HON. AZUBOGU CHRIS EMEKA IFEANYI V. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA

AMIRU SANUSI, OFR, JCA (Delivering the Leading Judgment): The appellant and another person who are Hon. Members of the House of Representatives of Nigeria were initially arraigned before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory presided over by Umar J as second accused person, in charge No: FCT/CR/77/12 containing two counts.

The appellant and his colleague Hon. Iorwse Herman Hembe were jointly arraigned and charged though differently. The charge which the present appellant faced trial on at the FCT High Court (hereafter referred to as "the lower court") as the second accused read as below:

COUNT TWO

That you, HON. AZUBOGU CHRIS EMEKA IFEANYI, sometime in October 2011 in Abuja within the Judicial Division of the High Court of the Federal Capital High Territorial dishonestly converted to your own use, the sum of $4,095 (Four Thousand and Ninety Five Dollars), being money given to you by the Securities and Exchange Commission as your travelling allowance to PUNCTACANA, in Dominio…