The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has finally arrested convicted Senator Peter Nwaoboshi who has been on the run since he was jailed for seven years for corruption over seven months ago.
Nwaoboshi, representing Delta North in the Nigerian Senate, was convicted by the Court of Appeal in Lagos on a two-count charge of fraud and money laundering on 1st July 2022, but had gone underground since then.
After over seven months in hiding, Nwaoboshi was arrested by EFCC operatives at a hospital in Lagos on Monday, according to a statement issued on Wednesday by the spokesperson of the anti-graft agency, Wilson Uwujaren, who said the convict had been remanded in the Ikoyi Custodial Centre to commence his prison term.
From hiding, Mr Nwaoboshi made a futile attempt to obtain a post-conviction bail from the Supreme Court, which was rejected because the apex Court ruled that it could not grant him bail while he was at large.
The Court of Appeal had in a judgement it delivered on July 1, 2022, sentenced Senator Nwaoboshi to prison after convicting him on a two-count charge of money laundering involving N805m and also ordered the winding up of his two companies, Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd and Suiming Electrical Ltd, in line with Section 22 of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2021, and their properties forfeited to the Federal Government.
His conviction 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, who is the Delta North Senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the February 25 general election and his companies illegally acquired a property named Guinea House, Marine road, Apapa, Lagos, for N805 million. Part of the money paid for the property was discovered to be a proceed of fraud.
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