The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) on Tuesday insisted that the former resident pastor of the First Baptist Church, Garki, Abuja, Rev. Dr. Israel Adelani Akanji, and five others have questions to answer over their alleged involvement in a N620 million fraud of the church funds.
This position was restated on Tuesday at the resumed hearing of the case before Justice J. A. Aina of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Gwagwalada.
The Police, counsel, Veronica Bisan, holding brief for Victor Madaki, informed the court that the matter was slated for arraignment on Tuesday, but the proceedings took a different dimension following a pending application by the defence counsel, Adeniyi Akintola, SAN, seeking to quash the five-count charge preferred against the former resident pastor and his codefendants.
Akintola told the court that his client was challenging the competence of the charge, which he described as baseless and politically motivated.
He argued that the entire case was an orchestrated attempt by a former member of the church, whom he said had since left the church, to embarrass the institution and its leadership.
“The person making the allegation is no longer part of the church and is simply out to bring disrepute to it. We are praying the court to quash the charge in its entirety,” Akintola prayed the court.
Responding, Bisan admitted that the Police had yet to file a formal counter-affidavit, explaining that their investigation revealed substantial grounds for prosecution.
“The defendants, based on the findings of our investigation, have questions to answer. We request a short adjournment to respond to the application to quash the charges against the defendants.
Akintola, however, told the court that the prosecution did not file anything in reply to the defendants’ motion, adding that the prosecution intended to hang the charges on the neck of the defendants.
Rev. Akanji is being tried alongside Rev. Thomas Ekugbene Takpatore, Mr. Babatunde Adebayo, Mrs. Adenike Adebayo, Mr. Oladele Afolabi, and Mrs. Gloria Olotu on charges of conspiracy, forgery, and criminal misappropriation of church funds.
According to the charge sheet, marked CR/1045/24, the defendants allegedly conspired in 2021 to commit a felony, violating Section 97 of the Penal Code.
The Police alleged that between 2012 and 2021, the defendants forged an amended version of the church’s constitution, falsely attributing it to the late Barrister Akin Aina, who was the church’s legal adviser and secretary of the Board of Trustees.
This act, the Police argued, contravenes Sections 362 and 364 of the Penal Code.
The Police also alleged that the defendants misappropriated N620 million belonging to the church, converting the funds for personal use.
These allegations fall under Sections 308, 309, 311, and 312 of the Penal Code, which address criminal breach of trust and fraudulent conversion of property.
In addition, the prosecution, led by Wisdom Madaki, alleged that the forged church constitution was fraudulently used in 2022, an offense punishable under Section 366 of the Penal Code.
