Curruption:Sani Lulu, others to face trial

The former Nigeria Football Federation President, Sani Lulu and other former board members have lost their bid to frustrate their trials by the EFCC for financial impropriety  while they hold sway at the Glass House.
In his judgment, Justice E. S. Chukwu of the Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja on Monday, February 22, 2016 dismissed a “no-case-submission” filed by Sani Lulu,  in the corruption charge brought against him and three others by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Accussed alon with  Luule are Amanze Uchegbulam, a former first vice president of NFF; Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi, a former executive committee member and NFF former secretary-general, Dr. Bolaji Ojo-Oba.
The charge sheet Lulu and his co-accused  were accused of flouting due process in the purchase of two Marcopolo buses for the national teams.
Sharing of N185million amongst state chairmen of the Nigerian Football Association (NFA Misappropriation of over N1.5billion released by the Federal Government to the NFF without giving proper accounts of how the money was spent during the South Africa 2010 World Cup.
Siphoning about $125,000 through shoddy hotel bookings in South Africa during the 2010 World Cup, $250,000 lost as a result of booking the wrong airline for the trip, $400,000 allegedly expended on the Nigeria/Colombia friendly match and $236, 000 which vanished from the coffers of the Glass House in 2009.
The judge held that “The NFF statue is not an Act of the National Assembly but it must be subject to the laws of Nigeria. This is particularly in a case where the money being expended is tax payers’ money and not one of a limited liability company.
“The provision of Section 60 of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) covers NFF and having said that, it followed that all the defendants are bound by the provision of the PPA”, the judge held.
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The accused have employed every means possible to evade trial since their arraingnmenton September 6, 2010.
The case has been adjourned to March 9, 2016 for the accused persons to open their defense