The trial of Abubakar Ali Peters, the managing director of Nadabo Energy Limited, over an alleged N1.4 billion petroleum subsidy fraud continued on Tuesday before the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja, with the court admitting additional documentary evidence presented by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice Ismail Ijelu admitted the documents in the case involving Peters and his company, who are facing a 27-count charge bordering on alleged forgery and obtaining money under false pretence from the Federal Government through the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) scheme.
The case was initially handled by Justice C.A. Balogun before it was reassigned to Justice Ijelu following the former judge’s retirement.
According to the EFCC, the defendants allegedly used forged documents to obtain N1,464,961,978.24 as petroleum subsidy payments.
One of the charges states that on April 3, 2012, the defendants fraudulently obtained N978.4 million by falsely claiming subsidy for the importation of 19.49 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), whereas investigations allegedly revealed that only about 6.5 million litres were imported.
The anti-graft agency also accused the defendants of forging a marine insurance certificate purportedly issued by Staco Insurance Plc to facilitate the claims. The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to all charges.
EFCC Witness Testifies
At Monday’s proceedings, the prosecution, led by S.K. Atteh, called its third witness, EFCC investigator Adaobi Amanda Obiakor, who detailed how the investigation was conducted.
Obiakor told the court that the probe began after the EFCC received petitions dated January 5, 2012, from the Minister of Petroleum Resources and several civil society organisations alleging widespread fraud in the subsidy regime.
She said the EFCC subsequently requested documents from the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), which supplied records relating to marketers involved in the subsidy scheme, including Nadabo Energy Limited.
The prosecution tendered the petitions, correspondence between the EFCC and PPPRA, and the agency’s responses. Defence counsel, Paul Daodu (SAN), did not object to their admissibility, and the court admitted them as exhibits.
The witness further testified that the investigation uncovered allocation records granted to Nadabo Energy Limited in August 2011, along with subsequent import permits.
She added that transactions linked to the case were financed by Enterprise Bank, prompting the EFCC to write to the bank on February 8, 2012. The bank responded on February 18, 2013, stating that one of the documents submitted for verification did not originate from it and provided what it described as the authentic version.
The court also admitted correspondence between the EFCC and Enterprise Bank, alongside certified true copies of relevant banking documents.
Obiakor further stated that subsidy payments were traced through Sky Bank Plc, now Polaris Bank. Correspondence between the EFCC and the bank, along with other financial documents, was also admitted without objection.
Additional exhibits included shipping records relating to MT Evridiki and MT St. Vanessa, trade documents indicating Petrolcam Trading (PTY) Limited as the trader and Nadabo Energy Limited as the marketer in a transaction valued at approximately $4.78 million, as well as Corporate Affairs Commission records and other related documents.
Court Admits Disputed Email
The prosecution also tendered an email allegedly sent by Afeni Awani to former EFCC Chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa during the investigation, along with a certificate of identification.
The defence objected to the admissibility of the email, arguing that it was sent to a personal email address and did not comply with Section 84 of the Evidence Act governing electronically generated evidence. However, Justice Ijelu overruled the objection and admitted both the email and the certificate as exhibits.
The court also admitted a summary of transactions prepared by Bawa, as well as the extra-judicial statements of the defendants.
Defence Begins Cross-Examination
During Tuesday’s proceedings, the defence commenced cross-examination of the prosecution witness.
Obiakor confirmed she was part of the EFCC investigative team but acknowledged that her name did not appear in the investigation report already admitted in evidence.
She also identified Exhibit P27, a letter dated January 20, 2012, addressed to the Managing Director of Nadabo Energy Limited, stating it was prepared and signed by Olaolu Adegbite.
While testifying on Exhibit P29(a), the extra-judicial statement of Peters, the witness admitted there was no indication on the document that it was recorded in her presence. She, however, maintained that the statement, obtained on January 28, 2012, and February 8, 2013, was made voluntarily, adding that no legal practitioner was present at the time.
The witness further admitted that she neither authored nor signed some of the documents tendered, and that her name did not appear on any of the exhibits linking her directly to the investigation.
She stated that she participated in the investigative visit to the Lagos depot but did not take part in the team’s visit to the Port Harcourt depot.
Following the proceedings, Justice Ijelu adjourned the case until October 12 and 13, 2026, for continuation of trial.