eventually opened their defence at the trial court after the ruling of the court of appeal in February 2023. Delivering a 68-page judgment in December 2023, Dada dismissed all the charges against the defendants.m
Justice Dada held that the prosecution’s case “collapsed like a pack of cards” after failing to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Odukoya or his companies committed any crime.
The judge held that the EFCC’s case largely depended on a “Memorandum of Loss of Certificate of Occupancy” (Exhibit P4), but the prosecution failed to prove its authenticity. She noted that while the cover page of the document appeared original, the memorandum itself and all attachments were only photocopies.
The judge stressed that if such a document was meant to be submitted to a bank, there should have been evidence of receipt — such as an acknowledgement stamp or covering letter — but none was produced. She also pointed out that the memorandum was not addressed to anyone in particular, making it doubtful that the bank ever received or acted on it.
She faulted the EFCC for attempting to “certify” the document even though it was not the original recipient, describing the move as improper. Furthermore, no official from the Registrar of Titles was called to confirm whether they had received the document or to validate any correspondence from the defendant.
According to the court, this suggested that the memorandum was never sent to the bank in the first place, and even EFCC had no proof of receiving it. She added that contrary to the prosecution’s claim, Exhibit P4 was not prepared on Odukoya’s letterhead.
On the charge of stealing, Justice Dada upheld the defence argument that the alleged offence related to a loan that was being repaid and secured with other collaterals, meaning it could not be classified as theft.
Count three, which bordered on Perjury against Odukoya, had already been struck out by the court of appeal in February 2023.
In it’s statement, the airline said its position was further reinforced by a forensic audit conducted by one of the global “Big Four” audit firms, which was jointly appointed by both FirstNation and Polaris Bank.
According to the company, the audit confirmed that Polaris Bank “falsely inflated” its loan book, which became the subject of contention. It added that the bank subsequently petitioned the EFCC, leading to what it described as a “malicious prosecution”.
“The aviation industry is largely capital intensive and typical for airlines to run loan books, not where a lender chooses to inflate the loan book. This was the crux of our dispute with Polaris Bank,” the statement read.
FirstNation said the trial should serve as a reminder of the dangers of conflating civil disputes with criminal conduct.
